No. 1 Star: Dany Heatley, Ottawa Senators
Missing both Andrei Markov (three weeks) and Mathieu Schneider (season over, per RDS) on defense, the Montreal Canadiens gallantly battled the Senators into the third period with a 2-1 lead. That was until Heatley scored goals Nos. 36 and 37 just 38 seconds apart against Jaroslav Halak (20 saves), giving Ottawa the 3-2 victory and putting enormous pressure on Montreal heading into its game Tuesday night at the New York Rangers.
No. 2 Star: Marian Hossa, Detroit Red Wings
The Wings sniper may have sunk the Buffalo Sabres' postseason hopes on his own. Hossa assisted on Brad Staurt's first-period power-play goal, and then scored twice in the third period to power Detroit's 4-1 win over the Sabres. Hossa hit the 40-goal mark for the third time in his career.
No. 3 Star: Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames
The captain scored his 34th goal and added an assist in the Flames' 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings, moving them two points ahead of the Vancouver Canucks for the Northwest Division lead. Iggy had seven shots on goal, as the Flames outshot the Kings 20-6 in the second period.
SportsWrap
The top sports headlines of the day
Honorable Mention: Miikka Kiprusoff (23 saves), Alex Auld (20 saves) and Chris Osgood (32 saves) were your winning goalies. Osgood had 21 saves in shutting down the Sabres for the first two periods, and earned his 389th NHL victory to tie Dominik Hasek for 10th all-time. ... Alexei Kovalev scored his 25th goal in a losing effort for the Habs.
Did You Know?: Nicklas Lidstrom's empty-net goal gave him 227 career goals, tying him for 12th all-time for defensemen with Kevin Hatcher and Steve Duchesne.
Dishonorable Mention: The math says the Sabres are still alive for the playoffs, but it's going to take a miracle after this regulation loss. ... When Bob Gainey says "I wish that we had the third goal back," he really means, "Thanks for nothing, Halak." ... Finally, this fight between Wayne Simmonds of the Los Angeles Kings and Warren Peters of the Calgary Flames turned out to be pretty darn good, but we can't figure it out: Did Wayne catch him with a jab at the beginning, or did Peters miss with a wild haymaker?
