DALLAS (AP) ¡ª Miro Heiskanen found out Wednesday morning he
had made the All-Star team in his first season in the NHL.He celebrated with two
goals
Jeff
Carter Jersey , including a tiebreaking score in the third period of the
Dallas Stars¡® 5-4 victory over the New Jersey Devils.Heiskanen and Tyler Seguin
each scored twice after Jamie Benn tied it at 1 in the first period. Heiskanen,
a 19-year-old defenseman, has nine goals this season.For Wednesday night¡¯s
game-winner, Roope Hintz won a faceoff and on a designed play got the puck to
Heiskanen, who skated to the crease and beat Mackenzie Blackwood 6:27 into the
final period.¡°There was a little time for me,¡± Heiskanen said. ¡°I just go there
and shoot, and it went in.¡±Seguin and Benn have been under scrutiny since Stars
CEO Jim Lites recently ripped the high-priced forwards for ¡°terrible play.¡±
Seguin ended a five-game goal drought that dated almost two weeks.¡°There¡¯s been
so much talk about the results as of late,¡± Seguin said, ¡°but I know when I¡¯m
playing well, I¡¯m thinking about the process and not thinking of results.¡±Benn
scored in his second straight game but didn¡¯t play for most of the final two
periods because of an upper-body injury.¡°We wanted this one for him,¡± Seguin
said. ¡°He has had a long couple days so we hope the best for him and obviously
we rallied around him.¡±Kyle Palmieri, Jesper Bratt, Drew Stafford and Brian
Boyle scored for New Jersey, which twice trailed by two goals before sending the
game into the third period tied at 4.Blackwood made 35 saves. The rookie posted
shutouts in his previous two games.¡°I did some good things, and I did some bad
things,¡± Blackwood said. ¡°Definitely a learning experience.¡±Dallas goaltender
Ben Bishop finished with 30
saves
http://www.officialkings.com/authentic-adidas-jonathan-quick -jersey ,
including 20 in the third period after making only one stop in the first. New
Jersey had no shots on goal for a total of 23:42 spanning the first and second
periods.The Stars¡¯ Alexander Radulov had three assists, and John Klingberg had
two.Heiskanen, who had five shots on goal in the first period, was rewarded when
he scored 3:21 into the second while the teams were skating 4-on-4.Heiskanen
finished his second two-goal game with a game-high nine shots on goal and three
blocked shots. He helped preserve the win by sweeping the puck away from the
goal line late in the third.¡°Probably his most dominant game as far as puck
possession,¡± Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to say about
him anymore. I¡¯m just glad I get the opportunity to coach him.¡±Two players from
each team were in the penalty box after an altercation at 2:05 of the second.
New Jersey¡¯s Miles Wood received a major penalty for interference that knocked
Benn from the game.¡°It¡¯s a blind-side hit,¡± Montgomery said. ¡°It¡¯s one of those
hits that we¡¯re trying to get out of the game. Looked like a shoulder hit him in
the chest.¡±Wood was still in the box when Seguin scored a power-play goal from
the left circle at 6:38.The Devils pulled within a goal during an eight-second
flurry when Nico Hischier stole the puck for a breakaway, had two shots stopped
by Bishop, retrieved both rebounds and passed to Bratt at the top of the slot at
11:08.After Seguin¡¯s second goal, New Jersey rallied to tie with goals by
Stafford at 17:21 and Boyle at 18:48 of the second.NOTES: Heiskanen was selected
by Dallas with the No. 3 pick in the 2017 draft. ¡°When I was younger, I looked
at those All-Star Games,¡± he said. ¡°Now that I can go there it feels great.¡± .
