No. 1 Star: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning
Stamkos scored an unassisted goal in the second period to cut the Carolina Hurricanes' lead to 3-2 and then scored the game-winning goal in overtime to give the Bolts the 4-3 victory. He now has 47 goals on the season, and the Lightning are two points out of the No. 8 seed in the East.
No. 2 Star: Mikhail Grabovski, Toronto Maple Leafs
Welcome to the Leafs, Randy Carlyle: Grabovski assisted on Matt Frattin's second-period goal to tie the game and then scored twice in the third period, as the Leafs defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1, in their new coach's debut.
No. 3 Star: Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators
As Florida Panthers coach Kevin Dineen said: "I don't say this in a sarcastic or negative way at all, but goaltending was the difference tonight." Rinne made 39 saves in the Nashville Predators' 3-1 victory over the Panthers, tying Tomas Vokoun for the franchise record for victories in a season with 36. Andrei Kostitsyn had a goal and an assist.
Honorable mention: Evgeni Nabokov made 32 saves while Matt Moulson and John Tavares had a goal and an assist each in the New York Islanders' 3-2 victory at the Boston Bruins. . ? The Pittsburgh Penguins got first-period goals by Arron Asham and Deryk Engelland, as well as No. 38 from Evgeni Malkin, to rout the Colorado Avalanche, 5-1. ? Ville Leino scored two goals to set the tone and the Buffalo Sabres hung on for a 5-3 victory at the Vancouver Canucks. Ryan Miller made 32 saves. David Booth scored twice for the Canucks. Zack Kassian had a goal; Cody Hodgson didn't register a point. ? T. J. Oshie had a goal and an assist while the defense did the rest, as the St. Louis Blues skated out of San Jose with a 3-1 win over the Sharks, who managed only 18 shots against Jaroslav Halak. ? Jeff Carter scored two goals and Mike Richards had three assists in the Los Angeles Kings' 4-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks. ? Steve Mason made 30 saves, while Rick Nash had two goals and an assist for the Columbus Blue Jackets, who defeated the Phoenix Coyotes, 5-2. Check out this helper from Nash while on his stomach. C'mon, isn't that worth a ridiculous overpayment, Sather?
Fight of the Night: Mike Brown and Brad Staubitz threw down:
Did you know? A fan fell from the middle tier of seats into the lower bowl before the game. A Canadiens spokesman said that while he?and the fan he landed on? were taken to a hospital, neither of the fans' injuries appeared to be life-threatening. (AP)
Dishonorable mention: Tuukka Rask left the Bruins' loss 9:01 into the second period with a leg injury, one that's serious enough to keep him off their 2-game road trip. ? Erik Johnson was a minus-4 for the Avs. ? Antoine Vermette was a minus-3 against his old team. ? Brandon Sutter took a controversial roughing call on Mathieu Garon that led to Stamkos's game-winner. ... From Lisa Dillman of the LA Times, Bruce Boudreau said of the officiating in the Kings/Ducks game: "It was some of the worst calls I've frickin seen in a long time. A game of this importance we can't have officiating making calls like that. I mean, there's three penalties that weren't penalties, I know that we took." ? Finally, Roberto Luongo was pulled after giving up three goals in 5:10 against the Sabres. Including two to Ville Leino.
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