No. 1 Star: Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins
Marchand had both his first career hat trick and first career 5-point night in the Bruins' 8-0 curb-stomping of the Florida Panthers, their sixth straight win. Marchand opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal; assisted on Dennis Seidenberg's goal to make it 4-0; assisted on Gregory Campbell's goal to make it 5-0; and then scored the Bruins' final two goals in the third to send Santa hats to the ice. Marchand finished with a plus-5; he has 15 goals on the season.
No. 2 Star: Leland Irving, Calgary Flames
Calgary's backup goalie won his first NHL game, 3-1, over the Vancouver Canucks with a 29-save performance. He made a huge stop on Daniel Sedin in the third to preserve the lead. The teams waited until the third period to get offensive; in the end, the Flames outscored the Canucks on goals by Curtis Glencross, Mikael Backlund and Olli Jokinen.
No. 3 Star: Matt Duchene, Colorado Avalanche
The Avalanche star snuck a shot past Mathieu Garon at 3:38 of overtime to give Colorado a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Said Duchene: "I think he thought that I was past the net when I fired it. I don't think it was on the right angle but I just threw it and it found its way in. A bit of luck there." J.S. Giguere made 29 saves in the win. Colorado has now won eight straight games at home, a team record.
Honorable mention: After Logan Couture and Mike Richards traded goals in regulation, Ryane Clowe's goal and Antti Niemi's saves in the shootout gave the San Jose Sharks a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. ? Clarke MacArthur scored a goal and assisted on Carl Gunnarsson's tally as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the New York Islanders, 5-3. Joey Crabb had a key shorthanded goal in the second period, and Joffrey Lupul scored his 16th into an empty net. John Tavares scored his 11th in the loss. ? The Washington Capitals rallied with three goals in the third period, but the New Jersey Devils won in the shootout, 4-3, thanks to goals by Ilya Kovalchuk and Patrik Elias, and a terrific save by Martin Brodeur (22 saves). Brooks Laich had a goal and an assists for a plus-3. ?� Stu Bickel assisted on first-period goals by Derek Stepan and Ruslan Fedotenko while Henrik Lundqvist made 28 saves in the New York Rangers' 4-2 win over their Winter Classic foes the Philadelphia Flyers. Marian Gaborik scored his 21st of the season. Bickel now has as many points (four) in three NHL games as he had in the AHL in 27 games this season. ?� Tuomo Ruutu's tip in front on a Jay Harrison shot gave the Carolina Hurricanes a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators:
James Neal scored goal No. 20, Chris Kunitz had two assists and the Pittsburgh Penguins limited the Winnipeg Jets to 19 shots in their 4-1 victory. ? First-period goals by Vernon Fiddler, Loui Eriksson and Steve Ott chased Pekka Rinne; Mike Ribeiro's second-period tally ended a Nashville Predators' rally to help lead the Dallas stars to a 6-3 win. Michael Ryder had three points. ? Matt D'Agostini� had a goal and an assist and Brian Elliott made 24 saves in the St. Louis Blues' 3-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes. Alex Steen scored his team-leading 12th on Keith Tkachuk night for the Coyotes. Tyler Seguin and Zdeno Chara were both a plus-4. Tuukka Rask made 30 saves for the shutout. ? Dan Bylsma wore this beauty under his suit jacket.
Fight of the Night: Brandon Prust fights Marc-Andre Bourdon because HBO was filming it:
Did you know? Bruins national anthem singer Rene Rancourt sang Christmas carols during the break between the second and third periods.
Dishonorable mention: Jose Theodore was pulled after giving up four goals in 14 shots in the first. ? Tomas Fleischmann was a minus-4 for the Panthers. ? Rinne was chased after giving up four goals on seven shots in 12:30. ? Six different Predators were a minus-3. ? Ray Whitney earned a misconduct at the end of the game for Phoenix.
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