Monday’s Three Stars: Arnott scores two in Blues win; Lundqvist blanks Devils
No. 1 Star: Jason Arnott, St. Louis Blues
Jason Arnott scored two power play goals -- one on either side of the second intermission -- to stake the St. Louis Blues to a 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames. Patrick Berglund added an assist on each as the Blues tied the Detroit Red Wings for 1st in the Central Division with 85 points in 63 games. The loss was Calgary's fourth straight.
No. 2 Star: Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers
He was hardly busy, only facing 13 shots in the entire game, but Lundqvist stopped all of them for his 8th shutout of the season as the Rangers ended the New Jersey Devils seven-game road winning streak with a 2-0 win. Carl Hagelin scored the only goal the Rangers would need, and Ryan Callahan iced the game with an empty-netter.
No. 3 Star: Taylor Hall, Edmonton Oilers
The Oilers trailed 2-1 going into the third period, but then they exploded for four straight goals and never looked back in a 5-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets. Hall had a goal and an assist in the win, as did centre Lennart Petrell.
Honourable mention: David Legwand assisted on both goals for the Nashville Predators in their 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Pekka Rinne made 30 saves. Dustin Brown had the lone goal for the Kings -- he's now been in on all five goals the Kings have scored since rumours of his availability surfaced after the Jeff Carter trade. The Kings have lost 5 of 6... Ryan O'Reilly and Matt Duchene scored less than two minutes apart early in the third period to give the Colorado Avalanche a 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks. Gabriel Landeskog and Steve Downie had 2 assists apiece, giving Downie 7 points in his last 3 games... Alex Burmistrov had a goal and an assist for the Jets. Ondrej Pavelec allowed 5 goals, but he also made this sweet pad stack on Ales Hemsky:
Did you know? The Devils have held their opponents to 16 shots or fewer in three consecutive games.
Dishonourable mention: David Clarkson came away from this tilt with Brandon Dubinsky with an extra two-minute minor for charging, I think for the egregious flying leap he takes to instigate the fight. This might be the most blatant leap we've seen in the NHL this season. Will Shanahan come a-calling?
