NHL Three Stars: Skinner tricks again; Varlamov shuts down Blackhawks
No. 1 Star: Jeff Skinner, Carolina Hurricanes
Two hat tricks in three games? Welcome back to elite sniper-ville, Jeff Skinner. The Hurricanes forward scored three goals on six shots – including that 1-on-4 beauty to complete the trick. Alas, Carolina could only pull a point out of Philadelphia in a 4-3 overtime loss.
No. 2 Star: Semyon Varlamov, Colorado Avalanche
Matt Duchene, Zach Redmond and Gabriel Landeskog gave Varlamov the offense he needed in a 3-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks that ended Patrick Kane’s points streak at 26 games. Varly made 29 saves in the win.
No. 3 Star: Thomas Vanek, Minnesota Wild
The Wild had four-point nights from both Vanek and Mikko Koivu in their 6-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks, but we’ll give the nod to Vanek here for having points on the Wild’s first four goals. He had a goal and three helpers for the game.
Honorable Mention: Shayne Gostisbehere scored his third overtime goal of the season to give the Flyers the win. … Cory Schneider made 25 saves as the New Jersey Devils shut out the Buffalo Sabres, 2-0. … Roberto Luongo made 33 saves and Alexsander Barkov had a goal and two assists in the Florida Panthers’ 5-1 win over the New York Islanders. … Congrats to Dylan McIlrath on his first NHL goal as the New York Rangers ended the Edmonton Oilers’ 6-game winning streak, 4-2. Rick Nash had a power-play goal in the second for the game-winner. … Vladislav Namestnikov scored at 2:01 of overtime as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-4. … Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski and Dainius Zubrus – his first as a Shark, playing on the top line – scored in San Jose’s 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens. Martin Jones made 26 saves. … Kris Russell completed a 2-on-1 with Johnny Gaudreau for the game-winner in the Calgary Flames’ 2-1 overtime victory over the Nashville Predators. … Third-period goals from Vladimir Tarasenko (his 19th) and Paul Stastny rallied the St. Louis Blues over the Winnipeg Jets, 4-3. … Tyler Seguin scored two goals as the Dallas Stars routed the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-1.
Did You Know? Cody Hodgson scored on a penalty shot.
Dishonorable Mention: Nick Leddy, Travis Hamonic and Frans Nielsen were all minus-3. … Future Leaf Steve Stamkos was held scoreless and was a minus-1 in Toronto. … Andrei Markov was a minus-3. … Ryan Miller was pulled after giving up six goals on 36 shots. … Ryan Johansen was benched in the third for the Blue Jackets. … Joonas Korpisalo was pulled after giving up four goals on 27 shots. … David Savard was a minus-4. Brandon Dubinsky and Andrew Bodnarchuk were a minus-3. ... Did Calgary get jobbed out of a goal here?
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
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