A pretty light night in the NHL last night, and normally I might just skip the NHL 3 Stars, but there were enough great performances last night to warrant a list, so without further ado here are the best of the best from last night's puck action:
3rd Star - Michal Rozsival - The always underrated Rozsival was quietly putting up another great game last night. After getting blown out 8-5 by the New Jersey Devils the other day, the Rangers have shown they are still an attractive option for coveted free agent Mats Sundin, putting up back to back wins against both Anaheim and Los Angeles to tie Boston for the points lead in the Eastern Conference (though the Bruins do have 5 games in hand). Rozsival had 2 goals last night, including the game winner in overtime to help seal the win for the Rags.
2nd Star - Steve Mason - Wow, this kid is for real. Last night he started against what has been an unbeatable San Jose Sharks juggernaut, and well, he beat them. That's not to say that victory game easy. San Jose's snipers fired a whopping 48 pucks at Mason last night, and he stopped 47 of them, helping Columbus to a 2-1 OT win. Mason has been nothing short of spectacular this season, going 9-5-1 with 2 shutouts, a sparkling 1.91 GAA, and a save percentage of .929. Just a year after having a pretty spectacular season himself it looks like Pascal Leclaire is going to be relegated to the role of backup. Mason has just been too good to justify keeping him out of the starting role.
1st Star - Daniel Sedin - It was a pretty special night last night at GM with the Canucks retiring Trevor Linden's jersey. Usually, following these lengthy ceremonies, the home team, desperate to get a win for the honoree, instead comes out flat and more often than not the retired hero has to watch his old club lose. Well, Daniel Sedin wasn't about to let that tired old scenario happen again last night. He put the Canucks on his back and popped 2 goals and added an assist to make sure his good buddy Linden got a victory on his jersey retirement night. Even sweeter that it came against bitter divisional rival Edmonton Oilers, who would have liked nothing better than to spoil Linden's party.
