Tuesday’s Three Stars: Leafs, Oilers rout foes; Mitchell sinks Blues
No. 1 Star: Tyler Bozak, Toronto Maple Leafs
The Leafs are really enjoying beating certain teams from the Southeast Division of late. After routing the Washington Capitals 7-1 on Saturday night, they did the same to the Tampa Bay Lightning by the same score on Tuesday. Bozak scored his third and fourth goals of the year and assisted on Joffrey Lupul's 11th to give him nine points in his last six games.
No. 2 Star: Jordan Eberle, Edmonton Oilers
As the Oilers put the hurt on the Nashville Predators during a 6-2 rout, Eberle stood out with a three-point night scoring twice. His second goal of the night could've used a little defense from the Predators:
No. 3 Star: Mike Richards, Los Angeles Kings
After Vladimir Sobotka tied the game in the third period, Willie Mitchell fired home the winner 1:43 later as the Kings edged the St. Louis Blues 3-2. Richards assisted on Anze Kopitar's 10th goal in the second later and later potted his ninth of the year giving him seven over his last seven games. Aside from his two points, Richards also won 15 of his 16 draws.
Honorable mention: Shawn Horcoff chipped in two goals and has five points in three games ... Ales Hemsky, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall, and Ryan Smyth each recorded two points ... Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves ... Hemsky played in his 500th game ... Tim Connolly scored goal and assisted on two others to give him six points in three games ... Leafs rookie blueliner Jake Gardiner, who entered the game a minus-5, finished as a plus-4 and recorded two assists ... Jonas Gustavsson made 27 saves for his second straight win ... Joe Colborne scored his first NHL goal off a sweet no-look, behind the back pass from Matt Frattin:
Did you know? Pekka Rinne has has started seven times in his career at home against the Oilers and has been pulled three times, including tonight. (@TSNResearch)
Dishonorable mention: The Blues went 0-for-6 on the power play ... Will Drew Doughty get a call from Brendan Shanahan after cross-checking T.J. Oshie face first into the boards late in the third period?
Tampa Bay has now lost four of five ... Rinne was pulled for only the second time this season after allowing three goals on 13 shots in the first period ... Dwayne Roloson was chased after allowing six goals on 21 shots. Roloson has now allowed 15 goals in his last four starts and has been pulled twice. Mistakes like this one on Bozak's second goal aren't helping:
