NHL Three Stars: Laine’s third career hatty; Leafs crush Islanders; Geno returns

Posted on by Jen Neale

No. 1 Star: Patrik Laine, Winnipeg Jets

The rookie phenom earned his THIRD hat trick of his career/season. With his three goals, he’s now one shy of Auston Matthews (27) for the rookie lead in goals. The Jets beat the Dallas Stars, 5-2.

No. 2 Star: Josh Leivo, Toronto Maple Leafs

Leivo picked up his first multi-point game with a goal and two assists in the Leafs 7-1 domination of the New York Islanders.

No. 3 Star: John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks

Gibson stole this game for the Ducks. He shutout the Minnesota Wild with 37 saves in Anaheim’s 1-0 victory.

Honorable Mention: Connor Hellebuyck made 34 saves in the Jets win. Mark Scheifele assisted on all three goals by Laine … Auston Matthews 2 goals on 7 shots. Frederik Andersen had 33 saves on way to the 100th win of his NHL career … Joseph Cramarossa was the lone goal scorer in the Ducks-Wild game … Kyle Palmieri scored what would be the game winner in the New Jersey Devils 3-2 defeat of Colorado. Mark Barberio scored his first goal as a member of the Colorado Avalanche. Jeremy Smith played in his first NHL game this season and performed admirably making 37 saves in the loss … Evgeni Malkin returned to the lineup for the Pittsburgh Penguins and picked up two points.

Sidney Crosby scored career point No. 999 in the Penguins 4-0 win. Matt Murray stopped 29 shots in the shutout. Ryan Miller was doing the heavy lifting for the Vancouver Canucks with 38 saves … Ryan O’Reilly scored 24 seconds into the game on the way to the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators. Robin Lehner gave the Sabres 39 saves in the win. Bobby Ryan collected a goal and an assist, had 6 shots on goal and put up 7 hits … Oscar Klefbom and Leon Draisaitl had themselves 3 point games against the Arizona Coyotes. Patrick Maroon scored his 20th goal of the season in the Edmonton Oilers victory over the Arizona Coyotes.

Did You Know?

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Dishonorable Mention: Antti Niemi allowed 3 goals on 19 shots … Thomas Greiss got the hook after letting in 6 goals on 34 shots against the Leafs. For whatever stock you put into the stat, every Islanders player was a minus … Antoine Vermette will be suspended for this idiotic decision. Minnesota’s power play was 0-for-5 … Curtis Lazar was a healthy scratch for Ottawa; expect drama.