NHL Three Stars: Dubnyk steps up again for Wild; Ellis subs superb for Florida
No. 1. Star: Devan Dubnyk, Minnesota Wild
In his 27th straight start, Dubnyk stopped 41 of 42 St. Louis shots on goal in a 3-1 victory over the Blues. He’s 20-5-1 with a 1.66 goals against average and .939 save percentage with the Wild. This game was the second part of a back-to-back. Dubnyk lost the previous night against Anaheim.
No. 2 Star: Dan Ellis, Florida Panthers
Stopped all 27 Carolina shots on goal in a 2-0 shutout win over the Hurricanes. He is now 3-0-1 since being summoned from the American Hockey League to replace Florida’s injured goaltending tandem of Al Montoya and Roberto Luongo.
No. 3 Star: Brayden Schenn, Philadelphia Flyers
Schenn gave Philly some good secondary – and primary – scoring with two goals and an assist in a 7-2 drubbing over the Detroit Red Wings. That matched his point total in his previous 12 games.
Honorable Mention: Vancouver forward Derek Dorsett scored one goal and added two assists in a 4-1 win over Toronto … Vancouver forward Chris Higgins scored one goal in the victory … Canucks goaltender Eddie Lack stopped 28 of 29 Toronto shots on goal … Florida’s Brandon Pirri scored a goal … Montreal’s Carey Price stopped 35 of 36 Islanders shots on goal in a 3-1 win … Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty scored a goal … Winnipeg’s Ondrej Pavelec stopped 15 of 16 Tampa shots on goal in a 2-1 win over the Lightning … Jets forward Blake Wheeler scored a goal … Rangers defenseman Keith Yandle scored his first goal since a trade deadline deal to New York in a 2-0 victory over Buffalo. It was his first point in six games … Rangers goaltender Mackenzie Skapski stopped 20 of 20 Buffalo shots on goal in the win … Buffalo’s Anders Lindback stopped 31 of 32 Rangers shots on goal … Chicago’s Patrick Sharp scored his first goal since Jan. 28 in a 6-2 win over San Jose … Chicago forward Brandon Saad scored two goals in the victory … Marian Hossa scored one goal and one assist for the Hawks … Sharks forward Joe Thornton scored a goal one day after saying his GM should shut his mouth … Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask stopped 30 of 30 Pittsburgh shots on goal in a 2-0 shutout win … Boston forward Milan Lucic scored a goal … Penguins goaltender Thomas Greiss stopped 28 of 29 shots on goal for Pitt … Philadelphia’s Wayne Simmonds scored one goal and added two assists in a 7-2 blasting of Detroit … Flyers forward Brayden Schenn scored two goals and added one assist … Minnesota Wild forward Thomas Vanek scored a goal as did Kyle Brodziak … Colorado forward Alex Tanguay scored a goal and added an assist in a 3-2 win over Calgary … Avalanche forward Ryan O’Reilly scored a goal … Predators forward Craig Smith scored a goal in a 2-1 win over Los Angeles … Kings forward Jeff Carter scored in the loss … Calgary forward Lance Bouma scored a goal and added an assist … Colorado’s Tyson Barrie notched two assists.
Did You Know?: With the win over the Kings, Nashville’s Pekka Rinne notched his 200th of his NHL career. He stopped 23 of 24 LA shots on goal. It was also Nashville’s 600th franchise win, meaning Rinne has 1/3 of Nashville’s wins as an organization.
Dishonorable Mention: Toronto forward Tyler Bozak was a minus-3 … Islanders forward Kyle Okposo, defenseman Johnny Boychuk and forward Frans Nielsen were each a minus-3 … Detroit’s Jimmy Howard stopped just 29 of 36 Philadelphia shots on goal in a 7-2 drubbing by the Flyers … Arizona’s Mike Smith lost his NHL-leading 33rd game of the season … New York’s John Tavares was held pointless against Montreal and was a minus-1 … The Kings blew a 1-0 third period lead to lose to Nashville.
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