NHL Three Stars: Panarin leads Blackhawks; Reimer shuts down Wild
No. 1 Star: Artemi Panarin, Chicago Blackhawks
The rookie continued his torrid pace with three assists in a 6-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes. Panarin has 11 points in his last three games played. Before that stretch he had two points in his prior nine. Panarin leads all rookies with 75 points on the year.
No. 2 Star: James Reimer, San Jose Sharks
Stopped 29 of 29 shots on goal in a 3-0 shootout win over the Minnesota Wild. In eight games played since a trade to the Sharks from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Reimer has posted a 1.62 goal-against average and .938 save percentage. The win kept San Jose’s ultra slim Pacific Division title hopes alive. The Sharks have 96 points with two games left, while the Los Angeles Kings (two games left) and Anaheim Ducks (three games remaining) each have 99 points.
No. 3 Star: Derek Stepan, New York Rangers
The New York forward scored two goals and added an assist in a 3-2 comeback win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. The goals were his 21st and 22nd on the season. With the win, the Rangers improved to 99 points, two ahead of the New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division. The Islanders have one game in hand on the Rangers.
Honorable Mention: Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey scored one goal and added an assist in his team’s 4-3 overtime win over the Washington Capitals. One of those scores was the game-winner … New York forward John Tavares scored a goal and added two assists … Washington forward Alex Ovechkin scored two goals. Teammate T.J. Oshie scored a goal and added two assists … Caps forward Marcus Johansson notched three assists … Buffalo Sabres forward Jack Eichel scored a goal and added an assist in his team’s 3-1 win over the New Jersey Devils. Teammate Ryan O’Reilly scored his 21st goal of the season … Buffalo goaltender Chad Johnson stopped 18 of 19 shots on goal in the win … Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby scored two goals in his team’s 5-3 win over the Ottawa Senators. The Penguins overcame a three-goal deficit to pull out the win … Pittsburgh forward Nick Bonino notched three assists … Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist scored a goal and added an assist … Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson scored one goal. It was his 80th point on the season … Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov scored his 28th goal of the season in a 4-1 drubbing of the Montreal Canadiens. Teammate Teddy Purcell notched two assists … Florida goaltender Roberto Luongo stopped 32 of 33 shots on goal in the win … Habs coach Michel Therrien gave John Scott the start in Tuesday’s game. Scott was recently recalled from St. John’s in the AHL … Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello notched two assists and Chris Kreider scored his 21st goal of the year … Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist stopped 39 of 41 shots on goal … The Lightning got goals from Andrej Sustr and Brian Boyle … Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask stopped 27 of 28 shots on goal in his team’s shootout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes … Loui Eriksson picked up a goal for the Bruins … Jacob Slavin scored for the Hurricanes and Noah Hanifin scored the shootout winner … Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward stopped 35 of 36 shots on goal … San Jose Sharks forward Patrick Marleau scored two goals. Teammate Logan Couture scored a goal and added an assist … San Jose defenseman Brenden Dillon notched two assists … Chicago forward Andrew Ladd scored two goals. Teammate Jonathan Toews scored a goal and added an assist … Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane scored a goal and added an assist … Chicago finished their game 3-for-6 on the power play … Blake Wheeler scored the overtime winner for the Winnipeg Jets in a 2-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks … Anaheim forward Corey Perry scored his 33rd goal of the season … Los Angeles Kings forward Milan Lucic scored two goals in his team’s 5-4 comeback overtime win over the Calgary Flames … Los Angeles defenseman Drew Doughty notched an assist and played 31:52 … Kings forward Jeff Carter scored the OT winner and teammate Anze Kopitar notched two assists … Calgary defenseman Deryk Engelland scored a goal and added an assist … The Minnesota Wild, Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders clinched playoff berths … The Florida Panthers clinched the Atlantic Division.
Did You Know? Karlsson became the second defenseman to hit 80 points in a season over the last 20 years. The other was Detroit Red Wings blueliner Nicklas Lidstrom in 2005-06.
Dishonorable Mention: Islanders forwards Josh Bailey and Brock Nelson were each a minus-3 … The Sabres and Devils combined for 37 shots on goal … Karlsson was a minus-3 … Montreal goaltender Mike Condon allowed four goals on 19 shots on goal … Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk stopped 17 of 20 shots on goal in their loss … Calgary defenseman T.J. Brodie was a minus-4 … Flames goaltender Joni Ortio stopped 21 of 26 shots on goal.
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