Palmieri has scored at least 20 goals in four straight seasons. ¡ LW Taylor
Hall, currently on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, is New Jersey¡¯s
All-Star. ¡ Montgomery said Benn and D Julius Honka, who also left with an
upper-body injury, were held out for precautionary reasons.UP NEXTDevils: Play
the second game of a four-game trip at Arizona on Friday.Stars: Finish a
four-game homestand on Friday against Washington. PITTSBURGH (AP) ¡ª The cameras
crowd around Sidney Crosby¡¯s stall, parting only to let the Pittsburgh Penguins
captain slip through and tug on a baseball cap before the lights flip
on
Nate
Thompson Jersey , the microphones close in and the questions come.Fifteen
feet away, Evgeni Malkin goes about his business quietly as part of his game-day
routine, consulting with a staff member about a piece of equipment before
ducking out, a star hiding in plain sight.In another era or in another NHL city,
it wouldn¡¯t be this way. Yet this is Malkin¡¯s lot, one the 32-year-old Russian
and most recent member of 1,000-point club readily accepts. Drafted one spot
behind fellow countryman Alex Ovechkin and one year ahead of Crosby ¡ª whom he¡¯s
partnered to win three Stanley Cups with over the last decade ¡ª Malkin is
forever being nudged ever so slightly into the shadow of the two players who
have defined the league for a generation.¡°I think he likes it that way, to be
honest with you,¡± said former teammate Brooks Orpik, now a defenseman for the
Washington Capitals. ¡°He lets Sid do a lot more of the media stuff. And he kind
of does his own thing and flies under the radar. I think he¡¯s good with that
part of it.¡±Even if Malkin¡¯s affable public reticence plays in stark contrast to
the way he goes about doing his job, where the 2012 Hart Trophy winner,
four-time All-Star and two-time scoring champion is a study in contrasts.
Hulking yet nimble. Intimidating yet imaginative. A 6-foot-3, 195-pound anomaly
of speed, power and skill who joined Ovechkin and Crosby, San Jose¡¯s Joe
Thornton and Toronto¡¯s Patrick Marleau as the only active players to hit four
digits when he collected two assists in Pittsburgh¡¯s 5-3 victory over Washington
on Tuesday night.Malkin picked up secondary assists on Crosby¡¯s second-period
goal and Phil Kessel¡¯s third-period marker and celebrated by getting mobbed in
the corner as the sellout crowd that included his parents and his wife rose to
its feet in appreciation. Not bad for a kid from Magnitogorsk, Russia who never
imagined he¡¯d called America home.¡°I grow up in small city and never think I
play in NHL and score
like
Authentic
Oscar Fantenberg Jersey , 1,000 points,¡± Malkin said.Yet what once must
have seemed impossible became inevitable as the years passed, the goals piled up
and his reputation as one of the NHL¡¯s most dynamic and daunting players
blossomed.¡°He makes it look easy, that¡¯s the thing,¡± Crosby said. ¡°It¡¯s so
effortless for him.¡±Crosby offered a sequence during Pittsburgh¡¯s 4-2 win over
Boston on Sunday night as proof. Malkin collected a pass at the Penguins¡¯ blue
line, raced by Bruins forward Peter Cehlarik, slipped the puck underneath Boston
defenseman Brandon Carlo¡¯s flailing stick ¡ª spinning Carlo around completely in
the process ¡ª then re-gathered it before ripping a wrist shot that soared over
the crossbar. The whole thing took five seconds. Even now, 13 years into a
partnership as productive as any in modern NHL history, Crosby couldn¡¯t help but
shake his head.¡°You know how hard those things are to do?¡± Crosby said. ¡°And to
see him do it the way he does is pretty special.¡±And also a well-kept secret of
sorts.When the NHL released its top 100 players of all-time in conjunction with
the league¡¯s 100th anniversary in 2017, Crosby and Ovechkin¡¯s names were on the
list. Malkin¡¯s was not, a fact he tried to play off by joking that if he won a
couple of more Stanley Cups he could be No. 101. His friends and teammates
didn¡¯t take it quite so well, with Orpik calling the omission ¡°pretty
outrageous.¡±Maybe, but it¡¯s also symbolic of Malkin¡¯s unusual place in the NHL
stratosphere. Famous, but not that famous. Well-respected. Just not quite as
much as the two players he¡¯s most closely associated with.¡°I think of outside of
Pittsburgh, I don¡¯t think he gets the credit he deserves for the body of work
that he¡¯s put together in his decade-plus years as a Pittsburgh
Penguin
Tanner
Pearson Jersey ,¡± Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. ¡°When you look at
what he¡¯s accomplished, it¡¯s remarkable.¡±It¡¯s just that he happens to share a
dressing room with the league¡¯s most recognizable name and the same homeland as
the greatest Russian player ever. Malkin¡¯s 1.178 career points per game is
second-highest among active players. Crosby is first. Ovechkin is third.Even on
the night Malkin reached elite company, he couldn¡¯t hold the spotlight for long.
