The Detroit Red Wings got 22 saves from Jimmy Howard as he blanked the Nashville Predators 3-0. Justin Abdelkader, Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen each scored their ninth goal of the season in the win. Pekka Rinne made 29 saves in the losing effort.
SPIN: Detroit leapt over Dallas and Columbus into the eighth spot with 47 points following this win. Howard has played well this season but has days where he doesn’t get much offensive support. Nashville is nine points out of a playoff spot with five games to play so that whole team is into garbage time. Look for Rinne to get some down time here at the end of the season. With six straight losses, it’s officially time to pack it in on the Predators for 2013; they were never the same team after Phoenix bombed them with a six-goal first period a couple weeks ago. Including that game, Nashville is 1-9-0 in its last 10.
Chicago shutout St. Louis 2-0 behind a 30-save effort from Corey Crawford. Marian Hossa and Brian Bickell scored for the Blackhawks.
SPIN: Chicago has won five in a row and has all but officially wrapped up home-ice advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs. Brian Elliott saw his scoreless streak end at 214 minutes for the Blues and has been their best goaltender this season. The Blues are sixth in the West right now but have a favorable schedule with six of their final seven on home ice (VAN, PHX, DAL, @COL, COL, CGY, CHI) and three in a row against bottom-feeders to make a final push for the playoffs.
Buffalo knocked off Tampa Bay 3-1 thanks to Ryan Miller Jhonas Enroth making 32 saves on 33 shots for his second straight win. Tyler Ennis, Kevin Porter and Joechen Hecht all scored for Buffalo while Benoit Pouliot broke up the shutout bid.
SPIN: Enroth has suddenly come from nowhere to pick up two straight wins including a shutout for Buffalo. The Sabres are just a couple wins out of the last playoff spot and sit 10th in the East. Enroth might be the difference-maker for Buffalo as we’ve all seen teams ride a hot hand in goal. Enroth has been hot as of late but has a tough road for the final games of the season. With this schedule (@BOS, NYR, @PGH, WPG, NYI) the Sabres will chase the final spot and still play a big role in how the East shakes out this season. With that schedule, it would be hard to rely on Enroth over the final few games.
Tampa has dropped three in a row and has just one win in its last eight road games (1-6-1) and it’s all over but the shouting for the Bolts in 2013. They had all that offense early on and a great start but they’ve been vomit-inducing on defense regardless of it’s Anders Lindback, Mathieu Garon or Ben Bishop between the pipes.
Multiple Goal Scorers-NONE
Stat of the Night–One Hundred Lights in The String
Chicago is the lone Western Conference team to allow fewer than 100 goals this season, The Hawks have allowed just 85 goals on the season. Ottawa is the best in the East at 89 goals against. Boston (91) and the Rangers (96) are the only other teams to not allow 100 goals so far.
Three Stars of the Night
1 Howard
2 Crawford
3 Enroth
Monday’s Games (all times ET)
Ottawa at Boston 7pm The Senators look for more points to make the final push easier.
New Jersey at Toronto 7pm The Leafs look to extend the Devils’ misery.
Philadelphia at Montreal 730pm Philly needs a win to save its season and avoid a five-game losing streak.
Dallas at Chicago 8pm Can the Stars keep streaking into a playoff spot?
Vancouver at Nashville 8pm The Canucks look to take advantage of a spent Nashville squad.
Columbus at Colorado 9pm The Blue Jackets need this win to keep pace with the West.
Minnesota at Calgary 9pm Minnesota needs to snap its three-game slide to try and chase down Vancouver.
San Jose at Phoenix 10pm The Sharks look for home ice while the Coyotes need this win, badly.
