The NHL’s rivalry Wednesday featured three games and we all three in our daily sweep of the schedule. We start in Manhattan, where the New York Rangers were hosting the Boston Bruins.
Martin St Louis set up Rangers first goal with nifty cross-ice feed – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
The Rangers have had issues with the Bruins this season and were facing off with their number one goalie, Henrik Lundqvist, sidelines with a neck injury.
Cam Talbot got the start for the Rangers and made 18 saves to backstop the Blueshirts to a 3-2 win.
Rick Nash potted his league-leading 32nd goal.
“It’s really cool to be a part of,” Derek Stepan said. “It’s fun to watch, it’s fun to learn from him. He comes to the rink every day with the same mindset. He’s been our best player.”
Milan Lucic and Patrice Bergeron scored for the Bruins who had a 2-1 lead before the Rangers rallied.
“They played well. We didn’t play well enough,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “I don’t think we competed hard enough to get to the net and get pucks to the net, so we gave them an easy night as far as that.”
Nash gave New York an early 1-0 lead in the first period off a cross ice feed from Martin St. Louis.
“He’s been pretty much that way since the beginning of the year,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said of Nash. “A real complete player that’s feeling good about his game right now. It’s obviously rubbing off on our team.”
In Calgary, the San Jose Sharks were visiting the Flames and promptly laid an egg in a 3-1 loss.
Jonas Hiller made 28 saves in stymieing the Sharks all game.
“Every game we win the confidence rises,” Hiller said. “At the same time, I think everybody in here knows if we want to have success we have to work hard. We don’t just feel now it’s going to come for free. We know we have to work hard. We go out there, we don’t worry about who we’re playing. Sure, we respect them, but we’re not trying to play to their strengths. We try to play our game, try to keep the speed up. I think skating-wise and working-wise there aren’t too many teams that can keep up.”
Kris Russell, Jiri Hudler and Mason Raymond scored for the Flames to push Calgary into second place in the Pacific ahead of the Sharks.
“Everything is so tight together,” Hiller said. “Even last night we ended up being third in the division to the last wild-card spot. The further up you can move the better, especially against a team in the West. They’re four-point games, and the more you win the further up you get. We won’t be able to win every game until the end of the year — that’s got to be the goal — but we’ve got to be ready.
“Things are so tight together. We have the goal to be in the playoffs and the more games we win the better chance we have.”
The Sharks had been playing well and now need to regroup to protect their position in the division.
John Scott picked up San Jose’s lone goal.
“Every game, they’re huge games,” Scott said. “It was a big two points we kind of let go there. We’ve just got to regroup and get to tomorrow. It’s going to be tough, every game against every team in our division.”
Marc-Andre Fleury posted shutout over Oilers – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
In Edmonton, the Pittsburgh Penguins upended the Oilers and their recent hot streak with a 2-0 win behind a goal from Evgeni Malkin and a 22-save effort Marc-Andre Fleury.
It was Malkin’s return to the lineup after missing games for an injury.
“He generates a lot,” Penguins coach Mike Johnston said of Malkin. “Not only his scoring chances, but with his ability to set guys up and create space for players. [Mark] Arcobello had a lot of scoring chances, and I think that line generated more than anybody.”
David Perron, formerly of the Oilers, scored off his shin guard for the 2-0 final.
“It was a bad bounce it was kind of a knuckle puck it came in and I just tried to get it away. It hit his shin pad and it went in,” Fasth said. “It was a tough bounce.”
The Oilers are a different team since the New Year and are speaking differently in their assessments. There is a new level of confidence in the roster. But they are still out of the race for this season.
“We didn’t have the execution tonight, it looked like we didn’t have any jump, we weren’t moving our feet,” Oilers coach Todd Nelson said. “It was really a game where both teams weren’t into it. Pittsburgh played a solid road game. We wanted to dictate play, but we certainly didn’t do that. We didn’t have any jump in the first period and it’s disappointing because we played a strong game in San Jose [a 5-4 shootout win on Monday] and we wanted to follow up on it.”
Viktor Fasth made 26 saves in the loss.
“We didn’t have a great game tonight,” Oilers forward Matt Hendricks said. “We weren’t an aggressive team. Our forecheck wasn’t good. Our dumps weren’t good. They were exiting their zone way too freely. I give them credit, they’re a good hockey team, but we helped them out tonight.”
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