The three-game sweep of the NHL starts in St Paul where the Minnesota Wild ended the Colorado Avalanche run of late with a 3-0 win.
Devan Dubnyk started the game for the Wild but went down with a lower body injury in the second period and was replaced by Darcy Kuemper; both combined for 20 saves in the win.
Wild coach Mike Yeo said after the game it did not appear to be serious with Dubnyk.
“It caught me off-guard. Anytime you get thrown in there, you’re just trying to get into it as soon as you can,” Kuemper said. “The guys did a really good job of letting me work into the game. They didn’t give up much.”
Matt Dumba, Justin Fontaine and Jason Pominville scored for the Wild who have won three straight.
Semyon Varlamov had 41 saves in the loss for the Avs.
“He was phenomenal and we didn’t play a good game in front of him,” Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. “That’s the positive for us in the way he played.”
Dumba scored for the Wild just after Dubnyk went down with the injury and it lifted the Wild.
“We needed that one because we know the next one is going to be a tough one,” Yeo said. “There are certain nights when your team is just going a certain way, and when you’re standing behind the bench, and them on the bench, I know it gives a pretty good sense of confidence.”
In Raleigh, Jeff Skinner scored two goals and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2.
“We hit two crossbars, I missed the net wide on a roller,” captain Eric Staal said. “It was great that the other unit went out there and continued on and built off it. Big goal by Jeff. Those are big moments in the game.”
The Canes had lost three straight ahead of Saturday night.
“The win was big no matter what; we needed the win,” Carolina coach Bill Peters said. “We didn’t play well our last time out and we needed to bounce back. We did bounce back. Credit the guys.”
Daniel Carr and Sven Andrighetto scored for the Habs.
“Emotionally, it was a tough game to play. We had a big battle against Washington, and I could see the emotion was not quite there,” Montreal coach Michel Therrien said. “We got some ‘A’ chances, but Cam Ward was good. To win in this League, you can’t give up three goals. It’s too demanding.”
Joakim Nordstrom picked up the other goal for the Canes.
In Detroit, Gustav Nyquist‘s goal in overtime gave the Red Wings a 5-4 win over the Nashville Predators Saturday night.
Niklas Kronwall sent Nyquist in a break to beat Pekka Rinne with the winner.
“Just a great pass by [Kronwall],” Nyquist said. “That thing landed right on my stick flat.”
Rinne was circumspect on the goal, “Just a breakaway shot and he put it in. It’s a fast situation and you try to read and react. He beat me, game over.”
Tomas Tatar, Dylan Larkin, Brad Richards, and Justin Abdelkader scored for the Wings in regulation.
“I thought it was great character by our guys. I thought we did a good job of staying patient and just staying with it,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “I thought we just kept coming and coming and coming really the second half of the game.”
Shea Weber had a hat trick for the Preds and Viktor Arvidsson added a goal.
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