Tuesday’s Three Stars: Ribeiro scores twice in Stars’ win; Michalek’s unimpressive hat trick
David Moss and Chris Campoli do the chicken dance.
No. 1 Star: Mike Ribeiro, Dallas Stars
Ribeiro scored on both shots he took and picked up an assist as the Stars stuck it to the Vancouver Canucks, 5-2, pushing Dallas's record in their last 8 games to 7-0-1. Ribeiro's shot on this 2-on-1 is just ridiculous. Look where he puts it:
No. 2 Star: Jordan Caron, Boston Bruins
Tyler Seguin scored twice, but he may have been overshadowed by another sophomore in Caron, who had 2 goals and an assist in the Bruins' 5-4 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was a wide-open game, proof that Randy Carlyle still has some work to do getting this team to do the tighten up.
No. 3 Star: Milan Michalek, Ottawa Senators
Michalek is here for his four-point night, not for how he got those four points. The Senators' winger had a hat trick and an assist in a 7-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, which sounds impressive, but his exclusion from the game's three stars makes a little more sense once you realize all three came in the final 10 minutes and the second and third goals came with nobody tending the Lightning goal.
Honorable mention: Justin Faulk scored the overtime winner as the Carolina Hurricanes knocked off the Washington Capitals, 4-3 ... Jack Johnson had a goal and an assist in Columbus Blue Jackets' 3-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes. His goal, which put the Jackets up 2-0 less than five minutes in, chased Mike Smith ... Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and an assist as the New Jersey Devils topped the New York Rangers, 4-1. The Devils' fans get an honourable mention as well for their boisterous chants of "Marty's better," and Petr Sykora gets mention because he played in his 1000th NHL game ... Ilya Bryzgalov surrendered a goal on his first but then he settled in, stopping 37 of the next 38 to help the Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist ... Max Pacioretty scored twice in the Canadiens loss, and Lars Eller scored from his knees:
... Gabriel Landeskog had two assists, Steve Downie had 2 assists, and 7 different members of the Colorado Avalanche scored goals in a 7-1 shellacking over the hapless Minnesota Wild. The Wild has now surrendered 18 goals in 5 games since trading Nick Schultz and Greg Zanon away at the deadline... Speaking of shellackings, the St. Louis Blues handed it to the Chicago Blackhawks in a 5-1 win. Andy McDonald scored twice and Jaroslav Halak won his 6th straight start, tying a career-best. Speaking of bests, this was his best save:
... Trevor Lewis scored the game-winner as the Los Angeles Kings held off the Nashville Predators, 5-4. Justin Williams and Patrick Hornqvist scored two goals apiece ... Glencross picked up assists on goals by Mark Giordano and David Moss before scoring one of his own early in the third period. That goal stood up as the game-winner as the Flames knocked off the Montreal Canadiens 5-4. Jarome Iginla scored twice in the win... Sam Gagner scored the shootout winner in the Edmonton Oilers' 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks.
Fight of the Night: Jay Rosehill vs. Shawn Thornton
Rosehill opens up Thornton with a massive right at 0:23, so I'll give him the decision, but this is a nice, long, fairly even heavyweight scrap.
Did you know? The Leafs may have lost Joffrey Lupul to an injury after he was ridden into the boards by David Krejci. He left the game favouring his right arm or hand. Having to play without Lupul would put a major damper on their playoff hopes.
Dishonorable mention: Via Russian Machine Never Breaks, Dmitry Orlov picked up his first 12 penalty minutes of the season after taking exception to a Jeff Skinner slewfoot. He was tagged with 2 minutes for roughing in the aftermath, but he also earned a 10-minute misconduct for abusing the officials after pushing linesman Jean Morin.
