Friday’s Three Stars: Legwand, Preds eliminate Wings; Fleury rallies Penguins
No. 1 Star: David Legwand, Nashville Predators
The 13-year veteran Predator set up Alex Radulov's first-period goal with an aggressive forecheck and then scored the game-winner 13 seconds into the third period to lead Nashville to a 2-1 victory and a Game 5 elimination of the Detroit Red Wings. He was a plus-2 and was 6-for-8 in the faceoff circle.
No. 2 Star: Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins
While the goaltending bar for the series has been set at "average," Fleury cleared it with a 24-save performance that back-stopped the Penguins to a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. Fleury was exceptional in the third period, stopping 14 Flyers shots, including seven on a penalty kill. The Penguins cut the Flyers' series lead to 3-2 with the Game 5 win.
No. 3 Star: Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators
Rinne made 21 saves to clinch the series win for the Predators. He was strong right off the opening faceoff, as the Red Wings outshot Nashville 6-1 early in the game.
Honorable mention: Alex Radulov had a goal and an assist. … Henrik Zetterberg Jiri Hudler scored for the Red Wings. … Matt Carle and Scott Hartnell scored their first of the series for the Flyers. … Steve Sullivan, Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy had goals for the Penguins; the latter two also had an assist.
Conn Smythe Watch: 1. Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators; 2. Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings; 3. Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers; 4. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers; 5. Mike Smith, Phoenix Coyotes; 6. Dustin Brown, Los Angeles Kings; 7. Jordan Staal, Pittsburgh Penguins; 8. Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals; 9. Andy McDonald, St. Louis Blues. 10. Alex Radulov, Nashville Predators.
Dishonorable mention: Danny Briere, Pavel Kubina and Brayden Schenn were a minus-2. … Ilya Bryzgalov was shaky again, with 3 goals on 23 shots. … Evgeni Malkin was scoreless and had some unfortunate run-ins.
