NHL 3 Stars: Campbell leads Bruins; Duchene, Avalanche stun Ducks

Photo of the night, courtesy the great Bruce Bennett.

No. 1 Star: Gregory Campbell, Boston Bruins

Campbell doubled his goal total on the season, scoring twice in the first period of the Bruins' 5-4 win over the New Jersey Devils. His first goal was the product of some fabulous work by Jaromir Jagr, who fended off four Devils to get a shot on goal before Campbell shovelled home the rebound:

No. 2 Star: Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks

Pressed into action after Cory Schneider came down with the flu (or a poisoning from a frustrated Italian netminder looking to get a rare start), Luongo reminded the Canucks that he's still pretty good, making 40 saves in a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames. Thank goodness he played well. Pulling him wasn't really an option, with university student Dustin Butler on an emergency contract on the bench.

No. 3 Star: Matt Duchene, Colorado Avalanche

Maybe the Avalanche were energized by J.S. Giguere's strong words the night prior. Maybe the Anaheim Ducks just played poorly. Whatever it was, they had a great showing versus Anaheim, led by Duchene, who contributed a goal and an assist in a 4-1 victory.

Honourable mention: Phil Kessel scored twice, but it wasn't enough, as Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers skated away with a 3-2 shootout win. Lundqvist made 23 saves, 3 of which came on this sequence late in overtime:

... He didn't get the shutout I predicted, but Mike Smith stopped 29 of 30 to stick the Edmonton Oilers with a 3-1 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes.

Did You Know? The Coyotes' win was just their third regulation road win of the year.

Dishonourable mention: Rough night for Jonas Hiller, who was pulled after allowing 4 goals on 16 shots, although in his defence, the entire Ducks team deserved to get pulled in this one... Anton Volchenkov will be getting a phone call from Brendan Shanahan after elbowing Brad Marchand in the head.