NHL Three Stars: Hudler sends Flames onward; Keith’s late heroics advance Hawks
No. 1 Star: Jiri Hudler, Calgary Flames
The Flames forward was a dynamo against the Canucks in Calgary’s 7-4 come-from-behind series clinching win. He scored two goals and added two assists to help Calgary make the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2003-04. That season the Flames went to the Stanley Cup Final.
No. 2 Star, Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks
The star blueliner notched his second game winning goal of the Chicago’s series against Nashville, which sent the Blackhawks into the second round in a deciding 4-3 Game 6 win over the Predators. Keith also played 28:00 and was a plus-2. His goal came at the 16:12 mark of the third period. Check out this sweet goal celebration to the tune of “Chelsea Dagger” by the Fratellis. Maybe you’ve heard of that song a few times most recent springs.
No. 3. Star: Peter Mrazek, Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings rookie goaltender stopped 28 of 28 Tampa shots on goal in a 4-0 shutout of the Lightning. The victory put the Wings up 3-2 in its series at it heads to Detroit for Game 6. It also offered a little redemption for Mrazek after Detroit blew a two-goal third period lead in Game 4
Honorable Mention: New York defenseman Nick Leddy notched two assists and was a plus-3 in the Islanders’ 3-1 win over Washington … Islanders goaltender Jaroslav Halak stopped 38 of 39 Caps shots on goal … The victory forced a Game 7 … Detroit forwards Riley Sheahan, Drew Miller and Pavel Dastsyuk each scored a goal … Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson notched two assists … Chicago forward Jonathan Toews scored a goal and added two assists in the win over Nashville … Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane scored a goal and added an assist … Calgary forwards Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau each scored a goal and added two assists … Calgary’s David Jones (three assists), Matt Stajan (one goal and two assists) and Michael Ferland (two goals and one assists) also had three points for the Flames … Watch Islanders forward John Tavares take a massive hit by Alex Ovechkin to set up the game winner.
Did You Know?: Mike Babcock’s 82nd playoff win tied him with Toe Blake for ninth all time in NHL history. He is 82-60 in the playoffs.
Dishonorable Mention: Ovechkin was a minus-3 … Tampa forward Steven Stamkos was held pointless and has just two assists in five games for the Lightning … Chicago’s Scott Darling was yanked after allowing three goals in 12 shots on goal in the Hawks’ series clinching win over Nashville … The Predators held leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in the loss … Nashville’s Pekka Rinne stopped 28 of 32 shots on goal in the loss … Vancouver goaltender Ryan Miller stopped 26 of 31 shots on goal against the Flames … Calgary netminder Jonas Hiller was also yanked after stopping one of three shots on goal.
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