NHL Three Stars: Tarasenko and Johnson dazzle in series-tying wins
No. 1. Star: Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues
The Blues sniper is the key to St. Louis’ series against Minnesota. The Wild simply has no answer for the skilled Russian who, when he’s on, is about as unstoppable as they come in the NHL. Check out the elevation on the wrister in the below video. His hat trick helped give St. Louis a 4-1 win and tied this first round series at 1-1.
No. 2. Star: Tyler Johnson, Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa forward flashed his speed in the Lightning’s 5-1 pasting of the Detroit Red Wings. The victory for Tampa evened up the Yzerman Cup series at 1-1. Just look at these wheels on this goal. He looked like Luis Mendoza. Only the boards could stop him.
No. 3 Star: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Pegnuins
The Pittsburgh captain scored two goals in a must-win comeback victory for the Penguins over the New York Rangers in Game 2. Crosby’s two second period goals ignited Pittsburgh, which was down 1-0 after one period to New York. He took a shot around the jaw area from New York forward Carl Hagelin in the third period, but remained in the game.
Honorable Mention: Tampa’s Victor Hedman notched one assist and was a plus-3 in the win over Detroit. Teammate Valtteri Filppula scored a goal and added an assist. Lightning captain Steven Stamkos notched two assists … Pittsburgh forward Chris Kunitz scored a goal and added two assists for the Pens … Pittsburgh forward Brandon Sutter scored a goal and added an assist … New York forward Derek Stepan scored a goal and added an assist … St. Louis goaltender Jake Allen stopped 24 of 25 Minnesota shots on goal … Blues forward Alexander Steen notched two assists … Anaheim’s Jakob Silfverberg scored the game-winner in the Ducks’ 2-1 comeback win over the Winnipeg Jets with a goal with 19.8 seconds left … Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen stopped 28 of 29 Winnipeg shots on goal in the win … Winnipeg’s Ondrej Pavelec stopped 37 of 39 Ducks shot son goal in the loss.
Did You Know?: Adam Pardy’s goal on Anaheim was his first NHL goal since Jan. 26, 2011, a span of 172 games.
Dishonorable Mention: Detroit goaltender Petr Mrazek allowed four goals on 18 shots on goal in a 5-1 loss to Tampa … Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist allowed four goals in New Yorka’s loss to Pittsburgh … New York’s Rick Nash has six goals in 43 career playoff games … Winnipeg’s Bryan Little, for completely losing Silfverberg on the game-winner against Anaheim. Behold.
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