NHL Three Stars: Grabner speeds Rangers over Jackets

No. 1 Star: Michael Grabner, New York Rangers

The Rangers winger willed his team to a win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. He assisted on Oscar Lindberg’s first-period goal. He scored in the second period to cut the Jackets’ lead to 4-2. Then, after the Rangers rallied in the third, he scored an unassisted beauty at 19:43 for the 5-4 win.

No. 2 Star: Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals

The Capitals goalie made 30 saves to make a T.J. Oshie goal stand in their 1-0 win over the Ottawa Senators. It was his fifth shutout of the season.

No. 3 Star: Jeff Carter, Los Angeles Kings

Jeff Carter had a goal and two assists, and Tanner Pearson scored the game-winner, in the Los Angeles Kings’ 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild.

Honorable Mention: The Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning combined for five goals in the second period. The Flyers have four of them. They won, 4-2, to end a six-game losing streak. Michal Neuvirth played his first game since Nov. 12. … Marcus Foligno, Zemgus Girgensons and Brian Gionta scored in the third period to rally the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets. … Brad Marchand scored two goals and Tuukka Rask made 25 saves in the Boston Bruins’ 4-0 win over the Florida Panthers. … Carey Price made 33 saves and Alex Radulov had a goal and an assist in the Montreal Canadiens’ spirited 5-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. … Nicklas Backstrom tallied his 500th NHL assist. … Mark Letestu scored with 1:01 left in overtime as the Edmonton Oilers rallied to defeat the New Jersey Devils, 2-1. … Louis Domingue won his first game since Nov. 8 and Radim Vrbata scored his 44th shootout goal, the most in NHL history, in the Arizona Coyotes’ 2-1 shootout win over the New York Islanders. … Patrik Berglund had the game-winner in the third while Paul Stastny had two goals and an assist in the St. Louis Blues’ 4-3 win over the Dallas Stars. … Chad Johnson made 28 saves to snap the Vancouver Canucks’ six-game win streak, as the Calgary Flames won. 3-1. Alex Chiasson, Matt Stajan and Michael Frolik scored for the Flames. … Joe Pavelski had two goals, including his 600th point, as the San Jose Sharks doubled-up the Detroit Red Wings, 6-3.

Did You Know? Mitch Marner can do this?

Dishonorable Mention: Patrik Laine was injured by a Jake McCabe hit. … Blake Wheeler was a minus-3. … Brandon Saad was a minus-3. … Oshie was injured by a Dion Phaneuf hit. … Taylor Hall went scoreless against the Oilers. … Kari Lehtonen allowed three goals on 14 shots before being replaced by Antti Niemi. … Red Wings goaltender Jared Coreau, who made 34 saves in a 4-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday, gave up three goals on 15 shots in the first period and was replaced by Petr Mrazek at the start of the second. … Bobby Farnham and Frederik Gauthier were ejected from their game for starting a fight during another fight.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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