NHL Three Stars: Habs power play beats CBJ; Holtby shut-out; Perry hat-trick

Posted on by Jen Neale

No. 1 Star: Max Pacioretty, Montreal Canadiens

Coming into the third period, the Habs were down 1-0 to Columbus, and 0-for-4 on the power play. After Ryan Johansen scored to put ‘Lumbus up by two, Montreal decided they should do something with special teams opportunities. They went on to score 3-straight power play goals to beat the Jackets 3-2. Pacioretty was credited with 2 of the 3 PPGs.

No. 2 Star: Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals

Holtby is a new man this season, and the Caps are benefiting from it. The netminder stopped all 21 shots in Washington’s defeat of the Philadelphia Flyers.

No. 3 Star: Corey Perry, Anaheim Ducks

It appears Perry is getting back to his old ways after his most recent stint on the IR. The Ducks forward notched his third hat-trick of the season. Ryan Getzlaf assisted on 2 of 3 Perry goals, including this stretch pass that banked off Cody Franson to a streaking Perry:

Honorable Mention: Andre Markov assisted on 2 of 3 power play goals for the Habs … Despite taking the loss, Flyers goalie Rob Zepp had a pretty good game. He only allowed 1 goal on 26 shots by the Caps. He made an incredible save on Eric Fehr at the end of the second period:

… The Ducks scored twice in one shift against the Leafs … Cory Schneider and the Devils brought a 5-1 lead into the third period, and the Kings made things interesting late in the game, as they are inclined to do lately; however, it wasn’t enough and a Jagr-less New Jersey won 5-3; Steve Bernier scored 2 goals. At one point, NJD scored 3 goals in 1:08 … LA lost, but Drew Doughty was still who we thought he was as he assisted on this Dustin Brown goal:

Did You Know? It’s been one month since the Ducks last won a game with a goal differential greater than one goal.

Dishonorable Mention: Columbus threw only 16 shots at Carey Price and he stopped 14 of them … Matt Niskanen destroyed Scott Laughton with an open ice hit, and the Flyers forward did not return:

… Toronto is still looking for a goal in California after being shut-out by the Kings and Ducks. David Booth left the game after taking an accidental elbow to the face by Anaheim’s Sami Vatanen … LA’s goaltending was less than stellar against New Jersey. Martin Jones started and was pulled after giving up 3 goals on 8 shots. Jonathan Quick came in and allowed 2 more goals on 7 shots. Jones returned to the net to start the third stopped all 5 shots he faced.