NHL Three Stars: Niederreiter nets three; Tarasenko topples Preds
No. 1 Star: Nino Niederreiter, Minnesota Wild
Led the Minnesota Wild to a 6-3 win over the hapless Buffalo Sabres with a hat trick. It was the first hatty of his NHL career.
No. 2 Star: Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues
Is there anything he can’t do right now? A fight, a goal and an assist for the Gordie Howe hat trick in helping the Blues to a 4-3 win in a Central Division bruise-fest against the Nashville Predators. He also may have dove in the below hit by Eric Nystrom, but that’s another story altogether. Nystrom did get his glove up a bit while Tarasenko wasn't totally balanced. Either way, Tarasenko stayed in the game.
No. 3 Star: Kari Lehtonen, Dallas Stars
Made 27 saves on 27 Kings shots on goal to pick up his second straight victory. This comes after a five-game winless skid.
Honorable Mention: Montreal’s Dale Weise also recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick in the Canadiens’ 5-1 ripping of Boston … Colorado’s Matt Duchene scored a goal and added an assist in the Avalanche’s 4-3 shootout win over New York … Nathan MacKinnon notched the game-tying goal in the third period for Colorado. MacKinnon also scored in the breakaway contest … Predators rookie Filip Forsberg continued his hot pace with one goal and two assists giving him 20 points on the season … Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler scored two goals in the Jets 3-1 win over Carolina … Jets forward Mark Scheifle had two assists … Calgary’s Paul Byron scored two goals … Dallas’ Jason Spezza notched his third goal of the year in the Stars 2-0 vanquishing of Los Angeles … Ottawa’s Chris Phillips had one assist and was a plus-3 in the Senators’ 4-3 overtime win over Edmonton … Ryan Nugent-Hopkins notched two assists … Calgary’s Mark Giordano blasted a goal in the Flames 5-3 victory over Arizona to give him 20 points in 18 games on the year ... San Jose's Antti Niemi stopped 32 of 33 Tampa shots on goal in the Sharks 2-1 win over the Lightning.
Did You Know? Kings forward Jarret Stoll is still looking for his first goal of the season … and probably isn’t pleased that he didn’t score on this big save by Lehtonen.
Dishonorable Mention: Boston’s Reilly Smith, Dougie Hamilton, Patrice Bergeron, Dennis Seidenberg and Brad Marchand were each a minus-3 … Jhonas Enroth allowed five goals, stopping 33 of 38 Minnesota shots on goal … Cam Ward’s five-game winning streak was stopped in Carolina’s loss to Winnipeg, but he still made 34 saves on 36 shots on goal in the process … Arizona’s Keith Yandle, Connor Murphy and Shane Doan were each a minus-3 – though Doan did have a goal and an assist … Coyotes netminder Mike Smith has lost three straight starts. In this game he stopped just 20 of 25 shots on goal … Fox Sports makes the list for this forgettable live in-game graphic in the Kings/Stars game, previewing L.A’s Saturday tilt against Anaheim. That is not Ryan Kesler. It’s James Neal. That is not Jason LaBarbera. It is some unnamed Blue Jackets player who some on Twitter have surmised looks like Ryan Johansen.
