Sunday’s Three Stars: Giroux, Stoll lead to eliminations; watch the handshakes

April 23, 2012 at 12:40 a.m.

This guy really showed Jonathan Quick, eh?

No. 1 Star: Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers

From his tone-setting hit on Sidney Crosby through his strong offensive performance, Giroux helped the Flyers eliminate the Penguins, 5-1. He scored an unassisted goal 32 seconds into the game, had the primary helper on Scott Hartnell's first period power-play goal and added a secondary assist on Erik Gustafsson's backbreaker of a goal in the second period. No wonder his coach called him the "best player in the world."

No. 2 Star: Tyler Seguin, Boston Bruins

After being held scoreless in the series, Seguin had the game-winner in OT and set up a key third-period goal as the Bruins forced a Game 7 with a 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals. Seguin stole the puck, threw a shot off of Braden Holtby's mask and watched Andrew Ference score in the third. Just 3:17 into overtime, Seguin converted a Milan Lucic pass to win the game.

No. 3 Star: Jarret Stoll, Los Angeles Kings

The veteran forward scored at 4:27 of overtime to eliminate the Vancouver Canucks in Game 5, 2-1. After Trevor Lewis stole the puck, Stoll blasted a shot past Cory Schneider for the victory.

Honorable mention: Henrik Sedin scored the lone goal for Vancouver on the power play, while Brad Richardson scored for the Kings … Jonathan Quick made 26 saves … Danny Briere scored his fifth of the playoffs … Evgeni Malkin had the Penguins' lone goal … Ilya Bryzgalov made 30 saves … Rich Peverley, David Krejci and Ference also had a goal and an assist for the Bruins … Tim Thomas made 26 saves … Nicklas Backstrom and Roman Hamrlik had two assists … Alex Ovechkin scored late in the third period to force overtime.

Conn Smythe Watch: 1. Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators; 2. Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers; 3. Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings; 4. Mike Smith, Phoenix Coyotes; 5. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers; 6. Andy McDonald, St. Louis Blues; 7. Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals; 8. Danny Briere, Philadelphia Flyers; 9. Alex Radulov, Nashville Predators; 10. Craig Anderson, Ottawa Senators.

Dishonorable mention: Sidney Crosby had zero points and was a minus-3 … Marc-Andre Fleury was again shaky for the Penguins, stopping just 18 shots … Alex Semin was scoreless and a minus-2, giving up the puck to Seguin on a play that resulted in a goal … David Booth, Chris Higgins and Mason Raymond all failed to notch a goal in the series loss to the Kings.

[ Also: Tyler Seguin's heroic play saves season for NHL champ Boston Bruins ]

The Handshakes: Here are the Penguins and Flyers …

… and the Canucks and Kings.