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NHL Three Stars: Jets, Flames close in; Rangers win Presidents’ Trophy

NHL Three Stars: Jets, Flames close in; Rangers win Presidents’ Trophy

No. 1 Star: Ondrej Pavelec, Winnipeg Jets

Pavelec continued his remarkable late-season run as the Winnipeg Jets inched closer to their first playoff berth with a 1-0 win over the St. Louis Blues. He made 30 saves.

No. 2 Star: Mark Stone, Ottawa Senators

Stone scored a key third-period goal and then won the game at 2:43 of overtime, as the Senators rallied from three goals down to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-3. As NHL.com’s headline said: STONE COLD STUNNER.

No. 3 Star: Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings

The Wings star set up Gustav Nyqvist’s third-period game-tying goal and then scored the game-winner just under 10 minutes later, as Detroit defeated the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-2, to close in on a playoff berth. Henrik Zetterberg had a goal and an assist as well.

Honorable Mention: Kevin Hayes had a goal and two assists as the New York Rangers secured the Presidents’ Trophy with a 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils. … Claude Giroux scored two goals and Brayden Schenn’s ridiculous long-distance goal against Jaroslav Halak won it with 2.1 seconds left as the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the New York Islanders, 5-4. Mark Streit had three assists. John Tavares had three points and Anders Lee had two goals in the loss. … The Minnesota Wild clinched a playoff spot with their 2-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Devan Dubnyk made 32 saves. Jason Zucker scored in his first game back since Feb. 9. … Joey Hishon scored at 7:06 of the third period to give the Colorado Avalanche a 3-2 win over the Nashville Predators. Jarome Iginla scored goal No. 27. Semyon Varlamov made 40 saves. … Sean Monahan scored his 31st goal in the third period to break a tie, and the Calgary Flames defeated the Arizona Coyotes, 3-2. The Flames solidified their hold on the No. 3 seed in the Pacific. … Tyler Pitlick scored a big third-period goal as the Edmonton Oilers stunned the reeling Los Angeles Kings, 4-2.

Did You Know? The Vancouver Canucks clinched a playoff spot via the Kings’ loss.

Dishonorable Mention: Evgeni Malkin had no points and was a minus-2. … Jacob Josefson had three minor penalties for the Devils. … Did the refs screw the Blues out of a goal? … Every Kings player was a minus, except for Dwight King and Tyler Toffoli. … Jaroslav Halak will want this one back:

Richard Bachman really, really wants this one back: