No. 1 star, Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim Ducks:
The Anaheim captain revived his team's playoff hopes by scoring a goal and two assists as the Ducks won a huge game in Edmonton. A seventh win in eight games moved Anaheim into a seventh-place tie with Nashville. Niedermayer broke a 1-1 tie with a power-play goal 33 seconds into the second period. He provided the primary assist on another Anaheim power-play goal, and capped his middle-period onslaught with a first assist on a goal by his brother, Rob Niedermayer, for a 4-1 lead. In addition, Scott Niedermayer blocked a shot and was credited with two hits during a team-high 26:33 of ice time.
No. 2 star, Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks:
The veteran goalie made 33 saves to help the surging Canucks beat the Wild in overtime to leapfrog the Calgary Flames into first place in the Northwest Division in the process. And despite missing a large portion of the season due to injury, Luongo reached the 30-win plateau for the fourth time this season.
No. 3 star, Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins:
The big defenseman matched his career-high with a 17th goal and added an assist for good measure to lead the Bruins past the Lightning. Boston could even have home-ice advantage for the first three rounds before the Bruins next play on Thursday if Washington and New Jersey lose on Wednesday. Chara scored on the power play at 6:56 of the second period and added a primary assist less than seven minutes later as the Bruins opened up a safe 3-0 lead. Chara registered four shots in 20:52 of ice time.
Honorable mention: Raffi Torres scored his fifth game-winning goal in the last 10 Columbus wins. … Blake Wheeler and Chuck Kobasew expanded Boston's list of 20-goal scorers to eight with one apiece. … Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos scored his 20th goal in a losing effort. … Montreal's Carey Price is 3-0-1 in his last four and Alexei Kovalev scored a goal for a fourth straight game. … Florida has gone three straight games with two power-play goals each. … Edmonton's 39-year-old Dwayne Roloson became the oldest goalie to appear in 60 games with his franchise-record 33rd straight appearance. … Brendan Morrison scored two power-play goals for the Stars.
Did you know?: The Blue Jackets are 11-0 when Raffi Torres scores a goal. And check this one out: Before Vancouver's Henrik Sedin scored in overtime he had gone 26 straight games without a point vs. the Wild.
Dishonorable mention: Tampa Bay's special teams are anything but special. The Lightning have allowed a power-play goal in seven of the last eight games and have had not scored on the power play in five in a row. … The Canucks didn't manage a single shot on goal during the third period against the Wild. … Edmonton, which saw a stick-measurement fail against Anaheim, has lost five of six games to fall into a 10th-place tie. … His heart was in the right place – coming to the aid of his brother Sergei Kostitsyn – but Andrei Kostitsyn rang up 19 minutes in penalties with instigating a fight against the Blackhawks.
