The three-game sweep of the NHL starts in the desert where Nicklas Grossman scored twice to lead the Arizona Coyotes to a 4-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche.
“I always try to take care of the defensive part, but it’s always fun to contribute offensively,” Grossmann said. “We talked about them having a skilled team and we wanted to play in their zone and get pucks on the net. I wanted to get pucks down low and I got some breaks.”
Martin Hanzal and Mikkel Boedker also scored for the Coyotes.
Mike Smith made 26 saves in the win and was stellar when needed to keep the thin one-goal lead.
“It was close. I think we had some good chances,” Colorado Matt Duchene said. “I felt like everything they got, we gave them. It’s tough to lose that one with as many good things as we did.”
Duchene and Cody McLeod also scored for the Avs and Semyon Varlamov made 24 saves in the loss.
“Mike was really good even though we put way too much pressure on him in that last five minutes,” Arizona coach Dave Tippett said. “It’s more than I’d like to see him work in that spot, but we’ll take the two points.”
The second stop on the sweep is in Calgary where the Flames got a much needed win and continued the spiral for the Philadelphia Flyers in 2-1 overtime win.
Mikael Backlund scored game-winner.
“The guys were pretty pumped after,” said Backlund, who had not scored in nine games. “It was a big relief to get this win. It would’ve been tough with the loss. We haven’t put ourselves in a great spot so getting this was huge.”
Josh Jooris scored in regulation for the Flames.
“I thought we grinded all night,” Backlund said. “Everyone worked hard. I don’t think we gave them up too many scoring chances. I thought this was one of our best defensive games where we had them on the outside and everyone was digging in and working hard.”
Michael Raffl scored for the Flyers dropped to 4-6-3 and have lost six straight games and are winless on the current road trip.
“I’m not even thinking about where we want to be right now,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. “We’re going to go back to work. We’re coming to the end of the road trip here and we need one push. I’m more worried about where we want to be two nights from now when we go to Winnipeg.
“We want to pick up with the same time of effort. This is a gutty road effort by us. We need to pick up where we left off there and when things aren’t going well, you have to find a way. We have to push to get over the hump. We earned a point tonight.”
The final stop on the three-game sweep is in San Jose where the Sharks have rediscovered their earlier success this season. Thursday night they defeated the Florida Panthers, 5-2.
“I liked our energy,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “We had good jump right from the drop of the puck. We got the first goal, the first two goals, which was key. We wanted a good start. We did a lot of good things. Special teams are still a work in progress, but 5-on-5 I really liked how we played.”
Brent Burns, Joonas Donskoi, Patrick Marleau, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and Chris Tierney all scored for the Sharks.
“You fall behind 2-0 and it’s tough to come back,” Florida coach Gerard Gallant said. “We didn’t play our game. We played a loose game and gave them too many opportunities. We didn’t create enough chances. We didn’t play well. Almost everything they got was from us giving them the puck. We weren’t sharp.”
Alex Stalock had 31 saves in the win.
“We talked about it this morning,” Stalock said. “We know what it’s like to play back-to-back on the road. The home team pounces on them early it makes for a long night. We stayed on them and our lines tonight when we got in their zone 5-on-5 it was fun to watch.”
Vincent Trocheck and Brandon Pirri scored for the Panthers and Al Montoya stopped 27 shots in the loss.
“We turned the puck over all night,” Panthers defenseman Willie Mitchell said. “It was that simple. We’ve been in our end the better part of two weeks now. It’s tough when you’re defending all the time. We looked like a very young hockey club. Things you can get away with in junior hockey won’t cut it here.
“San Jose has been to the playoffs and they know how to play. They made great plays with the puck. Our fundamentals just aren’t good enough right now.”
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