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Tuesday’s Three Stars: Rask, Bachman perfect; Connolly plays hero

sean leahy
Contributing writer

No. 1 Star: Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins

Rask earned his first shutout of the season and ninth of his career after a 41-save performance during a 3-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Brad Marchand netted a pair of goals as Boston won for the 16th time in 19 games. Rask increased his scoreless streak to 95:10 and posted his third win in four appearances for the Bruins.

No. 2 Star: Richard Bachman, Dallas Stars

Two straight starts for Bachman and two straight wins. The 24-year old rookie made 34 saves and shutout the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden 1-0. Trevor Daley scored the only goal for the Stars with 4:59 to go in the third period. In his third appearance for Dallas this season Bachman has stopped 71 of 72 shots faced and earned both career victories. He also "drew" this charging penalty on Carl Hagelin, which wins "Worst Call of the Night":

No. 3 Star: Tim Connolly, Toronto Maple Leafs

Two scoreless periods led to a goal apiece for the Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes in the final minutes of the third to force overtime. In the extra frame, it was Connolly netting the winner 44 seconds in. The 27th game winning goal of Connolly's career was his second of the night and helped keep the Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

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Honorable mention: Cam Ward was solid making 36 saves in the loss to Toronto ... Rick Nash and James Wisniewski each scored in the shootout as the Columbus Blue Jackets edged the Vancouver Canucks 2-1. The win moved the Blue Jackets out of the 30th spot in the NHL standings one point ahead of the Anaheim Ducks. Steve Mason, who had to leave the game late in the third due to cramps and returned three minutes later, stopped 30 shots in his first start since Nov. 15 ... After tying the game at two apiece early in the third period, the Ottawa Senators needed just 45 seconds of overtime to beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 thanks to Jared Cowen:

The Flyers got goals from five different players, including Scott Hartnell scoring in his sixth straight game, as Philadelphia downed the Washington Capitals 5-1 for their sixth consecutive win. Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 31 shots and Marc-Andre Bourdon scored his first NHL goal ... New Jersey went down 2-0 in the second period after a pair of Kris Versteeg goals, but fought back to force overtime and then the shootout. In the skills competition, Ilya Kovalchuk and Patrik Elias scored to give the Devils a 3-2 win, their fourth in five games ... Versteeg's first goal came via a pretty between-the-legs shot:

A three-goal third period powered the Montreal Canadiens past the New York Islanders 5-3. Petteri Nokelainen broke the 3-3 tie with 6:15 left in the third period and Hal Gill iced the game with an empty-netter five minutes later for Montreal's first win at Bell Centre since Nov. 19 ... Colin Wilson's power play goal early in the third period broke a 1-1 tie and stood as the game winner as Nashville slipped by the Calgary Flames 2-1. Pekka Rinne made 35 saves to snap the Flames' three-game win streak. Miikka Kiprusoff made 43 saves in the loss ... Behind 25 saves from Jimmy Howard and two late third period goals from Danny Cleary, the Detroit Red Wings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1. Pavel Datsyuk scored a goal and added an assist to give him 20 points in his last 13 games ... Bryan Little potted his 11th of the year five minutes from the end of regulation to put the Winnipeg Jets ahead of the Minnesota Wild 2-1. Ondrej Pavelec made 34 stops for his fourth win in five starts. Little has 15 points in his last 15 games ... Patrick Marleau forced overtime with 22 seconds left, but in the shootout rookie Gabriel Landeskog scored in the fifth round to give the Colorado Avalanche a 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks ... Milestone games on Tuesday for Nick Foligno (300th), Dion Phaneuf (500th), Dany Heatley (700th), and Brad Richards (800th) ... Finally, the big hit of the night goes to referee Stephen Walkom who left his feet to deliver a check to Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timmonen:

Did you know? The Stars have scored 14 of their 27 third-period goals in the final 10 minutes and are 10-1-1 when scoring in the last 10 minutes. (AP)

Dishonorable mention: Milan Michalek scored his league-leading 19th goal of the season, but had to leave the game with an upper-body injury in the second period. He'll be re-evaluated on Wednesday ... Minnesota's seven-game win streak came to an end ... The Kings have dropped five straight as they sit in limbo waiting to learn whether or not John Stevens will remain as interim head coach or Darryl Sutter will take over ... Zach Bogosian was given five minutes for boarding and a game misconduct for this hit on Pierre-Marc Bouchard: