NHL Three Stars: Canucks drop 7th straight; St. Louis owns the Central
No. 1 Star: Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
Just another three-point game for Bergeron in the Bruins 7-2 pummeling of Ottawa. Bergeron scored on Boston's first (on the power play) and third goals on six shots, and assisted on the sixth goal by Brad Marchand.
No. 2 Star: Ray Emery, Philadelphia Flyers
The goaltender hadn't played in a game since January 25th but you couldn't tell. Emery made 32 saves to beat the Calgary Flames. Note: the greatest player in the universe (according to Ed Snider), Claude Giroux, had one assist.
No. 3 Star: Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks captain helped snap the team's losing streak by scoring two goals and adding an assist in Anaheim's 5-2 win against Nashville. His first goal came on the power play and it was the epitome of puck-luck. There is no way you could recreate the bank-shot off the Preds player.
Honorable mention: Carey Price made 31 saves in the Canadiens 4-1 road win against the Carolina Hurricanes; after leaving the game due to a nasty spill, Max Pacioretty is still headed to Sochi ... Ondrej Palat scores a power play and empty net goal against Jimmy Howard and the Detroit Red Wings in the Lightning's 4-2 victory ... Brayden Holtby earned a 25-save shut-out for the Capitals against New Jersey ... With 22 seconds left, Radem Vrbata's power play goal brought Phoenix within one but Dallas managed to fight off the surge for the 2-1 win.
Did You Know? With their 4-3 (SO) win over Winnipeg, the St. Louis Blues are now 15-0-1 against the Central Division; they jumped the Blackhawks for the division lead.
Dishonorable mention: It is going to be a looooong break for the Vancouver Canucks. Toronto handed the Canucks their seventh-straight loss by scoring three unanswered goals in the third period on (Team Canada goalie) Roberto Luongo ... Ottawa's Craig Anderson was chased from net after giving up five goals on 33 shots by Boston ... Islanders defenseman (and trade-bait) Andrew MacDonald didn't help his value as a minus-4 in the Isle's 5-2 loss to Colorado.
