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NHL Three Stars: Backstrom makes it three straight for Caps; Luongo downs Habs

NHL Three Stars: Backstrom makes it three straight for Caps; Luongo downs Habs

No. 1 Star: Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals

The Capitals center scored two goals and notched one assist in Washington’s 5-1 victory over Winnipeg. In his last three games the shifty pivot has six points – two goals and four assists. Washington has won all three of those contests. He leads the Caps in scoring with 63 points and is tied for the NHL lead.

No. 2 Star: Roberto Luongo, Florida Panthers

Stopped 37 of 39 Montreal shots on goal in a 3-2 shootout victory over the Canadiens. The Panthers pulled to within one point of the Boston Bruins for the final Wild Card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

No. 3. Star: John Tavares, New York Islanders

Scored one goal and added one assist in a 5-2 win over the NHL-leading Nashville Predators. The win pulled the Islanders five points clear of the Rangers for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division

Honorable Mention: Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin scored one goal and added on assist in the win over the Jets … Defenseman Matt Niskanen notched one helper in 23:40 of action and Marcus Johansson picked up two assists … Columbus forward Brandon Dubinsky scored the game-winner against Pittsburgh in a 2-1 victory and also picked up a fight against Pens captain Sidney Crosby … Columbus defenseman Fedor Tyutin picked up two assists … Rangers forward Derek Stepan scored one goal and added one assist in a 5-4 shootout loss to Vancouver … New York defenseman Dan Girardi notched two assists … Vancouver forward Henrik Sedin scored two goals. Teammates Jannik Hansen and Ronalds Kenins each notched two assists … Birthday boy Shawn Matthias scored a goal for the Canucks … Panthers forward Tomas Fleischmann scored one goal and added one assist … Defenseman Aaron Ekblad played 27:38 and was a plus-1 … Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher scored two goals and was a plus-2 … San Jose forward Tomas Hertl notched two assists in a 5-2 Sharks win over Dallas … Sharks forward Andrew Desjardins scored two goals …Buffalo’s Michal Neuvirth stopped 36 of 38 Philadelphia shots on goal in Buffalo’s 3-2 shootout win over the Flyers … Sabres forward Brian Gionta scored a goal, his 500th NHL point. 

Did You Know?: Former Philly defenseman Eric Desjardins was inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame on Thursday night.

Dishonorable Mention: Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec allowed four goals on 32 Capitals shots on goal in the loss … Nashville’s Pekka Rinne allowed five goals on 40 Islanders shots on goal in defeat … Predators forward Colin Wilson was a minus-2 … Penguins defenseman Derrick Pouliot was a minus-2 … The Rangers have allowed over goals per-game since Henrik Lundqvist was sidelined with a vascular issue …  Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen was yanked after allowing three goals on 17 San Jose shots on goal … The Stars fell to 1-2-0 with Tyler Seguin hurt … Alex Goligoski was a minus-3.

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