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NHL Three Stars: Svedberg earns first shutout; Schwartz nets trick vs. Coyotes

Canucks

Hey, it's Vincent Vega!

No. 1 Star: Niclas Svedberg, Boston Bruins 

A 32-save night helped Svedberg to record his first career NHL shutout during a 4-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. The Bruins netminder was making his third career start, giving Tuukka Rask the night off. A pair of goals in the first and another pair in the second helped Boston send Buffalo to their second straight defeat via shutout.

No. 2 Star: Jonas Gustavsson, Detroit Red Wings

The former Toronto Maple Leaf exacted a bit of revenge on his former mates with a 30-save, 1-0 blanking. It was Gustavsson’s sixth NHL shutout and first since he was a member of the Leafs. The two sides went 0-0 through regulation and in overtime it was Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg putting home the winner with 9.9 seconds left:

No. 3 Star: Jaden Schwartz, St. Louis Blues

Schwartz became the 60th player in Blues history to record a hat trick as St. Louis routed Arizona 6-1. The win helped Jake Allen earn the win in his first NHL start since April 2013. Jori Lehtera (who scored his first NHL goal) and Vladimir Tarasenko each recorded three points in the win.

Honorable Mention: Marc-Andre Fleury made 34 saves and the Penguins killed all seven Islanders power plays as Pittsburgh got by New York 3-1. Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist scored power play markers 55 seconds apart in the second period to erase the Islanders’ lead. Hornqvist, who also added an assist, would later put home  an empty-netter to ensure victory … Sidney Crosby recorded a pair of assists, including the 500th of his NHL career … Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski each scored a goal and assisted on two others, while Antti Niemi made 35 saves as the San Jose Sharks defeated the New Jersey Devils 4-2. Joe Thornton put home the empty-net goal at the end, helping him reach the 1,200-point plateau … Robin Lehner made 38 saves and Mike Hoffman’s goal midway through the third period broke a 2-2 deadlock as the Ottawa Senators edged the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2. Ottawa has now won four in a row … Lehner made a pretty great stick save on Alex Wennberg here:

Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin scored on all three of Washington’s shootout attempts to help give the Capitals a 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers. Justin Peters needed only 20 saves as Washington improved to 10-0-1 in their last 11 against Florida … Panthers captain Willie Mitchell played in his 800th NHL game, while Steve Ott got in his 700th and Backstrom suited up for his 500th … The wildest game of the night ended with 11 goals and the Philadelphia Flyers getting by the Dallas Stars 6-5 after an overtime power play winner from Claude Giroux. Entering the third period down 4-2, the Flyers scored three times to help force the extra period. That’s when the Flyers captain deposited a one-timer behind Kari Lehtonen to give Philadelphia their first win of the season:

Tyler Seguin had four assists, while Jason Spezza chipped in three points in the loss … P.K. Subban played a huge role in Montreal’s 3-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche. His power play blast early in the second tied the game 1-1. Later in the period, just as his penalty expired, Subban burst from the box and made both Tyson Barrie and Calvin Pickard look silly for Montreal’s third and final goal:

Meanwhile, in Chicago: Overtime. Jonathan Toews. Breakaway. Shorthanded. Blackhawks win:

Behind Ben Bishop’s 30 saves and Steven Stamkos’s three points, the Tampa Bay Lightning doubled up the Vancouver Canucks 4-2. Here’s Stamkos earning one of his points after breaking his stick, grabbing a new one from the Lightning bench, then proceeding to set up Ryan Callahan’s one-timer:

Did You Know? “The Sabres were shut out in consecutive games for the first time since October 2003.” (AP)

Dishonorable Mention: Buffalo’s power play went 0-for-7 … Via the AP, New Jersey is now 2-4-2 in home openers at Prudential Center … Patrik Nemeth left the game in the first period after being cut on his arm by R.J. Umberger’s skate … Paul Stastny and Victor Hedman left their games with upper-body injuries and did not return. Meanwhile, Martin Hanzal exited with a lower-body injury … Arizona has allowed nine first period goals through four games.