NHL Three Stars: Road teams sweep
No. 1 Star: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Edmonton Oilers
The Nuge scored his sixth goal of the season in overtime, on an assist from Connor McDavid, as the Oilers defeated the St. Louis Blues, 3-2. The Edmonton trio caught the Blues in a line change. Such is 3-on-3 overtime.
No. 2 Star: Cam Fowler, Anaheim Ducks
The defenseman scored his ninth of the season in the third period, responding to a Nazem Kadri game-tying goal and giving the Ducks a 3-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Randy Carlyle’s return to the ACC.
No. 3 Star: Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators
Sometimes you have to be more lucky than good; Rinne was both for the Preds in their 2-1 shootout win over the Philadelphia Flyers, making 31 saves, two more in the shootout and then getting some aforementioned luck on this Jakub Voracek shootout chance:
Honorable Mention: Kris Versteeg and Troy Brouwer had a goal and an assist in the Calgary Flames’ 4-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes. Ryan Ellis had the game-winner in the shootout. … Vladimir Tarasenko scored his 16th. … John Gibson (33 saves) outplayed his former crease-mate Fredrik Andersen (25 saves) in the Ducks’ win. … Christian Dvorak had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes. …
Did You Know? The win was the Predators’ first outside of regulation this season.
Dishonorable Mention: Alex Pietrangelo was a minus-2 in over 27 minutes of ice time. … Mike Smith gave up three goals on 27 shots. … The game between the Detroit Red Wings and Carolina Hurricanes was postponed when a compressor broke and the Hurricanes couldn’t get their ice surface playable. The game has yet to be rescheduled.
