No. 1 Star: Josh Harding, Minnesota Wild
One of the best efforts of Saturday night, and probably its most inspirational story, too. Harding previously took the Detroit Red Wings to a shootout this season, losing in the skills competition. On Saturday at home, he made 36 saves against the Wings in a 1-0 victory. It was the injury-plagued backup's first win since March 2010 and his first shutout since Jan. 2010. Dany Heatley had the game's only goal.
No. 2 Star: Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers
In a cathartic game for the Flyers, Giroux had a goal and three assists to fuel Philly's 5-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. He assisted on Scott Hartnell's first-period goal, Jaromir Jagr's (who had two goals) and Max Talbot's goals in the third, and scored a goal of his own (No. 7) in the final frame.
No. 3 Star: Dwayne Roloson, Tampa Bay Lightning
Making his first start since Oct. 17, Roloson stopped all 28 shots he faced in the Lightning's 1-0 victory over the Winnipeg Jets. Among his better saves: Denying Evander Kane on a partial breakaway and a sprawling stop with less than two minutes in the game. It was the 42-year-old goalie's 29th career shutout. Vincent Lecavalier had the game's lone goal, his fifth of the season in the second period on the power play.
Honorable mention: Daymond Langkow's goal at 4:16 of overtime gave the Phoenix Coyotes a 3-2 win over Jonathan Quick and the Los Angeles Kings. Radim Vrbata had two goals and assisted on Langkow's game-winner. Mike Smith made 37 saves. ? Joe Pavelski opened the scoring on the power play and then assisted on Brent Burns's power-play goal in overtime, as the San Jose Sharks defeated the New York Islanders, 3-2. Thomas Griess made 35 saves. John Tavares scored his seventh in a losing cause. ? Jason Garrison scored on the power play at 18:17 of the third period, completing a 2-point game and giving the Florida Panthers a road win, 3-2, at the Buffalo Sabres. Thomas Vanek scored goal No. 8 in the loss. ? Phil Kessel scored his NHL-leading 10th goal at 10:08 of the third period to break a tie, as the Toronto Maple Leafs topped the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-3. Tim Connolly assisted and scored his first of the season on the power play. Matt Cooke scored his fourth and Evgeni Malkin his second for the Pens. ?
The Montreal Canadiens got power-play goals from Brian Gionta and David Desharnais in defeating the Boston Bruins, 4-2. Lars Eller scored his first for the Habs. Carey Price made 26 saves. Milan Lucic and Tyler Seguin had the goals for the B's, who were swept in a home-and-home. ? Wild one in Vancouver, as the Canucks defeated the Washington Capitals, 7-4. Maxim Lapierre, Alex Edler, Chris Higgins and Alex Ovechkin had two goals. Henrik Sedin's goal at 6:18 of the third broke a 4-4 tie. ? Tremendous glove save by Roberto Luongo here on Ovechkin's bid for a hat trick:
Goals by Jason Spezza (who now has seven on the season) and Milan Michalek rallied the Ottawa Senators from a 4-1 deficit at the New York Rangers, as they eventually won in the shootout, 5-4. Brad Richards scored two goals in the loss, assisting on Ryan Callahan's power-play tally in the second as well. ? Pekka Rinne had 20 saves to shut out the Anaheim Ducks, 3-0, earning his 100th NHL victory; the Nashville Predators got goals from Patric Hornqvist, Martin Erat ad Shea Weber? Vernon Fiddler broke a 1-1 tie in the third period with a goal off of defenseman Mark Fayne, and Sheldon Souray's long empty net goal iced it, as the Dallas Stars defeated the New Jersey Devils, 3-1. ? Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov rebounded from a terrible effort after which he said he was "lost in the woods"; said Hartnell: "We all went to the woods yesterday and found it for him."
Did you know? Former Leafs captain Mats Sundin was in attendance and received a long ovation during the first period. Sundin's No. 13 will be honored on Feb. 11 before a game with Montreal. (AP)
Dishonorable mention: The Columbus Blue Jackets plummeted to 1-9-1 on the season, as Viktor Stalberg scored his first two goals of the season and Michael Frolik scored an empty-netter to lead the Chicago Blackhawks to a 5-2 win. The game featured three goals disallowed by the War Room in Toronto, which looked at six different disputed goal last night. ? Eric Staal was a minus-4 on the night and is now a minus-13 on the season. ? The Islanders were jobbed by the officials in overtime, as Travis Harmoic was called for a phantom delay of game call. Marco Sturm of the Panthers was given 5 minutes and a game misconduct for a boarding penalty on Jordan Leopold. But penalties to Drew Stafford and Nathan Gerbe (4 minutes) negated it. ? Tomas Vokoun was yanked after the first period. ? Will Francois Beauchemin get the Shanahammer for this check to the head of Mike Fisher? ? Finally, the Rangers/Senators game produced two infamous highlights. First up, the Wojtek Wolski elbow that knocked Daniel Alfredsson out of the game in the third period; the AP called the elbow "seemingly by accident":
Then there's this Zenon Konopka hit on Artem Anisimov that resulted in an injury, a 5-minute major and a game misconduct ... for a hit from the side. (As Jesse Spector points out, the NHL's rule for such hits doesn't stress they need to be from behind.) A costly call, as the Rangers scored twice during that power play.
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