NHL scores 2017: Kings, Canadiens, Senators sleepwalk through shutouts

Did anyone let the Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens, or Ottawa Senators know they were supposed to play on Tuesday?

The trio of Stanley Cup Playoffs contenders dropped embarrassing losses one right after another, getting out-scored 15-0 by their opponents.

In Ottawa, their 6-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues was bad enough that head coach Guy Boucher made every single one of his players sheepishly face the media in post-game. It’s a great coaching punishment that never gets used; whether you approve of it probably depends on whether you approve of shaming ploys. Whether it results in a needed kick-start is another question left to be answered.

Los Angeles finally saw the cratering of its replacement goalie that had performed so admirably all season. Peter Budaj was due for a hiccup, but a 5-0 loss to the sputtering Tampa Bay Lightning wasn’t quite what most had in mind. The truth is that Tampa Bay received the best from its best players (Nikita Kucherov, Jonathan Drouin, and Ben Bishop) on a night when Los Angeles did not.

Montreal had no such excuse. The Canadiens visited Colorado in need of an easy win, and the Avalanche (headed for the worst NHL record of the decade) seemed like easy prey.

And the Canadiens left the Pepsi Center victims of a 4-0 shutout, a rookie hat trick by Mikko Rantanen left them with more questions than answers. All with Carey Price in net.

Three playoff contenders. Three duds. Three big potholes hit dead-on in their drive to the postseason.

Sabres 5, Sharks 4 (OT)

Rangers 4, Ducks 1

Flames 3, Penguins 2 (SO)

Capitals 5, Hurricanes 0

Maple Leafs 3, Stars 1

Blues 6, Senators 0

Blue Jackets 3, Red Wings 2 (OT)

Lightning 5, Kings 0

Predators 4, Canucks 2

Wild 4, Jets 2

Avalanche 4, Canadiens 0

1. Evander Kane will destroy his shoulder if it means scoring a game-winning goal

Buffalo completed one heck of a comeback on Tuesday, potting three third-period goals on the Sharks before Jack Eichel and Evander Kane combined for the winner in overtime. But goodness, was it painful to watch.

Just listen to the crunch as Kane slams into the boards after scoring.

2. Ryan Getzlaf is a #gooddude

Logan Shaw dropped Derek Stepan into the Ducks’ bench boards headfirst, leaving the veteran center pretty dazed while all hell broke loose around him. Leave it to the opposing captain to ferry him out of harm’s way while he regained his senses.

3. The Capitals are monsters at home

Washington iced its tenth straight win at the Verizon Center on Tuesday and it wasn’t even that close. That 5-0 win over Carolina means they’ve out-scored opponents 50-12 on home ice in that stretch, pushing them to 17-2-2 overall in their last 21 games. That’s also a franchise-record 10 shutouts this season; seven of them have come at home.

We could go on.

We’ll give it to Vladimir Tarasenko’s second goal simply for a chance to give Mike Yeo some credit: the new Blues coach decided to stick with the Alexander Steen, Paul Stastny, and Tarasenko trio for one more night. That line ended with three goals and six points on Tuesday.

There is a future for the Avalanche buried under the wreckage of this season.