Thursday's Three Stars: Walker's debut pair; Staal caps Pens comeback
No. 1 Star: Scott Walker(notes), Washington Capitals
Making his debut for the Capitals after being dealt from Carolina before Wednesday's trade deadline, Walker made a very good first impression scoring twice in a 2:58 span during the third period in a 5-4 Washington win over Tampa Bay. Walker's second of the game came with 6:51 to go in the third period and was the game-winner to extend Washington's home winning streak to 12 games. The two-goal night was Walker's first since March 2, 2007 against Pittsburgh. Mike Knuble(notes) scored his 24th and 25th goals of the season in the second period to give him four in his last three games.
No. 2 Star: Jordan Staal(notes), Pittsburgh Penguins
Down 4-2 midway through the second period, the Penguins fought back to tie things at four and send it to overtime where Staal would net the winner 3:42 into the extra frame giving Pittsburgh a 5-4 win over the New York Rangers. The OT winner was his second of the game and 18th of the season coming on a Pittsburgh power play. Staal scored his first goal of the game in the first period to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead before New York scored the next three. Chris Kunitz(notes) added a goal and two assists in the win that pushed the Penguins into second place in the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of the New Jersey Devils.
No. 3 Star: Paul Kariya(notes), St. Louis Blues
Another late-season surge for the Blues? Kariya's two goals capped off an impressive opening period for St. Louis during their 6-1 victory over Dallas. Kariya and Brad Boyes(notes) scored 17 seconds apart near the end of the first period to give the Blues a 3-1 lead heading into the locker room. Chris Mason(notes) made 29 saves to extend his personal winning as well as St. Louis' to five games.
Honorable mention:Manny Legace(notes) made 25 saves as the Carolina Hurricanes downed the Ottawa Senators 4-1 to extend their current winning streak to seven games. The 'Canes have also won 11 of their last 13 ... Martin St. Louis(notes) recorded three assists while
Vincent Lecavalier(notes) added two goals and Steven Stamkos(notes) scored his 38th goal of the season in Tampa's loss to Washington. Stamkos' goal also extended his franchise-record 15-game points streak ... With the offense in front of him posting a meager 15 shots, including one in the third period, Henrik Lundqvist(notes) of the New York Rangers made a career-high 50 saves in an overtime loss to Pittsburgh. Lundqvist suffered tough luck as three Penguin goals went off of players in front of his net ... Drew Doughty's(notes) goal in Los Angeles' 4-2 loss to Nashville puts him tied for second among all defenseman in goals scored (12) ... Ilya Bryzgalov(notes) stopped 23 Colorado shots and tied a franchise record with his 33rd win of the season in a 3-1 Coyotes win. In his first game with the Coyotes, Wojtek Wolski(notes) scored the go-ahead goal with 22 seconds remaining in the game ... Dany Heatley(notes) and Manny Malhotra(notes) scored 2:33 apart to put San Jose ahead of Montreal midway through the third period in a 3-2 Sharks win. Evgeni Nabokov(notes) made 28 saves in the win and Joe Thornton(notes) played in his 900th game. Carey Price(notes) played admirably, stopping 37 shots in the loss ... Tim Thomas(notes) denied former teammate Phil Kessel(notes) not once ... not twice, but thrice during Boston's 3-2 shootout win over Toronto. Miroslav Satan(notes) scored in regulation and tallied the winner in the shootout to give the Bruins their first "home" win since the Winter Classic. It was also "Don Cherry Night" and the CBC commentator took part in the pre-game ceremonial puck drop and Colton Orr(notes) and Milan Lucic(notes) engaged in some Rock 'em Sock 'em Hockey in the first period during an entertaining scrap ... In the 800th game in franchise history, newbies Clarke MacArthur(notes) and Evgeny Artyukhin(notes) scored in their debuts with Atlanta during a 6-3 victory over the New York Islanders. Nik Antropov(notes) added two goals and Niclas Bergfors(notes) scored his fifth goal for the Thrashers since being traded from New Jersey. Artyukhin won "Goal of the Night" honor with this fantastic end-to-end tally:
Did you know? Daniel Alfredsson(notes) tallied his 600th career assist and Ryan Smyth(notes) his 700th in separate losses.
Dishonorable mention: Almost four minutes after Los Angeles opened the scoring against Nashville, Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick(notes) was the victim of a bad carom off his stick that allowed J.P. Dumont(notes) to pounce on a loose puck to tie the game early ... Bad nights for Pascal Leclaire(notes) (two goals, five shots), Dwayne Roloson(notes) (three goals, seven shots), Marc-Andre Fleury(notes) (four goals, 12 shots), and Marty Turco(notes) (four goals, 11 shots) who were all pulled tonight ... Ottawa has lost five in a row in Carolina ... The Lightning have allowed at least five goals in each game of their current five-game losing streak ... The Canadiens were brutal in the faceoff circle winning just 19 out of 61 draws.
