NHL Three Stars: Rust tricks Sens; Pastrnak's slick OT winner
Brick Tamland, Le Manifique and Heisenberg take in the Penguins game
No. 1 Star: Bryan Rust, Pittsburgh Penguins
Rust recorded his first career hat trick as the Penguins beat the Ottawa Senators 8-5. Rust added an assist for a four-point night while Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel each chipped in a goal and two assists. Rust’s second of the night came in pretty fashion via this penalty shot:
No. 2 Star: Sam Gagner, Columbus Blue Jackets
Gagner factored into all four Blue Jackets goals during their 4-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes. He scored twice and assisted on the other two in recording his third multi-goal game of the season. Rookie Zach Werenski tallied his sixth of the year as Columbus won their 500th game in franchise history.
No. 3 Star: David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
A back and forth game ended when Pastrnak put on a show in overtime and scored his 15th of the season, his second of the night, to give the Bruins a 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers.
Honorable Mention: Jaromir Jagr scored his 754th career NHL goal in the loss. He’s now 48 behind Gordie Howe for second all-time:
Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves for his 12th win in his last 15 starts … Sidney Crosby scored his NHL-best 17th goal of the season:
This was some impressive work by Malkin on his goal:
Erik Karlsson finished with a four-point night in a losing effort … Marcus Johansson’s second goal of the game came 2:38 into overtime to help the Washington Capitals get by the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 and end a three-game losing streak.
Did You Know?
Rust is second player in Pens' history to record a hat trick that included a penalty shot goal. Mario Dec. 31, 1988 vs. NJ (5 goals 5 ways).
— Bob Grove (@bobgrove91) December 6, 2016
Dishonorable Mention: It wasn’t a night for the goalies in Pittsburgh as all four netminders saw ice time … Florida is 3-15 against Boston in their last 18 meetings.