NHL Three Stars: Cardiac Cats comeback against Leafs; Fowler beats Canucks in OT
No. 1 Star: Brad Boyes, Florida Panthers
Nick Bjugstad drew a hooking call on Cody Franson late in the third with the game tied. Boyes capitalized on the power play opportunity sending the game winner past James Reimer.
No. 2 Star: Willie Mitchell, Florida Panthers
The Panthers captain helped to complete the Cats comeback from two goals down with his game-tying goal midway through the third.
No. 3 Star: Cam Fowler, Anaheim Ducks
The young Ducks defenseman won the game in overtime on a nifty pass-deflection from teammate Devante Smith-Pelly.
Honorable Mention: Francois Beauchemin provided the game-tying goal for the Ducks … Ryan Getzlaf assisted on both Anaheim goals, bringing his scoring streak 13 points in 8 games … Congrats to Ducks forward Max Friberg on making his NHL debut, he recorded 2 hits in 8:49 TOI … The Leafs weren’t all bad in their blown lead, 6-4 loss. James van Riemsdyk scored a power play goal after tremendous puck handling by Phil Kessel …
Did you know? Tonight was Randy Carlyle’s 700th game behind an NHL bench. Too bad the Leafs couldn’t manage a victory…
Dishonorable Mention: Vancouver put up only 14 shots on goal against Anaheim … Richard Panik was knocked out the game with this hit by Scottie Upshall … Jonathan Bernier was tapped to get the start for the Leafs, but he came down with ‘flu-like symptoms’ prior to warm up; Jonathan Bernier took his place and Marlies goaltender Chris Gibson arrived at the arena in Florida right as they dropped the puck … Carter Ashton played 7:29 in his first game back since his 20-game suspension for testing positive for banned substances and was a minus-1 … Cody Franson and Dionne Phaneuf were both minus-3, this didn’t help …
– – – – – – –
Jen Neale is a staff writer for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter!