Stars - best of Monday 25th November

Stars is our daily look at the previous night's action in the NHL and who stood out amongst the rest.

FIRST STAR

 

Martin St Louis - TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING vs New York Rangers

It was a big night for Marty. It was his 1000th game in the NHL and he celebrated the best way he knows. By scoring twice and assisting on another.

SECOND STAR

 

Ben Bishop - TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING vs New York Rangers

Bishop had a 37 save shutout on a night when the skaters in front of him put goals passed two Rangers goaltenders.


THIRD STAR

 

James Neal - PITTSBURGH PENGUINS vs Boston Bruins

Neal had a huge night in the Pens 4-3 OT defeat. He picked up two goals and as assist. His goals bought the Penguins back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game. His assist came with a couple of seconds left as he threw the puck to the front of the net and watched on as Kunitz moved it on to Crosby, who scored with 0.3 seconds left to send it to OT.

 

Honourable Mentions

Ryan Johansen had two goals (5th and 6th) in the Blue Jackets 6-0 win in Toronto...... Tim Thomas went 38/39 for a .974 SV%...... Loui Eriksson had a goal and two assists in the Bruins win, including a secondary assist on the game winner..... Andrew Shaw had two goals and an assist as the Blackhawks overcame Edmonton....... Corey Crawford had a .960 SV% in the game, stopping 24 shots from 25...... Ben Scrivens gave up two goals off of 39 shots faced for a .949 SV% and had this four save effort to help the team to victory.

Daniel Sedin received a high stick to the face in Vancouver's loss at home to LA. He responded by pulling out his tooth

 

 

 

MY PICKS

2-3 on the night with St Louis and LA winning.

Stars - the best of Friday 22nd November

Stars is our daily look at the previous night's action in the NHL and who stood out amongst the rest.

FIRST STAR

 

Chris Kunitz - PITTSBURGH PENGUINS vs New York Islanders

Kunitz had a brilliant night at the Consol Energy Center last night. Picking up two goals and an assist. He had his hat trick goal waived off for a high stick penalty on Evgeni Malkin that shouldn't have been called a penalty. He went on to continually harass the Isles D and with 1:16 left in the game, tied at 3-3, he crashed Radek Martinek into the boards behind the Isles goal, tapped it off to Pascal Dupuis who slid it to Sidney Crosby for the game winner. Also Crosby's 250th NHL goal.

SECOND STAR

Daniel Sedin - VANCOUVER CANUCKS vs Columbus Blue Jackets

Daniel picked up three points in this 6-2 Canucks win, one goal and two assists. His goal tied the game at 1-1 after some nice work behind the net he skated to the front and let rip towards Bobrovsky. He had his shot saved and brother Henrik put in the rebound for 3-1. Then midway through the 3rd he had a shot from the blue line tipped in for Henrik's 2nd of the night.

THIRD STAR

 

Sidney Crosby - PITTSBURGH PENGUINS vs New York Islanders

As mentioned above, Sid had the game winner which was also his 250th NHL goal. He also assisted on Kunitz's first goal and would have had the primary assist on Kunitz's hat trick goal if the refs didn't make the "high stick" call on Malkin.

Honourable Mentions

Henrik Sedin had a two goal night off his brother Daniel's rebound and then tipped in one of Daniel's shots.

Thomas Vanek also had two goals in the Islanders loss to Pittsburgh. With Kyle Okposo picking up as assist on each.

Alex Ovechkin scored two against the Canadiens. He isn't amongst the stars as he routinely scores on the Habs. He now has 34 points in 32 games against them.

Josh Gorges had two assists in the Habs 3-2 win at the Verizon Center, including on Briere's game winner and on the Habs 2nd which was David Desharnais' first goal in 26 regular season and playoff games.

Ben Bishop. 41 saves for the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Anaheim Ducks remarkably wasn't enough for the toothless Bolts. He unfortunately had a big gaff too. Letting a Ryan Getzlaf shot sneak under his glove and bounce goalwards. No thanks to defenseman Richard Panik who lived up to his name and in the heat of the moment used his stick and inadvertently stopped Bishop making a routine goal line glove grab and giving Anaheim the win with 5 seconds left in OT.

MY PICKS

Last night I went 3-2 in my picks with Calgary and Montreal pulling out wins.