A pair of Canadian teams were trying to snap losing streaks entering play on Wednesday with three NHL games on the schedule.
The Ottawa Senators were able to beat the New Jersey Devils 2-0, while Boston edged Minnesota in a shootout and the Canucks couldn’t get anything going against the Stars.
Here’s three things we learned tonight in the NHL:
The D in Dallas’ Defence
Entering Wednesday night, the Stars defence was the worst in the league, giving up an average of 3.52 goals per game.
Despite facing the worst NHL defence, the Canucks couldn’t muster anything offensively and were shut out 2-0. Vancouver has now lost five straight, and in its last three games have only scored two goals.
On top of that, they have struggled to score for goaltender Eddie Lack. As mentioned on the broadcast, Lack has the lowest goal support over the last two years, with the Canucks only scoring 2.11 goals on average when he’s in net.
Who needs shots on goal?
The Ottawa Senators struggled to get shots on Cory Schneider all night, especially through the first two periods. After 40 minutes, Ottawa only managed to get eight shots on net and, thanks to Craig Anderson, kept the game close.
Even Anderson himself tried to help the team out by going for a goal on the Devils empty net.
The Senators were outshot 34-16 in the game and are just above the Edmonton Oilers in shots on net per game by averaging 28.8, good for 24th in the NHL.
A Wild milestone
The Minnesota Wild lost 3-2 to Boston in overtime but the game marked a milestone for defenceman Ryan Suter and forward Jason Pominville, with both players playing in their 700th career game.
The Wild are a team mixed with veterans like Suter and Pominville and young stars like Charlie Coyle, Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund to name a few.
Suter is in his 10th NHL season while Pominville is in his 11th.