NHL Three Stars: Ovechkin ties Federov, Flames snap Penguins win streak
No. 1 Star: Jake Allen, St. Louis Blues
Allen earned his seventh career shut-out on the back of a 45 save performance. The Blues power play went 2-for-3 against the Nashville Predators. Alexander Steen and Scott Gomez (!!) picked up 2 points a piece in St. Louis’s 4-0 victory.
No. 2 Star: Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
With his goal on the power play, Ovechkin tied Sergei Federov at 483 goals for the most scored by a Russian player in the NHL. It’s apropos considering Federov is being inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday. Ovi scored the lone goal in the shoot-out giving the Caps the 3-2 win over Toronto. The forward nearly passed Federov but his tally was overturned on review for marginal goaltender interference.
No. 3 Star: Rasmus Ristolainen, Buffalo Sabres
With 16 seconds left in the game, Ristolainen sent a rocket of a wrist shot past Ryan Miller, thereby ruining the netminder’s homecoming in Buffalo and securing the 3-2 win for Sabres.
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Honorable Mention: Linus Ullmark moved to 3-2-0 on the season with 35 saves against Vancouver. Jack Eichel earned the first and second assists of his NHL career … Nicklas Backstrom picked up two points in the shoot-out win over the Leafs. His goal came with about 1 second left on the clock to tie the game and send it into overtime:
Nick Bjugstad scored the first and only goal for the Florida Panthers before the Los Angeles Kings lit them up for four straight. Drew Doughty earned his first goal of the season on the power play. Tyler Toffoli continues to be awesome picking up 2 more points against Florida bringing his total to 13 points in 14 games … Michael Condon is now 6-0-1 backing up Carey Price. Congrats to Boston’s Frank Vatrano for picking up his first NHL goal in his first NHL game:
… Andrew Hammond made 43 saves in the overtime loss to Carolina. Jordan Staal assisted on Jeff Skinner’s game-tying goal with 4 seconds left in the game and scored the game winning goal 2:51 into overtime. Congrats to Ottawa’s Chris Wideman for picking up his first NHL goal in his fourth game … Michal Neuvirth leads the NHL in shut-outs after he backstopped the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets. Claude Giroux had 2 assists for the Flyers … Kevin Shattenkirk returned to the lineup for the Blues for the first time since being injured Oct. 13, he played 19 minutes and registered 1 shot on goal … Anton Khudobin earned his first win as a member of the Anaheim Ducks, shutting out the San Jose Sharks. Ryan Getzlaf fed Corey Perry on a breakaway for the game’s only goal:
… Devan Dubnyk stopped all 31 shots from the Tampa Bay Lighting in the Minnesota Wild’s 1-0 win. Jared Spurgeon scored the lone goal of the game 26 seconds into the second period … Keith Yandle made his first return trip to Arizona after the trade that sent him to New York. The Rangers won the game 4-1 with Antti Raanta in net making 39 saves … Mikael Backlund notched 3 assists in the first period. Johnny Gaudreau picked up 2 goals and 1 assist in the Flames 5-2 win against Pittsburgh. Calgary snapped the Penguins 6 game win streak. Sidney Crosby was a minus-4 with 2 shots on goal. Why is that relevant? It isn’t. Just an intro for some fancy stickwork by Sid to get a stick back to Patric Hornqvist; it’s possible this should have been a penalty, but it looks cool:
Did You Know? The Pittsburgh Penguins have now lost 37 straight games when they trail after two periods.
Dishonorable Mention: The Panthers had only 19 shots on goal with 9 of those shots coming in the first and second period combined … Andrei Markov shot the puck into the Bruins bench out of frustration. David Krejci took a dumb cross checking penalty at the end of the game leading to the game winning power play goal by David Desharnais. Nathan Belieu earned a match penalty for a high cross check on Zac Rinaldo:
… Daniel Winnik scored a goal for Toronto and then left the game with a lower body injury … Chris Wagner and Brenden Dillon earned a five minute major for fighting and a game misconduct after they began to fight following the end of a Clayton Stoner and Micheal Haley tussle. Haley came from the bench directly to Stoner to fight after the Ducks d-man laid a big hit on Joe Thornton … Mike Smith was pulled after giving up 3 goals on 17 shots in 25:36 on the ice. He was replaced by Anders Lindback who surrendered a single goal … Watch the little girl in the white hat try to get a fist bump from the Sabres. So close yet so far away:
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Jen Neale is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter! Follow @MsJenNeale_PD.
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