Saturday, 2 March 2013

NHL Three Stars: Holtby blanks Jets; Sutter’s OT winner beats Habs

No. 1 Star: Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals

It's been a pretty good week for Holtby, who on Saturday stopped 35 shots as the Capitals blanked the Winnipeg Jets 3-0. The shutout was Holtby's third of the season and second in his past three starts. After Matt Hendricks opened the scoring midway through the second period, Troy Brouwer and Mike Ribeiro scored 52 seconds apart in the third to put the game out of reach.

No. 2 Star: Jason Pominville, Buffalo Sabres

The population of Pominville, as play-by-play man Rick Jeanneret would say, grew by two during Buffalo's 4-3 shootout win over the New Jersey Devils. The Sabres captain scored shorthanded to open the game, notched the tying goal in the second period and then added one in the shootout to power Buffalo to their third straight win.

No. 3 Star: Brandon Sutter, Pittsburgh Penguins

In a wild game that featured 13 goals, 6 of which came in the second period alone, it was Sutter's goal 52 seconds into overtime that gave the Penguins a 7-6 edge over the Montreal Canadiens. The goal was Sutter's second of the game and sixth of the season. Chris Kunitz and Sidney Crosby had three points, while Kris Letang recorded four assists.

Honorable mention: Goals by Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds 3:59 apart in the first period was enough for the Philadelphia Flyers to edge the Ottawa Senators 2-1. Ilya Bryzgalov made 33 saves ... Brad Marchand's goal with 2:16 left in the third period ended up as the game winner as the Boston Bruins beat the Tampa Bay Lighting 3-2. The Bruins power play went 2-for-5 and scored for the first time this season with the man advantage at TD Garden. Steven Stamkos scored his NHL-leading 15th goal. He currently has a 9-game point streak ... John Erskine would love a second try at this goal-scoring attempt after a great glove save by Ondrej Pavelec:

Newly-acquired Aaron Volpatti dropped the mitts in his first game with the Capitals with Anthony Peluso and some bombs were unloaded:

Steve Sullivan scored the tying goal late in regulation and then the only tally in the shootout to give the Phoenix Coyotes the 5-4 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. Lauri Korpikoski scored twice for the Coyotes. Andrew Cogliano tallied his second career NHL hat trick in the loss for Anaheim. His other hat trick also came against the Coyotes ... Riley Nash, Alex Semin and Jussi Jokinen each had three points for the Carolina Hurricanes as they won in a 6-2 rout of the Florida Panthers. Eric Staal chipped in a pair of goals and Jiri Tlusty scored his 10th in 11 games ... Alex Burrows, Jannik Hansen, Dan Hamhuis, Mason Raymond, and Henrik Sedin all contributed two points as the Vancouver Canucks downed the Los Angeles Kings 5-2. Cory Schneider made 28 saves for his second win in five starts ... The San Jose Sharks took advantage of power play goals from Dan Boyle and Joe Pavelski to beat the Nashville Predators 2-1, sending the visitors to their sixth loss in eight games. Antti Niemi made 18 saves and Logan Couture assisted on both goals for the Sharks. Joe Thornton recorded his 1,100th NHL point with an assist.

Did You Know? The Jets are 1-for-32 on the power play in their last 12 games. (AP)

Dishonorable Mention: Ottawa's power play failed to score on their five chances ... Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson earned the second major penalty of his career for cross-checking Zac Rinaldo ... The loss snapped Winnipeg's three-game winning streak ... Harry Zolnierczyk will have a hearing with the NHL on Sunday for this hit on Mike Lundin ... The Panthers lost Jose Theodore to a lower-body injury in the first period and Scott Clemmensen was not given a warm welcome after allowing three goals in the first 3:05 he entered the game ... New Jersey dropped their fourth consecutive game.



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