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Brendan Gallagher and Paul Byron #41of the Montreal Canadiens celebrate a goal against the Florida Panthers in the NHL game at the Bell Centre on March 30, 2017 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Getty Images) No. 1 Star: Brendan Gallagher, Montreal Canadiens
Gallagher scored a goal and notched three assists in a 6-2 win over the Florida Panthers. With their victory, the Canadiens punched their ticket to the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Since a Feb. 23 loss to the New York Islanders, the Canadiens have gone 14-3-1. They currently have 97 points – six ahead of the Ottawa Senators for first place in the Atlantic Division.
No. 2 Star:*Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins
Rask stopped all 27 Dallas Stars shots on goal in a crucial 2-0 win Thursday. The victory kept the Bruins three points clear of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the final Eastern Conference Wild Card spot. The Lightning have one game in hand on Boston. In his last two starts, Rask has allowed just one goal on 52 shots on goal.
No. 3 Star:*Wayne Simmonds, Philadelphia Flyers
Simmonds recorded a Gordie Howe Hat Trick and added another assist for three points in a 6-3 win over the New York Islanders. The goal for Simmonds was his 30th on the year and he has now scored at least 30 goals the last two seasons. Simmonds is the*first Flyer with back-to-back 30-goal seasons since Jeff Carter from 2008-09 through 2010-11.
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Honorable Mention: Carolina Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner scored a goal and added an assist in a 2-1 overtime win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. … Carolina defenseman Noah Hanifin scored the overtime winner. … Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teravainen notched two assists. … Carolina goaltender Cam Ward stopped 23 of 24 shots on goal. … Carolina kept pace with Boston and now has 84 points –*four behind the Bruins – with a game in hand. … Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson scored his team’s only goal. … Flyers forward Sean Couturier scored a goal and added two assists. … Philadelphia forward Dale Weise also notched a Gordie Howe Hat Trick. … Flyers forward Valtteri Filppula scored a goal and added an assist. … Philadelphia forward Jordan Weal scored a goal as did defenseman Radko Gudas. … Canadiens forward Tomas Plekanec scored a goal and added an assist. … Montreal forward Paul Byron scored two goals. … Canadiens defenseman Nathan Beaulieu notched two assists. … Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele scored the overtime winner in a 4-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. The goal was his 30th on the season. … Winnipeg defenseman Dustin Byfuglien scored a goal and added two assists. … Jets forwards Joel Armia and Blake Wheeler each scored a goal. … Winnipeg forward Nikolaj Ehlers notched two assists. … Ducks forward Corey Perry scored two goals. … Anaheim forward Jakob Silfverberg scored a goal. … Ducks defensemen Sami Vatanen, Hampus Lindholm and Josh Manson each notched one assist. … Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid scored a goal and added an assist in a 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks. He is now the first Oilers player to notched 91-or-more points in a season since Doug Weight in 1995-96. … Oilers forward Patrick Maroon scored two goals. … Edmonton forward Leon Draisaitl notched an assist. … Oilers forward Cam Talbot stopped 38 of 40 shots on goal. … Sharks forward Jannik Hansen notched a Gordie Howe Hat Trick. … San Jose forward Joe Pavelski scored a goal. … Minnesota Wild forward Nino Niederreiter scored two goals in a 5-1 win over the Ottawa Senators. … Minnesota forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Jason Pominville along with defenseman Matt Dumba each scored a goal. … Wild forwards Chris Stewart and Charlie Coyle each notched two assists. … Minnesota goaltender Alex Stalock stopped 18 of 19 shots on goal in his first NHL game of the season. He is from St. Paul, Minnesota. … Ottawa forward Mike Hoffman scored his team’s lone goal. … Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen stopped 29 of 30 shots on goal in a crucial 3-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday. In his last 10 starts, Andersen has held a 7-1-1 record, 2.05 goal-against average and .939 percentage. … With 89 points, the the Maple Leafs still rank third in the Atlantic Division. … Toronto forward Connor Brown scored a goal and added an assist. … Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews scored his 36th goal of the season. This also proved to be the game-winner and was his seventh on the year. … Toronto forward James van Riemsdyk scored his 24th goal of the year. … Toronto forward Mitch Marner picked up his 41st assist, a team single-season rookie record. … *Nashville forward Filip Forsberg reached the 30-goal mark for the second-straight season. … Boston forward Brad Marchand scored a goal and added an assist. The goal was Marchand’s 38th on the year. … Bruins defenseman Torey Krug scored his eighth of the season. … Lightning defenseman Andrej Sustr scored a goal and added an assist in a 5-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings. … Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin scored his 21st of the year. … Tampa forwards Alex Killorn and J.T. Brown Brown also each scored a goal. … Lightning forward Ondrej Palat notched two assists. … Tampa defenseman Victor Hedman notched one assist in 25:49 of action. … The Lightning were able to win without winger Nikita Kucherov who missed the game because he was sick. … Detroit forward Frans Nielsen scored a goal and added an assist. … Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg picked up his 900th point of his career, an assist on a goal by defenseman Danny DeKeyser.
Did you know?*Talbot picked up his 39th win of the season, putting him one behind Grant Fuhr for the team’s single-season record.
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Dishonorable Mention: New York Islanders forwards Josh Bailey and Anders Lee were each a minus-3. … Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss allowed three goals on eight shots on goal. … Panthers goaltender Reto Berra allowed six goals on 33 shots on goal. … Florida forward Denis Malgin and defenseman Jason Demers were each a minus-5. … Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle was a mins-4. … Florida forwards Jaromir Jagr and Jonathan Huberdeau were each a minus-3. … The Panthers were officially eliminated from playoff contention. … Ducks center Ryan Kesler was a minus-3. … Senators forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau was a minus-3. … Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson allowed five goals on 26 shots on goal. … Erik Karlsson’s streak of 324 straight games played came to an end.*The Senators’ defenseman did not play Thursday after blocking a shot Tuesday against Philly.
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