NHL Three Stars: Bruins clinch playoff spot, damage Lightning's hopes
No. 1 Star: Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins
Rask continued his stellar play with a 28 saves in the Bruins’ 4-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. The win for Boston clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2013-14. In his last four starts, Rask has allowed three goals and Boston is 4-0-0 in those games. The Bruins have won six games in a row and are now in third place in the Atlantic Division.
No. 2 Star: Zach Parise, Minnesota Wild
Parise scored a goal and notched two assists in a 5-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. With the victory, the Wild clinched second-place in the Central Division. Minnesota has now won three of its last four games and scored five goals in each of those victories.
No. 3 Star: Nick Shore, Los Angeles Kings
Shore scored one goal and added three assists in a 6-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers. The four points for Shore were a career high and tied the most points in a game and assists in a game by a King this season. Los Angeles hasn’t lost to Edmonton at Staples Center since Nov. 3, 2011.
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Honorable Mention: Dallas Stars defenseman Julius Honka scored the overtime winner in his team’s 3-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes. … Stars forwards Brett Ritchie and Jason Dickinson also each scored a goal. … Coyotes forward Christian Dvorak scored his 15th goal of the season and teammate Anthony Duclair scored his fifth goal of the year. … Coyotes forward Max Domi picked up an assist. … Minnesota forward Nino Niederreiter scored two goals and added an assist. … Wild forward Eric Staal notched two assists. … Minnesota forwards Charlie Coyle and Jordan Schroeder each scored a goal. … Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner scored two goals and added an assist. Skinner now has 35 goals on the year, which represents a career-high. … Carolina forward Lee Stempniak scored a goal and added an assist. … Hurricanes forward Bryan Bickell played his first NHL game since the fall when it was announced that he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He played 12:35, registered three hits and was a minus-2. … New York Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey scored the overtime winner in a 2-1 victory over Nashville Predators. … New York forward Brock Nelson scored his 18th goal of the season. … Islanders goaltender Jaroslav Halak stopped 22 of 23 shots on goal. … Predators forward Mike Fisher scored his 18th goal of the season. … Winnipeg Jets forward Patrik Laine scored two goals in a 5-2 win over the St. Louis Blues. … Jets forwards Nikolaj Ehlers and Mark Scheifele each scored a goal and added an assist. … Winnipeg forwards Bryan Little, Mathieu Perreault and Blake Wheeler each notched two assists. … Blues forward Jori Lehtera and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo each scored a goal. … Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson scored a gorgeous goal in a 2-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings. … Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson stopped all 24 Red Wings shots on goal. … Senators forwards Mike Hoffman and Kyle Turris each notched one assist. … Washington Capitals goaltender Philipp Grubauer stopped 27 of 28 shots on goal in a 4-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. … Washington defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk scored his 12th goal on the season. … Capitals forward Brett Connolly notched two assists. … Washington forwards Justin Williams, Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin each notched one assist. … Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner scored his team’s only goal. … Penguins forward Jake Guentzel scored a goal and added an assist in a 4-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. … Pittsburgh forward Sidney Crosby notched two assists. … Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin broke a 150-game goal drought. … New Jersey Devils defenseman John Moore scored the overtime winner in a 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. … Devils goaltender Keith Kincaid stopped all 35 Flyers shots on goal. … Philly goaltender Steve Mason stopped 26 of 27 Devils shots on goal. … Boston forward David Pastrnak scored two goals. … Bruins captain Zdeno Chara scored his ninth goal of the season. … Boston forward David Krejci notched two assists. … San Jose Sharks forward Joonas Donskoi notched two assists in a 3-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks. … The Sharks scored two goals in the first 30 seconds of the first period. Kevin Labanc scored the first and Joel Ward got the second. … San Jose goaltender Martin Jones stopped 33 of 34 shots on goal. … Kings forward Jonny Brodzinski notched two assists. … Los Angeles forward Dustin Brown scored a goal and added an assist. … Kings forward Tanner Pearson scored his 24th goal of the season. … Oilers forward Milan Lucic scored his 20th goal of the season. … Edmonton forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored two goals. … Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson stopped 26 of 27 shots on goal in a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames. … Ducks forward Patrick Eaves picked up his 31st goal of the season and 10th in 18 games with Anaheim. … Ducks forward Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf each picked up one assist. … Flames forward Mikael Backlund scored his team’s only goal. … The Ducks pushed their home winning streak against the Flames to 25 consecutive games. … Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson scored the overtime winner in a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. … Colorado forward Matt Duchene scored a goal and added two assists. … Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog scored his 17th goal of the season. … Blackhawks forward Artemi Panarin scored his 30th goal of the season and teammate Ryan Hartman picked up his 18th on the year. … Chicago forwards Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane each notched one assist.
Did you know? Jones became the third Sharks goalie to defeat the Canucks four times in a season. The other two were Steve Shields in 1998-99 and Evgeni Nabokov in 2007-08.
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Dishonorable Mention: Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk was a minus-3. … St. Louis goaltender Jake Allen allowed five goals on 20 shots on goal. … Columbus forwards Brandon Dubinsky and Nick Foligno were each a minus-3. … Oilers forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl along with defensemen Darnell Nurse and Matt Benning were each a minus-3. … The Lightning need to win out to have a chance to make the playoffs.
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