The three stars of the game is a great hockey tradition. How unprecedented is this: can you ever remember the winning team getting shut out? The three stars from yesterday’s 4-3 Devils OT win against Tampa Bay:
1. Viktor Hedman, TBL – O G, 2 A
2. Steven Stamkos, TBL – 2 G, 0 A
3. Ryan Malone, TBL - 0 G , 0 A
I must have checked the box score half a dozen times to make sure I wasn’t misreading something. Parise had a goal, an assist and a shootout goal and Zajac had a goal and an assist – No love there? And the choice of Malone is frankly a bit comical – Regardless of his excellent effort, on a night where he scores zero points and nearly gets his starting goalie re-concussed or worse, another choice might be more appropriate. Hedman looks like the real deal, though.
Finally – Career shootout stats (through last season): Brodeur .715, Smith .583; Parise 44.4%, Langenbrunner 47.4%, Tanguay 35%, Stamkos 0% (0 for 4). Gee, who was going to win that one? Preseason, I ranked the two teams 5th (NJD) and 29th (TBL) overall in predicted shootout effectiveness for this season. The Lightning so far have been worse than predicted (against Carolina and New Jersey), going 0 for 4 shooting while allowing 4 of 5 shots to score!