NHL Three Stars: Hiller earns 14th straight win; Okposo leads comeback against Stars
No. 1 Star: Jonas Hiller, Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks netminder pitched a 1-0 shut-out against the Detroit Red Wings for his 14th-straight victory. Andrew Cogliano scored the game's only goal.
No. 2 Star: Kyle Okposo, New York Islanders
The Islanders were losing 2-0 to the Stars until mid-way through the second period when Okposo scored to cut the lead in half. Less than five minutes left, Okposo tied the game. John Tavares followed up by scoring the game winner with 90-ish seconds to go. Brock Nelson's empty-netter iced the 4-2 win for the Islanders' seventh-straight road-win.
No. 3 Star: Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres
It's really unfortunate Ryan Miller is on the Sabres. He should be getting much more attention for his outstanding goaltending this year. Miller stopped 28 of 29 shots from the Washington Capitals in regulation and overtime; then stonewalled Eric Fehr, Alexander Ovechkin AND Nicklas Backstrom in the shoot-out, earning the 2-1 (SO) victory. Cody Hodgson scored the only shoot-out goal.
Honorable Mention: Despite getting the loss, Caps goalie Philipp (Mc)Grubauer stopped 30 shots against Buffalo ... Jonathan Bernier stopped 36 shots and all three New Jersey shooters in the shoot-out to stop the bleeding in Toronto, 3-2 (SO); the James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak, Phil Kessel line provided all the offense for the Leafs, including JVR's goal in the shoot-out for the win ... Daniel Carcillo, Rick Nash, Derick Brassard and Chris Kreider scored for straight goals for New York until they were answered by one Philly goal (Mark Streit) in the Rangers 4-1 pounding of Philadelphia ... Despite a Patrick Kane own goal (see below), Chicago's rookie goalie Antti Raanta picked up his 12th win of the season in 5-3 rout of Edmonton ... Congrats to Minnesota goalie Darcy Kuemper for stopping all 23 of Nashville's shots and earning his first NHL shut-out, 4-0.
Did You Know? Jonas Hiller is tied with Don Beaupre, Ross Brooks, Tiny Thompson and Tom Barrasso for second place all-time in consecutive win-streaks.
Dishonorable Mention: Low scoring Anaheim/Detroit game missing Ryan Getzlaf and Pavel Datsyuk due to injuries ... Rangers and Flyers combined for 78 penalty minutes, most were handed out in the last 11 seconds of the game ... Nail Yakupov and Nick Schultz both minus-3 in Edmonton loss to Chicago... Predators David Legwand and Craig Smith on ice for 3-of-4 goals by the Wild ... Toronto goal in the second period was disallowed due to JVR (allegedly) committing goaltender interference (no review permitted). Did the refs get it wrong? You be the judge!
Patrick Kane has scored so many goals in his life, from time-to-time he even scores goals for the OTHER team ...
Follow Jen Neale on Twitter @MsJenNeale_PD
