NHL Three Stars: Hayes has hometown hat trick; Panthers roll over struggling Habs
No. 1 Star: Jimmy Hayes, Boston Bruins
The 26-year-old Boston native fired the first hat trick of his NHL career in a 7-3 drubbing of the Ottawa Senators. Hayes is the second Massachusetts-born player to record a hat trick for the Bruins in the last 11 days. Frank Vatrano did so on Dec. 18 at Pittsburgh. The win over Ottawa broke a three-game losing streak for the Bruins.
No. 2 Star: Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers
Barkov scored two goals and added one assist in a 3-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. The win for the Panthers gave them 46 points in 37 games and took back the Atlantic Division lead from the Habs. Florida has won seven games in a row, which tied a franchise high. Since Barkov returned from a hand injury on Nov. 16, the Panthers are 14-5-1. Montreal finished December at 3-11-0.
No. 3 Star: Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks
The two-time Norris Trophy winning defenseman scored one goal and added two assists in a 7-5 beating at the Arizona Coyotes. Keith also played 24:54. Despite missing time with a knee injury earlier in the season, Keith has 21 points in 28 games. This ranks second amongst Chicago defensemen.
Honorable Mention: Los Angeles Kings goaltender Joanthan Quick stopped 42 shots on goal in a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers … Kings forward Tyler Toffoli scored a goal … Los Angeles captain Dustin Brown scored a goal and added two assists as did teammate Trevor Lewis … Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson stopped 14 Calgary Flames shots on goal in a 1-0 win … Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck stopped 33 of 34 Detroit Red Wings shots on goal in a 4-1 win … Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba scored two goals … Winnipeg forward Bryan Little notched three assists … St. Louis Blues forward Alexander Steen scored the overtime winner in a 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators. Teammate Dmitrij Jaskin scored a goal, added an assist and was a plus-3 … Nashville defenseman Shea Weber scored one goal in 25:36 of action … Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm scored one goal and one assist … Florida Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau notched two assists … Panthers netminder Roberto Luongo stopped 29 of 30 Canadiens shots on goal … Florida forward Jaromir Jagr scored a goal … Columbus Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky notched three assists in a 6-3 win over the Dallas Stars. Teammate Brandon Saad scored a goal … New Jersey Devils forward Kyle Palmieri scored a third period goal to help New Jersey to a 3-2 comeback win over the Carolina Hurricanes … New Jersey goaltender Keith Kincaid stopped 26 of 28 Carolina shots on goal … Eric Staal scored two goals for the Hurricanes … New York Islanders forwards John Tavares, Anders Lee and Frans Nielsen each scored one goal and added one assist in a 6-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs … Boston Bruins forwards Patrice Bergeron and Matt Beleskey each scored two goals in the win over the Senators … Loui Eriksson and Torey Krug each notched two assists … Erik Karlsson notched one assist for Ottawa and played 34:37 … Arizona forward Shane Doan fired a hat trick in the loss to the Blackhawks. Teammate Tobias Rieder notched three assists … Chicago forward Patrick Kane scored one goal and added two assists in 17:19 of action … Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook notched two assists as did forward Teuvo Teravainen
Did You Know? Jamie Benn is the first Stars player to score 50 points in his team’s first 38 games since the team moved to Dallas from Minnesota in the 1993-94 season. Benn had an assist in the loss to Columbus.
Dishonorable Mention: Edmonton goaltender Cam Talbot stopped 11 of 14 shots on goal from Los Angeles before being pulled … The Flames fired just 14 shots on goal in a loss to Anaheim … Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard was pulled after allowing four goals on 10 Winnipeg shots on goal … Nashville defensemen Barret Jackman and Seth Jones were each a minus-3 … Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen was yanked after allowing three goals to Columbus on 14 shots on goal … Stars defenseman John Klingberg was a minus-3 … Toronto goaltender Jonathan Bernier was yanked after allowing six Islanders goals on 15 shots on goal … Coyotes goaltender Anders Lindback was pulled after allowing three goals on five Blackhawks shots on goal.
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