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NHL Three Stars: Toews' hat trick; Gaudreau's four assists; Leafs top Jets

ST. PAUL, MN - FEBRUARY 21: (L-R) Duncan Keith #2, Richard Panik #14, Jonathan Toews #19, and Brent Seabrook #7 of the Chicago Blackhawks celebrate after scoring a goal against the Minnesota Wild during the game on February 21, 2017 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)
Duncan Keith, Richard Panik, Jonathan Toews, and Brent Seabrook of the Chicago Blackhawks celebrate after scoring a goal against the Minnesota Wild during the game on February 21, 2017 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Getty Images)

No. 1 Star: Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks

The Chicago captain notched his fourth career regular season hat trick and picked up two assists in a 5-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild. He became the first Blackhawks player to score five points in a game since Nov. 25, 2011 when he had two goals and three assists against the Anaheim Ducks. Toews now has 14 points in his last eight games and 42 in 51 this season. The victory was the seventh straight for Chicago on the road, which tied a franchise record for longest road winning streak. This was set Dec. 9-29, 1964.

No. 2 Star: Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames

Gaudreau notched four assists in a 6-5 overtime win over the Nashville Predators, which helped the Flames improve to 30-26-4 and 64 points. Calgary currently holds the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, two points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings. The four assists for Gaudreau were a career-high and helped snap a stretch of four straight games where he didn’t score a point. Gaudreau now has 39 points in 50 games this season.


No. 3 Star: Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs

The rookie picked up three assists in an important 5-4 home overtime win over the Winnipeg Jets. Matthews notched the primary assist on William Nylander’s game-tying goal in the third period and picked up the only helper on Jake Gardiner’s overtime winner. The 19-year-old Matthews now has 52 points and became the second teenager in team history to record 50 points in a season. The other was Ted Kennedy in 1944-45. With the victory, Toronto now has 67 points and moved back into the top three in the Atlantic Division, one point ahead of the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers.

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Honorable Mention: Calgary Flames defenseman Mark Giordano scored the overtime winner against Nashville. He also added an assist. … Flames forward Sean Monahan notched three assists. … Calgary forward Mikael Backlund scored two goals. … Flames defenseman Dougie Hamilton scored a goal and added an assist. … Nashville forward Filip Forsberg scored a hat trick and now has 19 goals on the season. … Predators forward Colin Wilson and defenseman P.K. Subban each scored a goal and added an assist. … Blackhawks forward Nick Schmaltz scored a goal and added two assists. … Chicago forward Richard Panik scored his 16th goal of the season and added an assist. … Wild forward Mikael Granlund scored two goals. … Minnesota forwards Mikko Koivu and Nino Niederreiter each notched two assists. … Wild forward Zach Parise scored a goal. … Nylander and Gardiner also each added an assist. … Maple Leafs forward Leo Komarov scored two goals. … Maple Leafs forward Nazem Kadri scored his 25th goal of the season. … Jets forward Patrik Laine scored two goals. He now has 30 on the season, which is a Winnipeg/Atlanta Thrashers rookie franchise record. The prior mark was 29, which was set by Ilya Kovalchuk in 2001-02. Laine became the ninth player in NHL history to score 30 goals in a season before turning 19. … Winnipeg forwards Mark Scheifele and Mathieu Perreault each notched two assists. … Jets forward Bryan Little scored his 17th goal of the season. … Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov scored a goal and added three assists in a 4-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers. … Tampa forward Ondrej Palat scored two goals. … Lightning forward Tyler Johnson notched two assists. … Tampa goaltender Ben Bishop stopped 20 of 21 shots on goal. … New York Islanders forward Josh Bailey scored a goal and added an assist in a 3-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings. … Islanders captain John Tavares scored his 22nd goal of the season. … Islanders defenseman Calvin de Haan scored his fourth goal of the season. … Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg scored his 14th goal of the year. … Ottawa Senators goaltender Craig Anderson stopped 29 of 30 shots on goal in a 2-1 win over the New Jersey Devils. … Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson scored his 10th goal of the season. … Ottawa forward Kyle Turris scored his 20th goal of the year. … New Jersey forward Travis Zajac scored his team’s only goal of the game. … The Montreal Canadiens got their first win under coach Claude Julien this season in a 3-2 shootout victory over the New York Rangers. … Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber scored a goal and added an assist. … Montreal forward Andrew Shaw scored a goal. … Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty notched an assist. … Montreal goaltender Carey Price stopped 28 of 30 shots on goal. He tied Ken Dryden for third-most victories in franchise history with 258. … Habs forward Paul Byron fired the shootout winner. … Rangers forwards Oscar Lindberg and Rick Nash each scored a goal. … Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh notched an assist. … Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby scored his NHL-leading 33rd goal of the season in a 3-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. … Pittsburgh forward Evgeni Malkin scored his 25th goal of the year. … Penguins forward Phil Kessel and defenseman Kris Letang each notched an assist. …Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner scored his team’s only goal. … Penguins goaltender Matt Murray stopped 29 of 30 shots on goal.

Did you know? The Penguins are 69-4-1 when Crosby and Malkin score in same game.

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Dishonorable Mention: Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne allowed four goals on 13 shots on goal. … Nashville defenseman Roman Josi and forward Calle Jarnkrok were each a minus-3. … Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck allowed five goals on 37 shots on goal. … Oilers forwards Connor McDavid and Patrick Maroon were each a minus-3.

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