NHL Three Stars: Sharks embarrass Kings; late heroes for Bruins, Habs
No. 1 Star: Antti Niemi, San Jose Sharks
The Sharks goalie got the start over Alex Stalock and proceeded to pitch a 34-save shutout over the Los Angeles Kings on their banner raising night. San Jose won 4-0; no, the irony of the Sharks getting four in a row against their postseason tormentors probably isn’t lost on anyone.
No. 2 Star: Tomas Plekanec, Montreal Canadiens
Plekanec scored on a breakaway and then got a break when his shot bounced off the skate of Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Stuart Percy and into the goal with 43 seconds left. The Habs won opening night over their rivals, 4-3.
No. 3 Star: Chris Kelly, Boston Bruins
The Bruins forward collected a rebound from an Adam McQuaid shot and fired it past Steve Mason with 1:51 left in regulation, as Boston defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1.
Honorable Mention: Alex Burrows, Zack Kassian, Radim Vrbata and Henrik Sedin scored for the Vancouver Canucks in their 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames. Brad Richardson and Chris Tanev had two assists each. … Nazam Kadri, Tyler Bozak and Morgan Rielly scored for the Leafs. … P.K. Subban and Max Pacioretty had goals for the Habs. … Tommy Wingels had two goals and Patrick Marleau had a goal and an assist for the Sharks. … Tuukka Rask made 19 saves.
Did You Know? “Boston's Bobby Robins, 32, played in his first NHL game. He had played 499 games in the U.S. minor leagues and in Europe after going to college at UMass-Lowell.“ (AP)
Dishonorable Mention: Mikael Backlund was a minus-3. … Mike Richards lost 13 of 15 faceoffs. … Richards also took part in this debacle:
