The three-game sweep of the NHL from Friday starts in Calgary where the Flames edged the Boston Bruins, 5-4, in extra time.
Johnny Gaudreau picked up a hat trick with the opening and game-winning goals of the game.
The winner came with 1:40 left in the extra session.
“Last year I was fortunate enough to get a hat trick, but it was in a different arena,” Gaudreau said. “I was fortunate to get one tonight. It’s always exciting seeing hats get thrown on the ice, whether it’s your own hat trick or someone else’s hat trick. It was a great team win for us.”
Gaudreau has had great success this season in the new NHL overtime format with three game-winning goals and five points.
“I think our team likes 3-on-3 overtime,” Gaudreau said. “We do pretty well with it. We have a lot of great guys on our team that can play 3-on-3 in a lot of different positions. Dougie made a great play there at the end and I had a semi-breakaway and found a way to put it in the net.”
The Flames are 6-1 in OT this season.
“Outstanding performance,” Flames coach Bob Hartley said. “Johnny was one more time on top of his game. It’s funny. On the bench, even the players were telling ‘Go Johnny, get another one.’ Really, I have the same feeling. When Dougie gave him that pass through the middle and I saw him alone I knew it was in. He’s so clutch. He comes up with big plays, big goals. He’s an unbelievable performer.”
In another overtime game, the Edmonton Oilers topped the Dallas Stars, 2-1.
Anders Nilsson made 42 saves in a busy night in the pipes for the Oilers.
“It was a [heck] of a performance, he stole the game,” Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. “He gave us a chance to win, but there were still guys blocking shots and doing some of the things we needed to do to get the victory. There were some pretty admirable performances and some poor ones. It just shows that there is a gap between the two teams, between a first-place team and one that is in the bottom third, that we have to close over time.”
Jordan Eberle scored with less than a minute gone in the extra session.
“That felt good, the reason we won that game was Anders, though, he stood on his head, he was incredible tonight,” Eberle said. “I don’t think I have ever had the puck roll on me that much in a game. I had one in the slot that I was wide-open and it rolled off my stick. I had one on the power play when I was in the slot and then on a 2-on 1 that rolled off my stick. It’s funny how when you don’t think and you just shoot the puck how it works out. It was nice to finally get that one in overtime.”
Taylor Hall scored for the Oilers in regulation and Mattias Janmark scored for the Stars.
“It was a huge win again for our team,” Nilsson said. “It showed some great character tonight and a huge battle effort.”
Antti Niemi took the loss on 22 saves.
“We had some really good scoring chances and we should have scored early in the game,” Janmark said. “But we had to grind it out and got a point. We’ll take that, but we wanted to get two.”
In Buffalo, a game without a loser’s point going up saw the Sabres down the Arizona Coyotes, 5-2.
Evander Kane scored twice in the win including an empty-netter to ice the win.
“We changed up the [penalty kill] stretch a little bit there and [Girgensons] made a good play to kind of disrupt their breakout,” Kane said. “I was able to get it and put it away.”
The Sabres offense has been clicking of late with four goals scored in four straight matches.
“It’s finally coming around. It was frustrating for a little bit,” Buffalo’s Jamie McGinn said of the offense. “We stuck with it and we did the small things right, and we’re getting in those hard-nosed areas and they’re starting to go in for us. I’m glad for everyone that we’re being rewarded right now. We can’t change anything, because it can be taken away real quick.”
Mike Smith took the loss on 23 saves and Chad Johnson got the win on 18.
“When adversity hits, we can’t feel sorry for ourselves,” Smith said. “It’s easy to hang your head and say ‘poor me,’ but the character of this group needs to show in those hard times. Even though it’s difficult to do sometimes, we can’t let it get us down. We have to build on the positives and the things we haven’t done well we need to improve on.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.