Friday’s Three Stars: Miller, Schneider shine; Jones leads Avs to win
No. 1 Star: Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres goalie made 35 saves through three periods and overtime, and then made three of four saves in the shootout to backstop Buffalo over the Boston Bruins, 2-1. Andrej Sekera and Zdeno Chara traded goals in regulation; Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek scored in the shootout, helping Miller earn the Golden Helmet (photo via Sketchball).
No. 2 Star: David Jones, Colorado Avalanche
Jones scored two goals and an assist in the Avs' 5-0 domination of the Columbus Blue Jackets. His unassisted goal at 19:34 of the first period, coming after Colton Gillies hit the crossbar at the other end, gave Colorado a 1-0 lead. His goal 1:35 into the third period gave the Avs a 3-0 lead. He later assisted on Matt Hunwick's first of the season to make it 5-0.
No. 3 Star: Cory Schneider, Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks keeper made 30 saves while Aaron Rome and Mason Raymond provided the offense in Vancouver's 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils — 24 hours after becoming the first team to win in Detroit since last November. Schneider made 10 saves in the third to close it out.
Honorable mention: Michal Neuvirth made 30 saves in the Washington Capitals' 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens; Jason Chimera had a goal and an assist, while Alex Ovechkin scored his 25th. … P.A. Parenteau scored two goals, while Matt Moulson had a goal and the clincher in the shootout to give the New York Islanders a 4-3 win over the New York Rangers. Marian Gaborik and Derek Stepan rallied the Rangers. Evgeni Nabokov made 33 saves. … Kari Lehtonen made 28 saves, while Tom Wandell scored two goals in the Dallas Stars' 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild. Loui Eriksson and Eric Nystrom had the other tallies. … Steve Downie and Gabriel Landeskog scored the other goals for Colorado. Semyon Varlamov made 28 saves for the shutout. … David Clarkson scored for the Devils. … The great Doc Emrick was honored before the Devils' game.
Save of the Night: If only Steve Mason had made up for all of his mistakes this season in this fashion. Wow.
Did you know? Bruins C Brad Marchand was booed by Sabres fans each time he touched the puck, a day after he referred to Buffalo as "the worst place in the NHL," during an interview on a Boston radio station. (AP)
Dishonorable mention: Scott Gomez and Ryan White were minus-3 for Montreal. … Nate Prosser was a minus-3 for the Wild. … Minnesota pulled Niklas Backstrom after 23:53 and three goals on 14 shots.
