NHL Three Stars: Talbot, Jones earn shutouts; penalty kill problems
No. 1 Star: Cam Talbot, Edmonton Oilers
The Oilers netminder shutout the always dangerous Chicago Blackhawks, 5-0. Talbot made 31 saves with 28 of those coming in the first and second periods.
No. 2 Star: P.K. Subban, Nashville Predators
Against a pretty good Tampa Bay Lightning team, Subban hit a milestone as he scored his first two goal game with the Predators. His first goal was a one-timer on the power play. His second was another blistering shot that Ben Bishop had no chance on.
No. 3 Star: Kyle Okposo, Buffalo Sabres
In a matter of 1:41 in the second period, the Buffalo Sabres scored three straight power play goals. Okposo started the flood of scoring with a power play goal of his own. He later fed Matt Moulson with a perfect pass for the third PPG of the set.
Honorable Mention: Leon Draisaitl led the Oilers with three points followed by Connor McDavid and Oscar Klefbom with two points each. Kris Russell wins for hit of the night with a brutal, yet legal, body check on Tyler Motte:
… The Dallas Stars beat the Minnesota Wild in overtime. This is a big deal because prior to tonight, the Stars had lost nine straight overtime games going back to last season. The two teams traded goals until Jamie Benn netted the game winner in OT … Tyler Fedun and Sam Reinhart picked up two points against Calgary. Matthew Tkachuk earned a goal and an assist in the loss … Cam Atkinson had a stellar game for the Columbus Blue Jackets scoring two goals. His second goal came with 6.5 seconds left in the third period. Yet, in overtime it would be Matt Duchene – in his first game back from a concussion – that snapped the Blue Jackets win streak:
Semyon Varlamov made 40 of 42 saves against a red hot Columbus team. Seth Jones returned to the lineup for Columbus; he had four shots on goal in 23:46 TOI … Jake Guentzel scored the only two goals for the Pittsburgh Penguins in their loss to the New York Rangers; his family freaked out (in a good way) over the rookie’s goals in his debut game. The Rangers scored five straight goals on the Penguins for the 5-2 win. Kevin Hayes, Ryan McDonagh, Rick Nash and Michael Grabner each picked up two points in the contest. Grabner now has 12 goals on the season:
… Ryan Ellis assisted on two of three Nashville goals in the 3-1 win. Tyler Johnson scored the lone goal for Tampa in the final 50 seconds … It was all San Jose Sharks against the New Jersey Devils. Martin Jones recorded a 26 save shutout. Keith Kincade made 37 of 41 saves for New Jersey in the 4-0 loss. Chris Tierney, Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture and Brent Burns scored for San Jose.
Did You Know? The Rangers have scored five or more goals in 10 games this season; the next closest team to that mark has done it four times.
Dishonorable Mention: The Blackhawks penalty kill woes came back to haunt the team as they went 2-for-4 against Edmonton … Stephen Johns and John Klingberg were healthy scratches for Dallas … Brian Elliott’s record dropped to 3-9-0 after allowing 5 goals on 32 shots against Buffalo … Calgary’s penalty kill was 3-for-6 against the Sabres … For what it’s worth, Sidney Crosby was a Penguins’ worst minus-4 against New York … Things got a bit out of hand between the Bolts and the Preds in the third period … The Devils were without Kyle Palmieri due to an upper body injury.
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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!
