For Three Stars from Monday's World Juniors action, check out Buzzing The Net.
No. 1 Star: Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers
Lundqvist was perfect for the Rangers, stopping all 28 shots he faced to shut out the New York Islanders, 3-0. He got some decent run support too, with rookie left winger Carl Hagelin scoring twice in the win. With the win, the Rangers moved into first in the Eastern Conference.
No. 2 Star: Viktor Stalberg, Chicago Blackhawks
The Columbus Blue Jackets kept things close through one, but after Patrick Sharp put the Blackhawks ahead, Stalberg torpedoed any hopes of a comeback by scoring twice more before the end of the period. The Blackhawks won the game 4-1, becoming the first NHL team to 50 points on the year and handing Columbus yet another regulation road loss. The Jackets still don't have a regulation road win.
No. 3 Star: Ryan Kesler, Vancouver Canucks
Kesler set up Alex Burrows for the game-winner shorthanded, then had the favour returned when Burrows fed him for an insurance marker early in the third period as the Canucks took over top spot in the Northwest division with a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers. Andrew Ebbett scored twice as well, once on this 2-on-1:
Honourable mention: Chris Stewart scored twice, and David Backes, David Perron, and Patrick Berglund all had two assists as the St. Louis Blues' beat the Dallas Stars, 5-3... Rookie defenseman Brayden McNabb scored his first career goal in the Buffalo Sabres' 4-2 win over the Washington Capitals. The Sabres scored all four goals in the first period... Cam Ward made 23 saves and sniped a Kovalchuk-esque goal as the Carolina Hurricanes doubled up on the New Jersey Devils, 4-2... Jan Hejda scored the game-winner in the Colorado Avalanche's 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on a feed from Ryan O'Reilly, who also had a goal. It would have been 5-2 if Nicklas Backstrom hadn't made this amazing save:
... Valteri Filppula scored the first and last goals in the Detroit Red Wings' 4-1 win over the Nashville Predators. Jimmy Howard made 31 saves. Ryan Suter played over 26 minutes for the Predators, who were without Shea Weber. Rookie Roman Josi took his place, skating for over 22 minutes... Andrew Cogliano scored the game-winner in the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks... Raffi Torres can be streaky, but when he's on, he's on, and he was on Monday night, scoring twice for the Phoenix Coyotes in their 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings. Dustin Brown scored the game-winner for the Kings...
Did you know? The Wild are the first team to follow a 7-game winning streak with a 7-game losing streak since the 1999 Colorado Avalanche. (Elias Sports Bureau)
Dishonourable mention: Micheal Haley had 0:04 for the Islanders Monday night, during which time he picked a fight with Rangers' defenseman Stu Bickell. Good tilt, but he instigated (apparently), threw punches before Bickell had his gloves off, and continued to throw punches while Bickell was on the ground. So he got 2, 5, and 10, and didn't return.