3 Stars of the Night: May 17

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It’s the most, wonderful time, of the yearrrrrrrr! Who doesn’t love playoff hockey right? This is what we wait all season for, this is why most of us became fans of the game, as the postseason captivates us year after year after year. My personal favorite part is the dying minutes of a one-goal game when everything is a scramble, bodies are diving everywhere, pucks are zipping around the zone and the intensity is as high as can be. Until we get to overtime that is, when it become full-on, tighten your butt cheeks, gasp and cringe with every shot end-to-end action (WITH NO COMMERCIALS!!).

Who will hoist the 2016 Stanley Cup?

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With the team I cover out of the playoffs (again), I relish the opportunity to write a little out of character and enjoy the playoffs as a fan of the game, and pick my three stars of each night like our friends over at Yahoo!/Puck Daddy blog do throughout the season. You can find player standings at the bottom of each post with three points for being the no. 1 star, two for no. 2 and one for no. 3 and on some nights we’ll have an honorable mention.

May 17, 2016

#3) Logan Couture, San Jose: 2 assists

We all knew/know Couture is a really good player, but I’m not sure any of us would’ve guessed that he’d be leading the NHL in playoff points at this juncture; SJ has three of the top four playoff point getters at this point. But without much fanfare he’s been bringing his A game on the ice night after night this postseason, and again in Game 2 he chipped in two power play assists to help the Sharks romp over the Blues 4-0. San Jose has played 14 playoff games thus far and Couture has only been held pointless three times. He missed a huge chunk of the season, so maybe he is just fresher than everyone else that has been involved in double the games he has over the past six months.

#2) Martin Jones, San Jose: 26 saves/26 shots, Win, Shutout

That makes two shutouts (Game 7 v Nashville) in three games for Jones, who has been jonesin’ lately in the Sharks’ crease. The ex-King is the first netminder to blank the Blues this postseason. He certainly didn’t play bad in a 2-1, Game 1 loss either and continued that strong play in Game 2 to backstop the NHL’s best road team to another win away from the Shark Tank. His teammates are playing well in front of him obviously, but when St. Louis has got their chances Jones has been there to shut the door; twelve of his saves came during the Blues PP – which was 0-for-6.

#1) Brent Burns, San Jose: 2 PP goals

The guy with the weird beard had another stellar game for the Sharks, potting two power play goals that zapped the energy out of the home crowd and gave more life to the road warriors. He was efficient — scoring on his only two shots — and led his team in ice-time with 24:10 — including tops among all of San Jose’s players on the PP and PK. His six goals lead all defensemen in the postseason and his 18 points are second in the NHL behind Couture.

3-Stars Standings:

Joe Pavelski (SJ): 12

Brian Elliott (StL): 11

Braden Holtby (Wash): 8

Nikita Kucherov (TB): 7

Victor Hedman (TB): 6

David Backes (StL): 6

Michal Neuvirth (Phil): 5

John Tavares (NYI): 5

Pekka Rinne (Nash): 5

Tyler Johnson (TB): 5

Matt Murray (Pitt): 5

Patric Hornqvist (Pitt): 5

Ben Bishop (TB): 5

Troy Brouwer (StL): 5

Alex Ovechkin (Wash): 4

Nick Bonino (Pitt): 4

Andrei Vasilevskiy (TB): 4

Kris Letang (Pitt): 4

Martin Jones (SJ): 4

Thomas Hickey (NYI): 3

Antti Niemi (Dall): 3

Evgeni Malkin (Pitt): 3

Artemi Panarin (Chi): 3

TJ Oshie (Wash): 3

Radek Faksa (Dall): 3

Mike Fisher (Nash): 3

Kari Lehtonen (Dall): 3

Carl Hagelin (Pitt): 3

Phil Kessel (Pitt): 3

Robby Fabbri (StL): 3

Ondrej Palat (TB): 3

Sidney Crosby (Pitt): 3

Logan Couture (SJ): 3

Brent Burns (SJ): 3