Less than three minutes after reaching 1,000 points, Malkin watched Ovechkin set
up John Carlson for a goal that made Ovechkin the 48th player to reach 1,200
points. Maybe it¡¯s fitting. Crosby¡¯s combination of talent and relentlessness
helped make him the face of the NHL, with Ovechkin long serving as Crosby¡¯s
emotional counterpoint, raw and primal. Malkin¡¯s persona ¡ª much like his stats ¡ª
falls somewhere in between.¡°He¡¯s Malkin,¡± Ovechkin said with shrug. ¡°Everybody¡¯s
different.¡±And no less effective. Malkin plays with a natural ease, producing
highlight-reel plays with the casualness of someone goofing around at the end of
a morning skate. That casualness is a testament to both Malkin¡¯s immense ability
and one of the primary reasons his production can be taken for granted.What
Malkin does is incredibly difficult. The fact he doesn¡¯t make it look that way
is both a compliment and a curse.¡°Sid¡¯s the hardest-working guy I¡¯ve ever played
with and I think he has to do that to be at the level he¡¯s at,¡± Orpik said. ¡°You
can see Geno take a month off and come back and most guys are usually pretty
rusty, he¡¯s pretty much right at that level all the time.¡±Well, maybe not all
the time.Malkin¡¯s milestone moment came during an uncharacteristically uneven
season. He didn¡¯t score an even strength goal during November, his minus-23
rating heading into Tuesday ranked worst on the team and he¡¯s shown a penchant
for taking needless offensive zone penalties.¡°It¡¯s a tough year for me but every
game, team play better and I think my game, it¡¯s like back and I feel so much
better every
night
Jonny
Brodzinski Jersey Womens ,¡± Malkin said. ¡°My confidence back.¡±Pittsburgh¡¯s
best chances at emerging from the crowded race for a playoff spot in the Eastern
Conference will rely heavily on Malkin being Malkin over the last three weeks of
the regular season.There have been signs of late, like his sizzling end-to-end
rush against Boston or the way he quarterbacked a resurgent power play that
scored twice against the Capitals. They are things that he¡¯s done with
astonishing regularity through the years, so much so that when he doesn¡¯t do
them the discussion centers on what he¡¯s doing wrong rather than an appreciation
for all the things he¡¯s done right.Those who get to witness his excellence on a
day-to-day basis think it¡¯s time for that perception to change. Malkin might not
care. But they do.¡°We all understand what he means to this team,¡± Sullivan said.
¡°He doesn¡¯t get the credit he deserves outside of Pittsburgh in the hockey
world. He¡¯s been one of the elite players in this hockey league for more than a
decade and he deserves more attention for that.¡±GAME OF THE WEEKThe Wild and
Stars are in the middle of a wide-open scramble for the final two playoff spots
in the west. Their meeting in Minnesota on Thursday could start to provide some
clarity.LEADERS (through Monday)Goals: Alex Ovechkin (Washington), 46; Assists:
Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay), 78; Points: Kucherov, 111; Ice time: Ryan Suter
(Minnesota), 26:51; Goals-against average: Jordan Binnington (St. Louis), 1.81;
Save percentage: Ben Bishop (Dallas), .932.