NHL Three Stars: Blues clinch playoffs; Lightning lose Stralman
No. 1 Star: Jason Garrison, Tampa Bay Lightning
Garrison scored a goal and added two assists in the Lightning’s offensively charged 7-4 win over the New York Islanders. The win for the Lightning moved Tampa into first place in the Atlantic Division, but it came at a cost. The team lost defenseman Anton Stralman for an indefinite period of time with a non-displaced fracture of his left fibula. Garrison played 20:28 in the win.
No. 2 Star: Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals
The Washington netminder won his 45th game in a 1-0 shutout overtime win over the New Jersey Devils. Holtby stopped 22 of 22 shots on goal to boost his numbers to a 2.21 goal-against average and .922 save percentage. The shutout was his third of the season for the NHL leading Washington. The Capitals are one win away from tying a franchise record of 54 set in 2009-10.
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No. 3 Star: Brian Elliott, St. Louis Blues
Elliott stopped all 15 Vancouver Canucks shots on goal in a 4-0 shutout. The win for the Blues clinched the postseason for the fifth straight year. Elliott has picked up shutouts in his last three starts. With the victory, the Blues pulled even with the Dallas Stars for the top spot in the Central Division. This is the third time in Elliott’s career he’s posted three straight shutouts.
Honorable Mention: Lightning forward Ondrej Palat notched three assists …Tyler Johnson fired the game-winning goal for Tampa … Lightning defenseman Andrej Sustr and forward Nikita Kucherov each scored a goal and added an assist … St. Louis forwards Paul Stastny and Troy Brouwer each notched two assists notched two assists … Blues forwards Kyle Brodziak and Robby Fabbri both scored goals … Devils goaltender Scott Wedgewood stopped 25 of 26 shots on goal … Capitals defenseman John Carlson scored the OT winner in his first game since Feb. 24. Carlson had been out with a lower body injury.
Did You Know? Holtby is the sixth goaltender in NHL history to post at least 45 wins in a season.
Dishonorable Mention: Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss stopped 35 of 41 shots on goal in the loss … New York has won one of their last six games played … Canucks forward Chris Higgins and defenseman Ben Hutton were both minus-3 … Vancouver fired just 15 shots on goal.
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