No. 1 Star:
Tyler Seguin, Boston BruinsPhil Kessel does nothing against the Bruins, Tyler Seguin posts a hat trick against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Despite their places in the standings, it feels like order has been temporarily restored in the NHL. Seguin opened the scoring in the first on the power play; he completed the trick in the second period with a pair of goals. Patrice Bergeron assisted on all three, as the Bruins won 7-0. Here's the trick; that second goal was something special:
No. 2 Star: David Legwand, Nashville Predators
The Preds veteran opened the scoring on the road at the San Jose Sharks, 1:02 into the second period. He closed the scoring at 2:53 of overtime, tipping home a pass from Francis Boullion for the 4-3 Nashville win. He was a plus-3 in the game. Pekka Rinne made 35 saves, and Ryan Suter scored on the power play to tie the game in the third. Martin Havlat scored his first as a Shark; Joe Pavelski notched his ninth.
No. 3 Star: Adam Henrique, New Jersey Devils
The rookie center gave the Devils a 2-0 lead over the Winnipeg Jets with his goal from Zach Parise in the second period. After New Jersey blew that lead, Henrique scored 1:28 into overtime from Parise and Adam Larsson to give the Devils a 3-2 win. Martin Brodeur made 21 saves. Jim Slater and Mark Flood scored for the Jets.
Honorable mention: Jimmy Howard made 22 saves in a 5-0 shutout of the Anaheim Ducks, but got plenty of support: 36 shots in the first two periods for the Detroit Red Wings. Nicklas Lidstrom had two goals and an assist; Niklas Kronwall, Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen had the other tallies as the Wings snapped their 6-game losing streak. … P.A. Parenteau (3 points) scored at 18:14 of the third period and John Tavares iced it with an empty netter (on an assist from Rick DiPietro!) as the New York Islanders defeated the Washington Capitals, 5-3. Brian Rolston scored his first with the Islanders. Alex Ovechkin scored his sixth for the Caps … Derek Roy scored to end a 6-round shootout, as the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Ottawa Senators, 3-2. Roy also had a regulation goal. Jonas Enroth made 25 saves for the win. … Milan Lucic had a goal and an assist, and Tim Thomas had the shutout in the Bruins' victory over the Leafs. … The New York Rangers scored three first-period goals; the Montreal Canadiens stormed back with two; but Brad Richards notched his fourth of the season to pad the lead and help the Rangers to a 5-3 win. This Michael Del Zotto goal from the first period was a thing of beauty:
The Philadelphia Flyers took advantage of the continued implosion of the Columbus Blue Jackets with five first-period goals and three more in the second, winning 9-2. James van Riemsdyk and former Jacket Jakub Voracek had 3-point nights. Erik Gustafsson was a plus-6(!) and Marr Carle a plus-5. … Josh Harding does it again, stopping 30 shots for the Minnesota Wild to win the game, 2-1, and win his fourth straight start. Dany Heatley and Guillaume Latendresse had the goals. … The Phoenix Coyotes got 24 saves from Mike Smith and a goal and assist from Boyd Gordon and Ray Whitney in the third, defeating the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his sixth, and first on the road, for the Oil. … Chris Kunitz and Kris Letang scored in the shootout as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Los Angeles Kings, 3-2, on the road. Steve Sullivan scored his first as a Penguin; Anze Kopitar had his seventh for the Kings.
Did you know? The Islanders moved several hundred fans from sections 305 and 306 before the start of the second period due to a leaky roof at the state-of-the-art (ahem) Nassau Coliseum. (AP)
Dishonorable mention: Tim Connolly, Joffrey Lupul, Carl Gunnarsson, Clarke MacArthur and Dion Phaneuf were all minus-3 for the Leafs; Ben Scrivens was pulled after giving up five goals in 35:12. … Dennis Wideman was a minus-4. Tomas Vokoun was below average despite making 30 saves. … Matt Calvert and Fedor Tyutin were minus-4 for the Jackets. ... Sean Avery had 4 shifts and skated 4:46 in his return to the Rangers. … Mike Blunden's inference penalty on Brandon Dubinsky sparked a melee. … The second period the Wild/Blues game got a little out of hand, with a fight and six roughing penalties. … Steve Mason gave up three goals in 13:09 of the first period, was pulled, came back and gave up four more in the epic 9-2 disaster in Philly. ... Finally, there goes that Lady Byng: Teemu Selanne had 22 PIMs against the Wings, getting an unsportsmanlike conduct, a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct. Apparently, he said "too much" to the officials.