NHL Three Stars: Ducks capture Pacific; Flyers down Islanders
No. 1 Star: Frederik Andersen, Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks netminder stopped 24 of 24 shots on goal in a 2-0 shutout win over the Washington Capitals that carried his team to the Pacific Division title. The Ducks entered the regular season’s final weekend three points back of the Los Angeles Kings with two games left, and won both contests to pick up four points. The Kings held a 3-0 lead on Saturday and blew it in a shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets. A victory would have sealed the division for LA. The Pacific Division title wrapped up an incredible turnaround for Anaheim that saw them start the year 17-17-7 in the first half and go 29-8-4 in the second half. Andersen had been out since March 31 with a concussion.
No. 2 Star: Michael Raffl, Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers forward scored a goal and added two assists in his team’s 5-2 win over the New York Islanders. This came one day after the Flyers pushed their way into the postseason with a victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. With the loss, the Islanders will play the Florida Panthers in the first-round of the playoffs.
No. 3 Star: Shayne Gostisbehere, Philadelphia Flyers
The rookie blueliner fired his 17th goal of the season in 21:26 of action in the victory over the Islanders. Gostisbehere ended his superb first full NHL season with 17 goals and 29 assists in 64 games played. He finished fifth in points by a rookie and ninth in goals by a rookie.
Honorable Mention: Flyers defenseman Evgeny Medvedev scored one goal and added an assist … Flyers forward Brayden Schenn notched two assists … Islanders forwards Nikolay Kulemin and Matt Martin each scored one goal … Ducks forward Corey Perry scored his 34th goal of the season … Anaheim rookie Nick Ritchie scored his second goal of the year.
Did You Know? The Ducks became the fourth team since 1968 to finish a season with the NHL’s top power play and penalty killing unit. They’re the first team to do so since the 1984-85 Islanders.
Dishonorable Mention: New York Islanders goaltender Christopher Gibson stopped 15 of 18 shots on goal in the loss. Islanders starter Thomas Greiss played one period and stopped seven of nine shots on goal … The Islanders blew a 2-0 lead in the loss … Capitals defensemen Mike Weber and Dmitry Orlov were each a minus-2.
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