The Nashville Predators are on a roll.
With a 5-3 win over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, the Music City squad pushed its recent record to 7-0-3, tying a franchise record with points in 10 consecutive games.
Nashville's past three wins, all in regulation, have come against Chicago, St. Louis, and, now, Dallas, all teams that sit ahead of the Predators in the Central Division standings.
The latest win helped the Predators secure their hold on the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference, and their upcoming schedule appears conducive to at least a few more wins.
Next six games:
— Kristopher Martel (@kmartel_sports) March 2, 2016
vs NJD
at COL
at WPG
at CGY
at VAN
at EDM
Very favorable schedule for Nashville
While Nashville remained quiet at the trade deadline, the addition of Ryan Johansen earlier in the season and, more importantly, the resurgence of Pekka Rinne, have given the Predators the look of a legitimate challenger come playoff time.
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The Minnesota Wild's scoring woes appear to be a thing of the past as John Torchetti's club matched a season-high in goals in Tuesday's 6-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche.
The two points draw the Wild even with the Avalanche at 68 points, but with a game in hand, Minnesota holds the final Western Conference wild-card spot.
| Rnk | Team | GP | W | L | O | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nashville | 64 | 32 | 21 | 11 | 75 |
| 2 | Minnesota | 64 | 29 | 25 | 10 | 68 |
| 3 | Colorado | 65 | 32 | 29 | 4 | 68 |
It was just over a month ago when the Wild scored six goals over a six-game period from Jan. 9-20. The team has now scored at least five goals in five of nine games since replacing head coach Mike Yeo with Torchetti on Feb. 13.
A big part of their recent success has been the production from their third line of Erik Haula, Jason Pominville, and Nino Niederreiter. The trio combined for seven points against the Avalanche, with all three scoring breakaway goals in the first period, ending the night of Avalanche starter Semyon Varlamov.
"They want to play on both sides of the puck," Torchetti said of the line, per Michael Russo of the Star Tribune. "I think the whole team can learn from that.
"We talk a lot, on the bench, to support each other," Niederreiter added. The winger would score on an empty net in the third to help him and Pominville finish with three-point nights.
"This game was one I think everyone had marked down and wanted to win," Pominville said postgame. "And everyone responded."
Haula: "It was a great win and now we're looking forward to the next one." #mnwild
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) March 2, 2016
Less than a minute before Niederreiter's empty-netter, Charlie Coyle scored his team-leading 21st of the year.
The Wild now have a great chance to pick up another four points with a quick two-game road trip in the East as they'll visit the league-worst Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday before a Saturday visit with the Buffalo Sabres.
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Advantage Connor McDavid.
In the initial showdown between the first and second overall picks from the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, it was the Edmonton Oilers who came out on top against Jack Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres, 2-1.
McDavid, who opened the scoring a mere 22 seconds into the first period, finished things off in overtime with this goal on Robin Lehner. The goal came moments after a glorious opportunity for Eichel.
Considering these two youngsters will be linked for quite some time, McDavid sounded as though he was happy to get their first encounter out of the way.
McDavid when asked if it's good to put this game in the rear view mirror: "Yeah, for sure." Followed by a grin.
— Joe McDonald (@ESPNJoeyMac) March 2, 2016
McDavid now has 12 goals in 28 games, while Eichel rests at 17 through 64.
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Ottawa Senators forward J.G. Pageau literally scored at the absolute last possible moment to send Tuesday's game against the St. Louis Blues to overtime.
The goal came with 0.1 seconds left on the clock and was Pageau's 16th, with the 15th coming less than three minutes earlier to make it 3-2.
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With a fantastic glove save to rob Carl Hagelin in the final minute, goaltender Braden Holtby ensured his second consecutive 40-win season, as the Washington Capitals beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on Tuesday.
Not today ☝️. #CapsPens #HoltBeast pic.twitter.com/xm8O3p8gfn
— Washington Capitals (@washcaps) March 2, 2016
Holtby needed just 52 games to hit the milestone, compared to 73 games one year ago, as he approaches Martin Brodeur's single-season record of 48 wins. It's an especially noteworthy milestone for Holtby considering he hasn't allowed less than two goals in a game since Jan. 14 - a span in which he's gone 11-3-1.
The Capitals have now gone 10 games without holding a lead at the end of the first period, but that clearly hasn't stopped them from winning games, as they've won seven of their last 10 contests.
The @washcaps improved to 46-12-4 (96 PTS) this season, surpassing their win total from 2014-15 (45-26-11, 101 PTS) pic.twitter.com/EpU3quvtEB
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 2, 2016
Mike Richards, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and former Penguin Matt Niskanen all beat rookie netminder Matt Murray in the win.
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