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NHL Three Stars: Hudler sends Flames onward; Keith's late heroics advance Hawks

NHL Three Stars: Hudler sends Flames onward; Keith's late heroics advance Hawks

No. 1 Star: Jiri Hudler, Calgary Flames

The Flames forward was a dynamo against the Canucks in Calgary’s 7-4 come-from-behind series clinching win. He scored two goals and added two assists to help Calgary make the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2003-04. That season the Flames went to the Stanley Cup Final.

No. 2 Star, Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks

The star blueliner notched his second game winning goal of the Chicago’s series against Nashville, which sent the Blackhawks into the second round in a deciding 4-3 Game 6 win over the Predators. Keith also played 28:00 and was a plus-2. His goal came at the 16:12 mark of the third period. Check out this sweet goal celebration to the tune of “Chelsea Dagger” by the Fratellis. Maybe you’ve heard of that song a few times most recent springs.

No. 3. Star: Peter Mrazek, Detroit Red Wings

The Red Wings rookie goaltender stopped 28 of 28 Tampa shots on goal in a 4-0 shutout of the Lightning. The victory put the Wings up 3-2 in its series at it heads to Detroit for Game 6. It also offered a little redemption for Mrazek after Detroit blew a two-goal third period lead in Game 4

Honorable Mention: New York defenseman Nick Leddy notched two assists and was a plus-3 in the Islanders' 3-1 win over Washington … Islanders goaltender Jaroslav Halak stopped 38 of 39 Caps shots on goal …  The victory forced a Game 7 … Detroit forwards Riley Sheahan, Drew Miller and Pavel Dastsyuk each scored a goal … Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson notched two assists … Chicago forward Jonathan Toews scored a goal and added two assists in the win over Nashville … Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane scored a goal and added an assist … Calgary forwards Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau each scored a goal and added two assists … Calgary’s David Jones (three assists), Matt Stajan (one goal and two assists) and Michael Ferland (two goals and one assists) also had three points for the Flames ... Watch Islanders forward John Tavares take a massive hit by Alex Ovechkin to set up the game winner. 

Did You Know?: Mike Babcock’s 82nd playoff win tied him with Toe Blake for ninth all time in NHL history. He is 82-60 in the playoffs.

Dishonorable Mention: Ovechkin was a minus-3 … Tampa forward Steven Stamkos was held pointless and has just two assists in five games for the Lightning …  Chicago’s Scott Darling was yanked after allowing three goals in 12 shots on goal in the Hawks’ series clinching win over Nashville … The Predators held leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in the loss … Nashville’s Pekka Rinne stopped 28 of 32 shots on goal in the loss … Vancouver goaltender Ryan Miller stopped 26 of 31 shots on goal against the Flames … Calgary netminder Jonas Hiller was also yanked after stopping one of three shots on goal.

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