NHL Three Stars: Canadiens win outdoors, Canucks win indoors

Posted on by Jen Neale

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No. 1 Star: Mike Condon, Montreal Canadiens

Massachusetts native Condon played spoiler in front of the 60,000-plus on hand at Gillette Stadium. The netminder made 27 saves, allowing only one goal. He makes a spectacular glove save on Ryan Spooner in the final seconds of the second period.

No. 2 Star: Paul Byron, Montreal Canadiens

Byron, picked up on waivers from the Calgary Flames, scored 2 goals in the Habs 5-1 drubbing of the Boston Bruins. His first goal of the game came on a Bruins turnover right in front of the Bruins net:

No. 3 Star: Jacob Markstrom, Vancouver Canucks

In the only game played indoors, the Canucks battled back from a one goal deficit over half the game against the Anaheim Ducks. Markstrom stopped 27 shots and all three shooters in the shoot-out.

Honorable Mention: Brendan Gallagher returned to the Canadiens lineup, much to the dismay of the Bruins. Gallagher picked up a goal and an assist in 18:12 TOI:

… Max Pacioretty and David Desharnais were the other two goal scorers for Montreal. For Boston, Matt Beleskey was the only one to find the back of the net … Ryan Kesler scored for the Ducks as boos rained down. Christopher Tanev tied the game midway through the third. Alexandre Burrows was the lone goal scorer in the shoot-out. Kevin Bieska was welcomed back to Vancouver with a small tribute:

Did You Know? The Pacific Division continues to be crappy:

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Dishonorable Mention: Max Talbot was a minus-4 for the Bruins. The Winter Classic game was boring … Frederik Andersen got the start for Anaheim in the second of back-to-backs and dropped his record to 5-8-5 with the loss. 

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