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NHL Three Stars: Wild crush Blues; Kings blanks Hurricanes
No. 1 Star: Nino Niederreiter, Minnesota Wild
Niederreiter scored a goal and added two assists in his team’s 5-1 drubbing of the St. Louis Blues. The Swiss sniper now has 36 points in 48 games for the Wild – just seven off his career-high of 43 from last season. The Wild have a Western Conference leading 69 points and are 4-1-0 in their last five games played.
No. 2 Star: Peter Budaj, Los Angeles Kings
Budaj stopped all 22 Carolina Hurricanes shots on goal in a 3-0 win. The shutout was the 34-year-old Budaj’s fifth on the season, which extended a career-high. The win helped the Kings finish off their four-game road trip at 2-2-0. Budaj currently holds a 2.06 goal-against average and .919 save percentage to go along with a 22-14-3 record.
No. 3 Star: Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames
Gaudreau broke an 11-game stretch without a goal with the overtime winner in his team’s 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators. The win helped the Flames improve to 25-24-3 and into the Western Conference’s final Wild Card spot with 53 points. Calgary had lost four games in a row.
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Honorable Mention: Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand scored two goals in a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He has four goals in his last two games. … Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron scored a goal and added an assist. … Boston forward David Pastrnak notched two assists. … Penguins forward Phil Kessel scored his 15th goal of the season. … Pittsburgh forward Patric Hornqvist scored his 12th goal of the year. … Penguins forward Sidney Crosby notched an assist. … Wild forward Mikael Granlund scored a goal and added an assist. … Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk stopped 24 of 25 shots on goal. … Minnesota captain Mikko Koivu scored his 15th goal of the season. … Wild forward Eric Staal notched an assist to break a three-game pointless stretch. … Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko scored his team’s only goal. … Jonathan Marchessault’s overtime goal broke a four-game losing streak for the Florida Panthers in their 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. The goal by Marchessault was his 14th on the season. … Florida forward Jussi Jokinen scored a goal and added an assist. … Panthers goaltender James Reimer stopped 31 of 32 shots on goal. … Tampa goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 35 of 37 shots on goal. … Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov scored his team’s only goal. … Calgary forward Sean Monahan scored a gorgeous between-the-legs goal. … Senators defenseman Chris Wideman tied the game against the Flames at the 18:58 mark to send it to overtime. … Ottawa forward Tommy Wingels scored his first goal with the team. … Kings forward Marian Gaborik scored the game-winner. … Defenseman Drew Doughty and captain Anze Kopitar picked up assists on Gaborik’s goal. … Los Angeles forward Trevor Lewis also scored a goal. … Arizona Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith stopped 19 of 19 Vancouver Canucks shots on goal in a 3-0 win. It was Smith’s first shutout of the season. … Coyotes forward Lawson Crouse scored a goal. … Arizona forward Alexander Burmistrov scored his first goal with the team. … Coyotes forward Tobias Rieder scored his 11th goal of the season. … Arizona forward Shane Doan skated in his 1,514th career game, tying Steve Yzerman for 16th on the NHL’s all-time list. … Dallas Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen stopped 21 of 22 shots on goal in a 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres. … Dallas forward Jamie Benn and teammate Tyler Seguin each scored one goal. … Stars forward Patrick Sharp scored two goals. … Sabres forward Evander Kane scored two goals and added one assist. … Jets forwards Mark Scheifele, Patrik Laine and Bryan Little each scored a goal and added an assist in a 5-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. It was Laine’s first goal since his return from a concussion on Tuesday. … Jets forwards Nikolaj Ehlers and Blake Wheeler each notched one assist. … Winnipeg defenseman Jacob Trouba notched two assists. … Jets forward Connor Hellebuyck stopped 38 of 41 shots on goal. … Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith scored his fourth goal of the season. … Forwards Nick Schmaltz and Tanner Kero also scored for the Blackhawks. … Nashville Predators forward Craig Smith scored two goals in a 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. … Nashville forward Mike Fisher notched two assists. … Predators forward Calle Jarnkrok scored his seventh goal of the season. … Nashville defenseman Mattias Ekholm notched two assists. … Blue Jackets forward Brandon Saad scored his 16th goal of the season. … Columbus defenseman Seth Jones notched two assists. … Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski scored a goal and added an assist. … Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds scored his 17th goal of the season in a 2-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. … Flyers forward Roman Lyubimov scored the game-winner at the 17:23 mark of the third period. … Forward William Nylander scored Toronto’s only goal. … New York Islanders forward Andrew Ladd scored two goals in a 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens. … Islanders forward Josh Bailey scored a goal. … New York forward John Tavares and defenseman Nick Leddy each notched two assists. … Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss stopped 21 of 22 shots on goal. … Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber scored his team’s only goal. He became the first Canadiens defenseman with 10 power play goals in a season since Andrei Markov in 2007-08. … Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin scored a goal and added an assist in a 5-2 win over the New Jersey Devils. … Capitals forward Andre Burakovsky also scored a goal and added an assist. … Washington forward Evgeny Kuznetsov scored two goals. … Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov notched two assists. … Washington goaltender Braden Holtby stopped 27 of 29 shots on goal. … Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid scored a goal and added an assist in a 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks. … Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl notched two assists. … Edmonton defenseman Andrej Sekera scord two goals. … Oilers forward Drake Caggiula scored his fourth goal of the season. … Sharks forward Logan Couture scored his team’s only goal. …
Did you know? Sharks general manager Doug Wilson became the fourth individual in NHL history to play 1,000 games and guide a team as GM for 1,000 games. Wilson played 1,024 games between the Blackhawks and Sharks from 1977-78 through 1992-93. He has spent his entire managerial career with San Jose. Wilson’s first season as Sharks GM was 2003-04.
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Dishonorable Mention: Blues forward Robby Fabbri was a minus-3. … St. Louis goaltender Carter Hutton was yanked after allowing five goals on 30 shots on goal. … Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk was a minus-3. … Blackhawks forwards Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin were each a minus-3. … The Canadiens allowed 42 shots on goal. … The Lightning have won one of their last five games and fell to 22-22-6. … The Canucks went 28:12 without firing a shot on goal. It was the longest a team has taken to fire a shot on goal since the NHL started tracking play-by-play in 2003. … The Blue Jackets fell to 5-7-0 since their 16-game winning streak. … Stars starter Antti Niemi was pulled after allowing two goals on five shots on goal. … Devils goaltender Keith Kinkaid was pulled after allowing four goals on 17 shots on goal.
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