NHL Three Stars: Vatrano steals win; crazy Roy move almost works
No. 1 Star: Frank Vatrano, Boston Bruins
The Bruins forward opened the scoring against the Detroit Red Wings with a goal and closed it out with a tip shot followed by a memorable celebration. In between, Detroit dominated, but Vatrano led the Bruins to a 3-2 overtime win.
No. 2 Star: Ben Bishop, Tampa Bay Lightning
Bish made 37 saves for the Lightning and only allowed one goal in the shootout as Tampa Bay defeated the Los Angles Kings, 2-1.
No. 3 Star: Shane Prince, Ottawa Senators
Shane Prince scored his first and second NHL goals and assisted on another, as the Ottawa Senators survived a late push from the Colorado Avalanche for the 5-3 win. Craig Anderson made 40 saves.
Honorable Mention: Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves and Matt Calvert had the second-period game-winner in the Columbus Blue Jackets’ 2-1 win over the New Jersey Devils. … Jack Eichel scored his seventh, but it wasn’t enough as the Nashville Predators got 30 saves out of Carter Hutton and won, 3-2. … Devante Smith-Pelly had two goals and Tomas Plekanec had three assists in the Montreal Canadiens’ 5-1 rout of the New York Rangers. Max Pacioretty scored his 12th. … Evgeny Kuznetsov had a goal and two assists while Alex Ovechkin scored his 11th of the season in the Washington Capitals’ 5-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets. … Cam Ward made 30 saves and the Carolina Hurricanes scored four unanswered goals in their 4-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers. … Radim Vrbata improved his (alleged) trade value, scoring two consecutive goals and helping the Vancouver Canucks to a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild. … Kyle Okposo had the go-ahead goal and Frans Nieslen scored into an empty net for a 3-1 win over the offensively-challenged Philadelphia Flyers. … Antoine Vermette had his first two goals of the season and Max Domi had two assists as the Arizona Coyotes picked up a big divisional win, 4-2, over the Anaheim Ducks. … Evegni Malkin’s slick goal in overtime gave the Penguins a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Blues. He previously assisted on Sidney Crosby’s power-play goal, which was Sid’s second of the game. … Patrick Kane extended his point streak to 17 games with two assists, as the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the San Jose Sharks, 5-2. Andrew Desjardins scored a key goal in the third period, 1:07 after Patrick Marleau’s tally.
Did You Know? Patrick Roy pulled his goalie for a 6-on-4 power play, down three goals and with over 10 minutes left in the third – and it worked!
Dishonorable Mention: Devils fans were outraged, but the refs were correct in taking a tying goal from Adam Henrique off the board after Gregory Campbell played the puck on a delayed call against Columbus. … Linus Ullmark was pulled by the Sabres after they went down 3-0. … Mats Zuccarello, Rick Nash and Derick Brassard were all a minus-3. … Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was a minus-4, while Jordan Eberle was a minus-3. … Kevin Bieksa and Cam Fowler were minus-2. … Carey Price did not play in the third period for Montreal due to injury concerns. … Semyon Varlamov was pulled after Ottawa took a 3-1 lead. … Feeling super bad for Nail Yakupov and this freak injury.
