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No. 1 star, Mike Green, Washington Capitals:
With every goal Mike Green moves into more exclusive company. The Washington defenseman added two more to his season total during a 5-4 loss in the shootout against the New York Rangers on Wednesday night. Green has goals in seven straight games, tying him with Mike O'Connell as the only two defensemen with that long of a goal streak in league history. Green also has six straight multi-point games. That puts him in a group of just four, the other three being Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque and Paul Coffey. On Wednesday, Green's two goals came in the second period – the first gave the visitors a 3-2 lead and the second tied it at 4-4. Green's 21 goals are most after 55 games for a defenseman since Kevin Hatcher scored 21 for Pittsburgh in 1992-93. In addition to his two goals, Green was a plus-3 with four shots and four hits during 28:06 against the Rangers.
No. 2 star, Zach Parise, New Jersey Devils:
Zach Parise continued to be the Devils' offensive catalyst, figuring in the scoring of all four goals during a victory over the Islanders. Parise scored two goals and assists on the two others. Parise scored his first of the night to tie the game 1-1 late in the first, then broke a 2-2 tie with his 34th of the season, a power-play tally, at 12:35 of the third period. Parise was a plus-1 with a team-high six shots during a modest 15:12 of ice time.
No. 3 star, Ilya Bryzgalov, Phoenix Coyotes:
Ilya Bryzgalov pitched his second 1-0 shutout of the Dallas Stars this season on Wednesday. He stopped 33 shots during his latest effort, a result that snapped the Coyotes' six-game losing streak. It was Bryzgalov's eighth career shutout and third of the season. He also beat the Stars 1-0 on Jan. 10, one of his three wins over Dallas this season.
Honorable mention: Scott Niedermayer scored two goals, including the game-winner on the backhand during 3-on-3 skating for a win over Calgary, in addition to logging a team-high 29:05. … San Jose's backup Brian Boucher stopped 35 of 36 shots by Pittsburgh during his first appearance in more than a month. … The Rangers improved to 9-3 in shootouts. … Ottawa rookie goalie Brian Elliott stopped 31 of 32 shots and helped to kill 11 of 12 penalties in Ottawa's win. … Dallas' Marty Turco, a tough-luck loser, broke the franchise record with a 24th straight start. … New Jersey's Paul Martin chipped in three assists. … Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 36 of 37 shots and went 3-for-3 in the shootout vs. San Jose. … Antti Miettinen scored the game-winner with 1:11 left for Minnesota. … Seven different goal-scorers and three assists from Tom Gilbert paced the Oilers.
Dishonorable mention: Dallas has been shut out four times this season. … Colorado has five straight losses on the road. … Ottawa defenseman Jason Smith took a rarely-seen triple-minor roughing and sat in the box an addition 10 minutes with a misconduct penalty, too. … The Islanders are 1-16-1 during their last 18 games on the road.