No. 1 Star: Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings
Quick made 38 saves in the Kings' 2-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks to keep his team unbeaten in regulation in the Darryl Sutter era. Los Angeles is now 3-0-1 over that span. The shutout was his league-leading fifth of the season. Trent Hunter scored the game-winner midway through the second.
No. 2 Star: Alexander Semin, Washington Capitals
Clearly taking some umbrage to the seeming inversion of roles since these two teams met in the first round of the postseason last spring, the Capitals played with some jump versus the Eastern Conference leading New York Rangers. Semin was especially potent, scoring his team's final two goals to give the Caps a 4-1 lead they would not relinquish. His second goal was pretty:
No. 3 Star: Petr Sykora, New Jersey Devils
Sykora opened the scoring midway through the first, then added his second only a minute and a half into the middle frame. It would stand up as the game-winner, with the Devils knocking off the Buffalo Sabres by a score of 3-1.
Honourable mention: Pekka Rinne was fantastic for the Nashville Predators, making 34 saves en route to a 2-1 shootout victory over the Minnesota Wild, who have now lost eight straight... Jason Labarbera made 27 saves to get the Phoenix Coyotes to overtime versus the Boston Bruins, but he couldn't stop Dennis Seidenberg's shot a minute to give the Bruins a 2-1 win... Jay Beagle returned to the lineup for the Washington Capitals. He missed 31 games with a concussion after Arron Asham put him to sleep... Andrew Ebbett scored the game-winner as the Vancouver Canucks knocked off the San Jose Sharks 3-2.
Did you know? The Coyotes played to a sellout crowd Wednesday, the first time they've done so since the season opener.
Dishonourable mention: Wysh, for vetoing my obscene initial title for tonight's three stars... and Raffi Torres for the nightly headshot, throwing an elbow to Andrew Ference's head. But don't expect Shanaban to dole out any discipline. Adam McQuaid handled it.