No. 1 Star: Teemu Selanne, Anaheim Ducks
Teemu Selanne was incredible, scoring twice and picking up assists on two more. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, as the Anaheim Ducks fell apart and fell to the Washington Capitals 5-4 in overtime (after Wysh hexed Jonas Hiller with tweets of praise). Selanne now has 14 points in 12 games, good for fifth in the league in scoring. As you may know, this is quite impressive, because Selanne's quite old.
No. 2 Star: Jeff Skinner, Carolina Hurricanes
While Father Time was impressing in Washington, Baby New Year stole the show in Carolina, scoring twice in the second period of the Hurricanes' tilt with the Tampa Bay Lightning. One of Skinner's goals looked like this:
Seriously, he's, like, twelve years old. You can't knock him down? Anyway, Skinner's other goal was the game-winner as the Canes topped the Bolts 4-2.
No. 3 Star: Nick Foligno, Ottawa Senators
Another star from a losing side. Nick Foligno was the best Senator in their 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins. He was in on all three Ottawa goals, scoring one and assists on two others. My favourite assist was this nifty no-look setup for Stephane da Costa:
Honourable mention:
Chad LaRose had two goals for the Hurricanes as well. Vincent Lecavalier had seven shots and won 13 of 17 faceoffs for the Lightning... Chris Kelly, Rich Peverely, and Zdeno Chara all had two-point nights for Boston in the win... Nicklas Backstrom scored twice, including the game-winner versus Anaheim. Joel Ward and Dennis Wideman had a goal and an assist each, and Cam Fowler picked up three assists in the losing effort... Alex Edler had a goal and two assists in the Canucks' 5-1 rout over the Calgary Flames. Cody Hodgson chipped in with a goal and an assist... Mikko Koivu scored the game-tying goal with only a minute to go in the third period, then set up Devin Setoguchi for the winner 1:33 into overtime as the Minnesota Wild topped the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1. Koivu seemed pretty determined, a lesson Niklas Kronwall learned the hard way:
Kronwall was a little shaken by the hit, which looked like it might be to the head (if it was, should a penalty have been called?). He's to be reevaluated tomorrow for any further injury. Hope he's okay.
Did you know?
Bruce Boudreau served up a heaping helping of tough love to star Alexander Ovechkin Tuesday night, sitting him in the late stages of the third period as Washington looked to tie the game. When asked about it, Boudreau said, "I thought other guys were better than him and there was just a chance other guys might score the goal."
Dishonourable mention: Darren Helm went 2-for-10 in the faceoff circle for the Red Wings... Nicklas Backstrom was 6-for-18 and Roman Hamrlik was a minus-3 for Washington... Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek were each a minus-2 for Ottawa... and Miikka Kiprusoff allowed 5 goals on 18 shots, but in his defense, all the Calgary Flames were pretty much terrible tonight.