The sweep of the NHL fro Tuesday night starts in Edmonton where the San Jose Sharks blanked the Oilers, 3-0.
Newly acquired James Reimer made 31 saves in the win.
Logan Couture had two goals for Sharks in win over Oilers – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“I just tried to be big and get to my spots and hope that the puck hits me. Luckily for me tonight, it did,” Reimer said. “I semi-remember [the previous shutout], but it might have been a while ago. It’s nice to get another one. These guys are a good team, they have a lot of skill. I thought we just played really well defensively as a team and took away a lot of their possible Grade-A scoring chances. I just had to hang in there, do my thing and pick up when the boys needed me.”
The Sharks got goals from Logan Couture (two goals) and Joe Pavelski.
“I thought the first five or six minutes of the game, we looked like we played last night; we turned some pucks over and were a little slow,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “From that point on, I thought we played a real solid road game. We got great goaltending from [Reimer] when we needed and it was a tidy game from my perspective. That’s exactly what we needed; you’re in a back-to-back situation and you know you’re going to have to make some saves on the road and he did that for us.”
Cam Talbot made 19 saves in the loss.
“It was a frustrating night, really, because I thought we had some really good chances in and around the net,” Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. “Reimer made some good saves but we missed the net on some really good chances and I think that’s a reflection on our game. We didn’t have a lot of polish, we couldn’t put two passes together. On 3-on-1s we were falling down. The first goal on Cam, he usually handles that. To a man, we weren’t really polished. We couldn’t find a combination of five players who were sharp at any given point.”
In Montreal, the Canadiens got two goals from Alex Galchenyuk including the game-winner in overtime in a 4-3 win for the Habs.
“He’s hot, he’s so hot, everything he’s shooting is going in but it’s a mindset, and it’s always been,” Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty said. “It’s more of a mindset than anything, and I really like his patience with the puck. And I think it’s opened up a lot of opportunities for other players, and I really like that he’s shooting the puck.”
Ben Scrivens made 30 saves for the win that ended the Habs four-game skid.
Jason Spezza continued his hot streak with a goal in the Stars OT loss Tuesday night – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Jason Spezza , Cody Eakin and Ales Hemsky scored for the Stars.
“I think it’s good to get a point, but we’ve got to find a way to win that game whether it’s in overtime or a couple of chances we had in the third,” Spezza said. “That’s a game we should be winning.”
Kari Lehtonen made 24 saves in the loss for Dallas.
“We’re trying to bank as many points as we can right now and five out of six in our last three is pretty good,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said.
Phillip Danault and Pacioretty also scored for the Canadiens.
In Buffalo, the New York Rangers got out to a 3-0 lead and then needed a strong third period from the defense to hold off the Sabres in a 4-2 Rangers win.
Antti Raanta made 34 saves for the Rangers to get the win and keep pace with the rest of the Metropolitan Division.
“We got good goaltending, we got saves at the right time and, at the end, our penalty killing was able to kill off two of their power plays so if we want to stress the positives I think that was pretty positive,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “Our second period was all right. It’s two points and we’ll move on to the next game.”
Mats Zuccarello had a goal and three points in the win.
“[Raanta] works extremely hard,” Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh said. “A goaltending backup role is something that’s got to be tough to handle with mentally, never knowing when your next start might be when your starter’s healthy. But obviously, he knew he was going to have to be relied upon here for a good stretch.
Mats Zuccarello had a goal and two assists in win over Buffalo – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“We didn’t give him much help against the Islanders the other night, so it’s good to see him really respond well for us and give us some confidence coming out of that first period with a goal lead.”
Derick Brassard, Jesper Fast and J.T. Miller also scored for the Rangers.
But it was Zuccarello and his line who made the Rangers’ offense work in Buffalo.
“When they’re feeling it, they’ve got some confidence and offensive ability to make plays,” Rangers forward Eric Staal said. “They’re fun to watch. I’ve seen them on the other side of things and you can feel it when they’re making plays. When they get their look, they’re pretty good at cashing in. It’s nice to be joining them along with this group. We were able to definitely capitalize tonight.”
The Sabres rallied with two goals in the middle frame and put pressure on the Rangers late in regulation with a power play.
“When they got that power play five minutes before the end [of the game] there was lots of pressure going on in our end,” Raanta said. “But we still have to give credit to our guys blocking the shots and then if I make a save, if there was a rebound, our guys were always there.”
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