NHL Three Stars: Laine's third career hatty; Leafs crush Islanders; Geno returns
No. 1 Star: Patrik Laine, Winnipeg Jets
The rookie phenom earned his THIRD hat trick of his career/season. With his three goals, he’s now one shy of Auston Matthews (27) for the rookie lead in goals. The Jets beat the Dallas Stars, 5-2.
No. 2 Star: Josh Leivo, Toronto Maple Leafs
Leivo picked up his first multi-point game with a goal and two assists in the Leafs 7-1 domination of the New York Islanders.
No. 3 Star: John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks
Gibson stole this game for the Ducks. He shutout the Minnesota Wild with 37 saves in Anaheim’s 1-0 victory.
Honorable Mention: Connor Hellebuyck made 34 saves in the Jets win. Mark Scheifele assisted on all three goals by Laine … Auston Matthews 2 goals on 7 shots. Frederik Andersen had 33 saves on way to the 100th win of his NHL career … Joseph Cramarossa was the lone goal scorer in the Ducks-Wild game … Kyle Palmieri scored what would be the game winner in the New Jersey Devils 3-2 defeat of Colorado. Mark Barberio scored his first goal as a member of the Colorado Avalanche. Jeremy Smith played in his first NHL game this season and performed admirably making 37 saves in the loss … Evgeni Malkin returned to the lineup for the Pittsburgh Penguins and picked up two points.
Sidney Crosby scored career point No. 999 in the Penguins 4-0 win. Matt Murray stopped 29 shots in the shutout. Ryan Miller was doing the heavy lifting for the Vancouver Canucks with 38 saves … Ryan O’Reilly scored 24 seconds into the game on the way to the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators. Robin Lehner gave the Sabres 39 saves in the win. Bobby Ryan collected a goal and an assist, had 6 shots on goal and put up 7 hits … Oscar Klefbom and Leon Draisaitl had themselves 3 point games against the Arizona Coyotes. Patrick Maroon scored his 20th goal of the season in the Edmonton Oilers victory over the Arizona Coyotes.
Did You Know?
Jamie Benn joins Patrick Kane as the only players from the 2007 NHL Draft with 500 career points
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) February 15, 2017
Dishonorable Mention: Antti Niemi allowed 3 goals on 19 shots … Thomas Greiss got the hook after letting in 6 goals on 34 shots against the Leafs. For whatever stock you put into the stat, every Islanders player was a minus … Antoine Vermette will be suspended for this idiotic decision. Minnesota’s power play was 0-for-5 … Curtis Lazar was a healthy scratch for Ottawa; expect drama.
– – – – – – –
Jen Neale is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter!