No. 1 star, Alex Burrows, Vancouver Canucks:
Alex Burrows scored his second goal of the night with 18.9 seconds remaining in overtime to close out St. Louis and send Vancouver on to the second round. Burrows slipped the series'-clincher through the legs of Blues goalie Chris Mason with a shot from the right circle. It was fitting Burrows came, through since he was robbed late in regulation on a shot that had series' winner written all over it. Burrows, with a team-high six shots and nearly 28 minutes of ice time, scored his first goal 9:23 into the second period for a 2-0 lead.
No. 2 star, Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings:
The veteran forward scored two goals as the Red Wings pushed the Blue Jackets to the brink of elimination with a 4-1 victory. Zetterberg also won a dozen draws during 20:10 of ice time.
No. 3 star, Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks:
The San Jose captain came through with arguably the biggest goal of his career – a power-play strike 10:33 into the final period that broke a 3-3 tie and enabled the Sharks to cut the Ducks' series lead in half. Marleau won six of 12 draws while skating a second short of 20 minutes.
Major penalty: Who does Martin Brodeur think he is? Dwayne Roloson? Dan Cloutier? Ron Hextall? Talk about losing your … well, you know what we mean if you saw his reaction on the way to his ungracious exit from the ice, complete with stick toss and pirouette after nearly screwing himself into the ice. So much for Masterton consideration.
Minor penalty: Evgeni Nabokov made his Sharks' teammates work a lot harder for their first win in the series than they should have had to work. The first two goals were bad ones. Instead of San Jose leading 3-1 after 40 minutes, it was a 3-3 tie and the Sharks' season was definitely hanging in the balance.
Conn Smythe Watch: (The Top 10) 1. Roberto Luongo, Canucks; 2. Evgeni Malkin, Penguins; 3. Henrik Lundqvist, Rangers; 4. Chris Osgood, Red Wings; 5. Daniel Sedin, Canucks; 6. Phil Kessel, Bruins; 7. Jonas Hiller, Ducks; 8. Alexander Ovechkin, Capitals; 9. Jonathan Toews, Blackhawks; 10. Eric Staal, Hurricanes.
