NHL Three Stars: Mason, Talbot, Andersen earn shutouts
No. 1 Star: Steve Mason, Philadelphia Flyers
Mason earned his first shutout of the season on the back of a 34 save performance against the New York Rangers.
No. 2 Star: Cam Talbot, Edmonton Oilers
The Anaheim Ducks could not solve Talbot and the Oilers. The netminder faced 26 shots and stopped them all for his fourth shutout of the season.
No. 3 Star: Frederik Andersen, Toronto Maple Leafs
Andersen’s 22 save shutout in the Leafs 4-0 thumping of the Detroit Red Wings gives the netminder his second shutout in a row. He also picked up the lone assist on Nikita Soshnikov’s goal.
Honorable Mention: Wayne Simmonds scored his 20th goal of the season (10th on the power play). Jake Voracek assisted on Simmonds goal and scored one of his own in the Flyers 2-0 win over the Rangers … Roman Polak scored a goal in his 600th NHL game played. Auston Matthews opened the scoring. Watch as he steals the puck from Xavier Ouellet and effortlessly scores on his backhand. As Uncle Jesse would say, “HAVE MERCY!”
… The Vancouver Canucks went up 2-0 and the Colorado Avalanche came all the way back to tie it. Calvin Pickard made 38 of 41 saves but did not pick up the win. Sven Baretschi scored two of the three goals for the Canucks, including the game winner on the power play. Jakob Markstrom had 30 saves for Vancouver … Leon Draisaitl scored twice for Edmonton in the team’s 4-0 thumping of the Ducks. Even Zach Kassian got in on the scoring action for his fourth of the season:
Did You Know? Per Elias: Auston Matthews is the first Maple Leafs rookie to score five game winning goals in a season since Steve Thomas in 1985-86. (s/t @PR_NHL)
Dishonorable Mention: Jakob Silfverberg was out of the Ducks lineup for a second game due to a concussion … Gabriel Landeskog took two slashing penalties in the third period. The first lead to what would be the game winning power play goal by Sven Baertschi. The second prevented an empty net goal. The announcers argued it could be an automatic empty-netter.
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Jen Neale is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter!
