No. 1 Star: Corey
Perry, Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks all-star forward scored a power-play goal in the first and an even-strength and an empty-netter in the third to lead Anaheim to a 3-0 victory at the Colorado Avalanche. Perry has 28 goals on the season, and it's his second hat trick of the season. Curtis McElhinney made 25 saves for the shutout.
No. 2 Star: Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens
There were plenty of outstanding goaltending performances on Saturday, but Price was greatl. He was 35-for-35 in shutting out the New York Rangers, 2-0, stopping 19 Rangers shots in the third period. Scott Gomez and Tomas Plekanec had the goals in what was Price's fifth shutout of the season in an NHL-high 46 appearances.
No. 3 Star: R.J. Umberger, Columbus Blue Jackets
Umberger had 2 goals and 2 assists, including the primary
helper on Kristian Huselius's (2 goals)
game-winner with 4 minutes left in the Jackets' 4-3 victory
over the Edmonton Oilers. Huselius scored after being a
healthy scratch on Friday. For Umberger, it was his first 4-point game since
Nov. 2009.
Honorable mention: Ilya Bryzgalov made 25 saves and Taylor Pyatt had the lone goal in the third period as the Phoenix Coyotes rebounded from a 6-0 embarrassment against Vancouver with a 1-0 win over the surging Minnesota Wild. The win ended a five-game home losing streak for the ‘Yotes. ... Antti Niemi's 26 saves made Logan Couture's first-period goal stand up, as the San Jose Sharks defeated the Boston Bruins, 2-0, despite managing only 17 shots on Tim Thomas. ... Pekka Rinne made 35 saves and Sergei Kostitsyn scored twice (one in spectacular fashion) in the Nashville Predators' 3-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings. ... Brian Boucher made 30 saves and got offensive support from Andrej Meszaros, Darroll Powe and Jeff Carter in a 3-1 win over the Dallas Stars. ... Erik Cole sent the home crowd into hysterics with an overtime game-winner, as the Carolina Hurricanes topped the Atlanta Thrashers, 4-3. It was the third time the Canes have beaten the Thrash after regulation this season. Eric Staal scored his 26th. ... Drew Stafford had 2 goals and an assist and Thomas Vanek had a goal and 2 assists in the Buffalo Sabres' 6-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Nikolai Kulemin scored his 18th, shorthanded, in the loss. ... Rob Schremp scored 2 goals while Michael Grabner had a goal and an assist in the New York Islanders' 5-3 win over the Ottawa Senators. ... Finally, the Los Angeles Kings moved back into a playoff seed with a 4-3 victory at the Calgary Flames, winning in the seventh round of the shootout on a Justin Williams goal. He also scored his 19th in regulation. It wasn't a total loss for the Flames, who picked up a point and managed to pull a great rookie prank on Lance Bouma before the game:
Did you know? The Sabres have killed off 37 straight penalties against Toronto dating back to March 2009. (AP)
Dishonorable mention: Goalie James Reimer went from his first NHL shutout on Thursday to getting pulled after the second period, after giving up five goals on 30 shots for the Leafs. ... James Vandermeer was a minus-3 for the Oilers. ... Sergei Gonchar was a minus-3 for Ottawa. ... Brian Elliot was pulled for Ottawa after giving up 3 goals on 13 shots in the first period. ... Finally, goalie Robin Lehner of the Sens knocked down Islanders goalie Kevin Poulin as the teams left the ice after the second period, earning a elbowing penalty. Alas, no second goalie fight of the week for the Isles ... then again, maybe that's a good thing considering what happened to their keeper in the last scrap.