Thursday’s Three Stars: Quick to 100, Ovechkin breaks out
No. 1 Star: Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings
Jonathan Quick recorded his 100th win in style, making 28 saves to shut out the Phoenix Coyotes en route to a 2-0 Kings win. It was Quick's second shutout in a row. He leads the NHL with a gaudy .967 save percentage. Of course, since Nikolai Khabibulin is second in the category, it's probably not wise to trust the stat just yet.
No. 2 Star: Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins
Zdeno Chara put up a goal and two assists as the Bruins unloaded some frustration by beating up on the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-2. One of those goals was scored on a slapshot from the dot. The dot. Zdeno Chara shouldn't be allowed to shoot from that close. If you listen closely, you can actually hear Jonas Gustavsson wishing he went to law school instead.
No. 3 Star: Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Alex Ovechkin had his first multi-goal game of the year, scoring twice in the Washington Capitals' 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Is this the beginning of a goal-scoring outburst from Ovie? The rest of the league would probably prefer not. The Capitals got to 5-0 without much in the way of contributions from him. If he can get his game back, they could be scary.
Honorable mention: Tomas Vokoun made 40 saves for his fifth straight win for the Capitals. It's his longest win streak since 2005-06. Pretty incredible since he's being paid in buttons... Milan Lucic, Andrew Ference and Tyler Seguin had three-point nights in Toronto as well ... Milan Michalek and Jason Spezza combined for three goals in the Ottawa Senators' 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets. Craig Anderson made 35 saves for the Senators... Joe Vitale's first goal of the season was the game-winner as the Pittsburgh Penguins triumphed 3-1 over Montreal Canadiens. Derek Engelland added two assists... Thomas Vanek scored twice and Ryan Miller picked up a shutout in the Buffalo Sabres 3-o victory over the Florida Panthers... Vincent LeCavalier had a goal and an assist was the Tampa Bay Lightning smothered the New York Islanders 4-1 ... Jonathan Toews had a goal and an assist in Chicago's 3-1 win over Colorado. Semyon Varlamov picked up the loss, but he also had the save of the night:
Nick Backstrom made 30 saves and stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers. Dany Heatley scored with a second left to send the game to extra time. Matt Cullen scored the shootout winner... Henrik and Daniel Sedin had two points each as the Vancouver Canucks chased Pekka Rinne with a four-goal first and cruised to a 5-1 win over the Nashville Predators... Ryan McDonagh scored the overtime winner with two seconds remaining to knock off the Flames, 3-2.
Ryan Callahan throws his arms up before the puck's even in the net.
Did you know? Getting hit with a shot really hurts. Take it from Matt Hendricks.
Dishonorable mention: The Flyers allowed 3 goals in the first five minutes of the third period versus Washington. They came within a span of 2:25... Cody Franson, whose defense has always been suspect, finished a minus-3 in only 14:32 of icetime... The Islanders only put 17 shots on Mathieu Garon... The Nashville Predators took 11 minor penalties.
