No. 1 Star: John Tavares, New York Islanders
The Islanders star had points on his team's first four goals in a 5-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. His first goal was swatted in by Bolts defenseman Victor Hedman. After Steven Stamkos scored his first of the season, Tavares set up Matt Moulson, scored his second goal of the game and set up P.A. Parenteau in a 10-minute span. The Tavares/Moulson/Parenteau line all posted a plus-4.
No. 2 Star: Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings
Howard stopped all 25 shots he faced in the Wings' 2-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. He made 12 of those saves in the first period, and then Detroit came to life in the second with a 24-shot barrage and goals by Justin Abdelkader and Valtteri Fippula.
No. 3 Star: Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
Assistant coach Mike Haviland told CSN Chicago that the Blackhawks may have taken the Winnipeg Jets a little lightly, and Jim Slater's two goals in about three minutes confirmed that. But Kane helped Chicago wake up and defeat the Jets, 4-3. Kane, playing on a line with Marian Hossa and Dan Carcillo, assisted on Andrew Brunnette's power-play goal; scored his first of the season to tie the game 2-2; and then had a helper on Hossa's first of the season 33 seconds into the second period.
Honorable mention: Dennis Wideman scored the game-winning overtime power-play goal, with Jordan Staal in the box for tripping, as the Washington Capitals defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2. James Neal scored twice for the Pens; Alex Ovechkin scored his first of the season for the Caps. Tomas Vokoun made 39 saves. … Simon Gagne and Patrik Elias traded goals in the first period, and Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise scored in the shootout to give the New Jersey Devils a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Johan Hedberg made 16 saves in relief of Marty Brodeur. … Rene Bourque scored twice and Miikka Kiprusoff made 35 saves in the Calgary Flames' 4-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens. It was Kipper's franchise-leading 263rd victory. Andrei Kostitsyn scored his first for the Habs. … Seven different Colorado Avalanche players scored goals in their 7-1 embarrassment of the Ottawa Senators. Milan Hejduk, Gabriel Landeskog and Joakim Lindstrom all scored their second. The Avs were 4-for-6 on the power play. … Matt Cullen scored his third of the season and Devin Setoguchi had the game-winner in the shootout as the Minnesota Wild topped the Edmonton Oilers, 2-1, despite a 34-save performance by Nikolai Khabibulin. … David Schlemko, Ray Whitney and Lauri Korpikoski all scored their firsts of the season in the first period, as the Phoenix Coyotes topped the Nashville Predators, 5-2, in Music City. Shane Doan scored his third into an empty net. Ryan Suter has a shorthanded goal for the Preds. … The Dallas Stars scored the first three goals of the game. The St. Louis Blues rallied with two. But Kari Lehtonen was the difference with 36 saves, as the Stars won the game 3-2. … Al Montoya made 34 saves for the Isles to earn his second win. ... Finally, this was a very nice moment before the Pens/Caps game, which had several charitable aspects to it to help the families affected by the Lokomotiv plane crash.
Did you know? Washington is 12-1-2 in its last 15 regular-season meetings with Pittsburgh, including eight straight wins on the road. (AP)
Dishonorable mention: Martin Brodeur played the first period but then left the game with a shoulder injury. … Eric Brewer, Victor Hedman and Dominic Moore were all minus-3. … Dwayne Roloson was pulled after giving up five goals in 26:47. ... Ottawa's Craig Anderson, facing his old team, gave up seven goals on 39 shots. Said Anderson: "We weren't at our best." … Announced crowd in Dallas: 7,949 fans, with the Rangers in the ALCS. … Chris Stewart earned 17 PIMs with a fight, a roughing call and a misconduct at 19:51 after an altercation with Steve Ott. … Craig Smith, Kevin Klein and Colin Wilson were all a minus-3 for the Preds. … Arron Asham's fight with Jay Beagle was a brutal affair. His taunt at the end was deemed classless; and Asham agreed it was.