The sweep of the NHL from Tuesday features lost points. The Boston Bruins needed two points as they continue to chase the wild card in the east. But the Carolina Hurricanes played spoiler in taking a 2-1 win in the shootout.
Noah Hanifin picked up the game-winner in the fifth round of the skills competition to give the Canes the win.
“Obviously there’s no doubt that we needed those two points and obviously we wanted them,” Boston center David Krejci said. “But for some reason we just couldn’t put the puck in the net, especially in the first two periods. We had a few very good scoring chances. It is what it is. But we got a point, so what we [have] to do now? Just kind of regroup and get ready for Thursday.”
The Bruins are now tied with the Philadelphia Flyers who have four games left while the Bruins have two.
The Detroit Red Wings have three games left so the lost point was a crucial miss for Boston.
Tuukka Rask made 27 saves in the loss.
“I mean we stuck with it and we managed to tie the game up,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “I can answer 20 questions here or I can give you one thing: It’s an inability to finish, and that’s the main thing here for tonight. Nothing more.”
Loui Eriksson scored Boston’s regulation goal.
“I liked the way we played, I liked the way we competed,” Carolina coach Bill Peters said. “They had a little stretch earlier in the second where they were the better team, but other than that we settled down and played well.”
Jaccob Slavin scored Carolina’s lone regulation goal.
In Nashville, there were all sorts of drama. The visiting Colorado Avalanche needed a win to keep their post season hopes alive.
But the Predators hung a 4-3 loss on the Avs to end their hopes completely.
“Today I am very disappointed,” Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. “I’m sure we’re going to have plenty of time to talk about it, but I mean it’s not what we expect from this team. We expect more from this team.”
Craig Smith scored the winner early in the third period and Pekka Rinne (25 saves) made it stand up for the win.
“We were playing a desperate team tonight, and we took a little bit of a step back in the second period,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. “I thought they hit the gas pedal in the second period, and that was enough to put them in our end way too much. To get the response in the third I thought was really important, especially after having some tough periods.
“We’ll look back and try to get better at the second and avoid those lulls.”
Filip Forsberg, Colin Wilson and Mike Fisher scored for the Predators.
Mikkel Boedker, Jarome Iginla and Shawn Matthias scored for the Avs.
Matt Duchene had a solid game despite residing in the Avs dog house.
“I thought [Duchene] responded really well today,” Roy said. “I thought he played a strong game. He was on the puck, and he played a hard-fought game all night long. That’s what I want to see from them.”
Semyon Varlamov took the loss on 24 saves.
In St Paul, the Minnesota Wild continued their dreadful play down the stretch but still managed to clinch a playoff berth despite a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of the San Jose Sharks.
The Wild clinched because of the Avs’ loss to the Predators.
“It’s nice to get that over with,” Devan Dubnyk (17 saves) said. “It doesn’t make you feel any better [about the loss] right now, but it’s been talked about for the last week. It’s nice to get it out of the way, and we can shift our focus. I don’t know if that was affecting what we were doing, but it doesn’t have to anymore.”
The Wild have lost four straight and backed into the playoffs, not a good scenario in the tough west.
“If you get in, you get in … that’s the bottom line,” Wild forward Zach Parise said. “We don’t want to have to rely on someone else to lose to get in. We’ve got a lot of work that we need to do. There’s just some areas of our play that aren’t good. That’s inexcusable in Game 81, when we’re trying to prepare for the playoffs. You can’t play the last four games the way we have. Right now, that’s not good.”
The Wild will need to get their offense cranked up quickly to erase the current streak and bad taste of five goals in four games.
“I’m excited. I’m kind of disappointed how everyone is saying we’re backing into the playoffs,” Wild coach John Torchetti said. “How do you back into the playoffs going [15-10-1]? You don’t do that. The guys have done a great job. I’m proud of them. They could have folded when I got here too, so I’m really proud of them.”
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