It was a big win on a number of levels.

For the St. Louis Blues, earning two points with Tuesday's victory over the division-leading Minnesota Wild kept them in good standing when it comes to a playoff spot.

And for head coach Mike Yeo, it was nice to beat his former team.

"I'd be lying if it didn't feel pretty good," Yeo said. "But in all honesty, I wanted this one for our group."

Related: Koivu's center-ice shot spoils Allen's shutout with 10 seconds left

The Wild fired Yeo as head coach late last season, and the Blues hired him to serve as an assistant to Ken Hitchcock with a view to taking over as bench boss in 2017-18.

That plan was expedited Feb. 1, putting Yeo in position to coach against the Wild on Tuesday for the first time since Minnesota let him go.

St. Louis currently sits 19 points behind the Wild, and, as the second wild-card team, would be matched up against Minnesota in the opening round of the playoffs.

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Days after Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice took a shot at fellow bench boss Mike Babcock, suggesting the Jets don't use their youth as an excuse like the Toronto Maple Leafs do, Babcock dug in on the impact experience - or lack thereof - has on a young team.

The Leafs outlasted Babcock's former club, the Detroit Red Wings, on Tuesday night, winning 3-2 after nearly succumbing to yet another third-period meltdown.

Following the victory, Babcock said the team's third-period issues are directly tied to their inexperience.

"Some people may think this is an excuse - I don't think it's an excuse at all," Babcock said, according to The Athletic's David Alter. "When you have a veteran group who has been through it before, someone goes out and calms everyone down and just makes a play. And we don't - it's like a feeding frenzy. So as much as we talk about it, not a whole lot happens."

For those who have spent time in the big leagues, it's a simple formula.

"When you're loose and driving, you're flying and on top of the other team and you look fast and you're playing right. Then when you're tight, you look slow," Babcock said, according to the team. "That's just the reality of being in the league and learning how to win, and expecting to win every night and understanding what you've got to do to win."

The veteran coach did highlight Leo Komarov and Nazem Kadri as a few team veterans who dug in late in the game to help the club hold on for the win. Kadri netted what wound up being the game-winner midway through the tilt, scoring his career-best 27th of the year in the second period.

With the win over Detroit in tow, the Leafs currently have 72 points on the season, leaving them right in the thick of the wild-card battle with the New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Florida Panthers - all of whom are separated by just five points.

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With only 10 seconds remaining to secure his fourth shutout of the season, a seemingly harmless dump-in spoiled it all for Jake Allen.

The St. Louis Blues goaltender was left baffled after Mikko Koivu's shot skipped off the ice and over his glove late in Tuesday's critical contest versus Minnesota.

The blunder was inconsequential though, as Allen turned aside 32 other Wild shots en route to a 2-1 victory.

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Henrik Lundqvist continues to pad his resume as one of the best to ever defend the blue paint.

The veteran netminder earned the 404th win of his career on Tuesday night, as his New York Rangers took down the Florida Panthers by a score of 5-2.

In doing so, Lundqvist moved past Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr in the history books, taking sole possession of 10th place on the all-time wins list. The longtime Rangers starter topped Fuhr's win count in 132 fewer games - an impressive feat considering the star-studded teams Fuhr played on.

The victory was also the Swede's 30th of the season, giving him 11 seasons of 30 or more wins in his career - the only outlier being the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign, wherein Lundqvist earned an impressive 24 wins in 43 games.

Netting No. 404 certainly wasn't easy.

Lundqvist turned aside 43 shots from the Panthers, enduring goals from Thomas Vanek and Aaron Ekblad in the process.

The 35-year-old will almost certainly move up one more spot before the season's end, as Glen Hall holds the ninth-most all-time wins with 407. The Rangers have 15 games remaining on the year, plenty of chances for their star netminder to continue to climb the all-time ladder.

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An unlikely source helped the New York Rangers earn a win in Florida.

Gritty forward Tanner Glass, who was playing in his second game of the season, scored a goal and added an assist Tuesday night, earning second star honors as well as some love from his teammates.

Glass had not scored at the NHL level since March 21, 2016, also against the Panthers.

Here's a look at how he got the job done Tuesday.

Known more for racking up penalty minutes than points, Glass had been relegated to the AHL until being recalled after the trade deadline.

A game like this will ensure he sticks around, for the time being at least.

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Sergei Bobrovsky is on some kind of roll.

The Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender recorded his third consecutive shutout by stopping all 33 shots fired on him by the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday. Were it not for an overtime goal scored by Montreal on Feb. 8, the shutout streak would be even longer.

Here's what Bobrovsky's past week has looked like:

Add it all up, and that's one goal allowed on 121 shots, good for a save percentage of .992.

Decent.

The win temporarily puts Bobrovsky level with Minnesota's Devan Dubnyk for the league lead in wins (35), and the run of hot play has his save percentage (.931) within 0.02 points of Dubnyk (.933) atop the goalie list.

On top of that, the three recent shutouts gives him six on the season, two behind Washington's Braden Holtby.

While it seems safe to say Bobrovsky won't keep up this past week's pace, his overall body of work this season is putting him well in the conversation for the Vezina Trophy, which he won back in 2013.

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A change of address isn't about to stall Thomas Vanek's resurgent offensive campaign.

Fresh off a trade deadline deal that sent the veteran winger from the Detroit Red Wings to the Florida Panthers, Vanek got on the board during his club's Tuesday night tilt with the New York Rangers, cutting into the slot and snapping in his first goal with his new club.

The tally was Vanek's 16th of the year, and his 39th point overall. By netting his first goal for Florida, Vanek has now scored for six different teams in the past four seasons.

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Josh Ho-Sang found the goal column in style.

The 2014 New York Islanders first-round pick, a lightning rod for attention for various reasons throughout his young career, scored at the NHL level for the first time Tuesday night, wiring a one-timer past Cam Talbot.

Only 689 goals left to match a certain other No. 66 on the all-time list.

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As it turns out, giving Jack Eichel free shots from the slot is not a good way to prevent goals.

The 20-year-old Buffalo Sabres pivot confirmed as much during his club's tilt with the Philadelphia Flyers Tuesday night, showing off some veteran patience and sending Wayne Simmonds spinning before wiring in his 17th goal of the season.

Eichel's game-tying tally was also the 100th point of his career. He netted his 99th one period prior, registering an assist on a goal from Evander Kane to extend his point streak to a league-leading 11 games.

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Radko Gudas: sniper extraordinaire.

The brutish Philadelphia Flyers defenseman is known more for his physical play than his goal-scoring prowess, but was able to rip a short-side marker over the shoulder of Robin Lehner on Tuesday night for his fourth of the season.

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