NHL Three Stars: Johnson's hat trick zaps Pens; Gagner blasts past old mates
No. 1 Star: Tyler Johnson, Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa forward continued his torrid pace, scoring a hat trick in the Lightning's 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He has 37 points in 35 games. It was Johnson’s second hat trick of his career and Tampa’s first win against Pittsburgh since Nov. 17, 2011.
No. 2. Star: Sam Gagner, Arizona Coyotes
The former Oilers forward scored two goals and added two assists to help the Coyotes sweep their five-game season series with Edmonton. It was just Gagner’s second multi-point game of the season.
No. 2 Star: Rick Nash, New York Rangers
The winger scored two goals and added one assists to lead the Rangers to a 4-2 victory over the Washington Capitals. The win for the Rangers was their seventh straight. Nash’s 22 goals rank second in the NHL behind Stars forward Tyler Seguin.
Honorable Mention: Toronto’s Jonathan Bernier made 43 saves in a 4-0 win over Dallas … Pittsburgh forward Evgeni Malkin notched two assists … Maple Leafs forward James Van Riemsdyk scored one goal and notched two assists … Flyers forward Jakub Voracek notched two assists to pad his NHL lead in scoring. He has eight points in his last three games … New York’s Martin St. Louis scored two goals for the Rangers … Montreal’s Carey Price stopped 37 of 38 Islanders shots on goal in a 3-1 victory … New Jersey’s Cory Schneider stopped 32 of 33 shots on goal in a shootout loss to Carolina … Boston’s Patrice Bergeron notched three assists and forward Brad Marchand scored two goals in a 5-3 win over Nashville … Tampa’s Nikita Kucherov scored one goal and notched two assists … Arizona’s Martin Hanzel picked up three assists against Edmonton … Colorado’s Ryan O’Reilly and Jarome Iginla each scored one goal and added an assist in a win over St. Louis … Winnipeg’s Mathieu Perreault scored two goals in a win over Chicago. Teammate Andrew Ladd notched two assists … Nashville’s Calle Jarnkrok and Taylor Beck each had a goal and an assist … Boston’s Loui Eriksson scored two goals and was a plus-1 … Detroit’s Gustav Nyquist notched three assists in a win over Buffalo … Henrik Zetterbeg and Danny DeKeyser each scored a goal and added an assist for Detroit, who broke a six-game losing streak … Colorado goaltender Semyon Varlamov played in his first game since Dec. 5 and shut out the Blues with 26 saves.
Did You Know?: With the Coyotes’ five-game sweep of the Oilers, approximately 36 percent of Arizona’s 28 points have come at the expense of Edmonton.
Dishonorable Mention: Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury was yanked after allowing three Tampa goals on 10 shots on goal … Stars forwards Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin were each a minus-3 … Minnesota’s Nino Niederreiter and Ryan Suter were each a minus-3 for the Wild who have lost four games in a row … Washington’s Braden Holtby stopped 23 of 27 Rangers shots on goal … Chicago’s Corey Crawford allowed three goals on 13 Winnipeg shots on goal before being yanked … Buffalo’s Michal Neuvirth allowed six goals to the Red Wings … Edmonton’s Oscar Klefbom was a minus-3.
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