NHL Three Stars: Elliott saves Blues; Red Wings shut down Tampa
No. 1 Star: Brian Elliott, St. Louis Blues
The goaltender stopped 44 of 46 Chicago Blackhawks shots on goal to help his team to a 3-2, Game 3 win. Elliott improved to 2-1-0 with a 1.28 goal-against average and .963 save percentage in this postseason. His 44 saves were the most by a Blues goaltender in the playoffs since Curtis Joseph stopped 47 in 1994 against the Dallas Stars. St. Louis holds a 2-1 series lead over the Blackhawks.
No. 2 Star: Petr Mrazek, Detroit Red Wings
Mrazek proved the right decision for the Red Wings in replacing Jimmy Howard in their first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He made 16 stops to shut out Tampa in a 2-0 victory. It was Mrazek’s third career playoff shutout in eight postseason starts. The Lightning still lead the series 2-1.
No. 3 Star: Thomas Hickey, New York Islanders
Hickey fired the game-winning power play goal in New York’s 4-3 overtime victory over the Florida Panthers. The blueliner also played 25:17 in the game. The contest was the first New York playoff game in their new home at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. New York has a 2-1 series lead over Florida. Hickey has the last two playoff overtime goals for the Islanders.
Honorable Mention: Jaden Schwartz scored the game-winner for the Blues on the power play at the 13:22 mark of the third period. Patrik Berglund tied the game for the Blues at the 5:15 mark of the third … St. Louis captain David Backes notched an assist … Detroit forward Andreas Athanasiou scored a goal in the Red Wings’ win. Teammate Henrik Zetterberg also scored a goal … Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop stopped 28 of 30 shots on goal … New York Islanders forward Kyle Okposo notched two assists as did Islanders captain John Tavares … New York defenseman Ryan Pulock scored one goal and added an assist … Nashville Predators forward Filip Forsberg notched an assist in his team’s 3-1, Game 2 win over the Anaheim Ducks. Teammate Craig Smith scored one goal and added an assist … Anaheim forward Andrew Cogliano scored a goal … Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne stopped 27 of 29 shots on goal. This is the first time in team history Nashville has held a 2-0 playoff series lead.
Did You Know? Colton Parayko became the youngest Blues defenseman to score a playoff goal since Chris Pronger April 22, 1997.
Dishonorable Mention: The Panthers blew two two-goal leads to lose to the Islanders … New York forwards Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin were each a minus-3 … Ducks forwards Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry have combined for two points total through two playoff games … Perry is a minus three in the postseason.
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