NHL Three Stars: Tricks are for Taylor Hall, Nazem Kadri
No. 1 Star: Taylor Hall, Edmonton Oilers
Hall set an Oilers record for the fastest hat trick to start a game at 7:53, beating the three goals in 12:38 set by Wayne Gretzky in 1986, as Edmonton defeated the Vancouver Canucks, 4-0. Devan Dubnyk made 23 stops for his second shutout of the season.
No. 2 Star: Nazem Kadri, Toronto Maple Leafs
Kadri had a natural hat trick and assisted on Joffrey Lupul’s first period goal, as the Leads shut out the Ottawa Senators, 4-0. James Reimer had the 31-save shutout. Lupul had a goal and three assists.
No. 3 Star: Semyon Varlamov, Colorado Avalanche
Varlamov stopped all 34 shots he faced, and Tyson Barrie’s goal 50 seconds into overtime gave him the 1-0 win over the Nashville Predators.
Honorable mention: Matt Cooke completed a dominating game with a third-period goal and Tomas Vokoun made 35 saves as the Pittsburgh Penguins won their 15th straight game, 2-0 over the New York Islanders. … Alex Ovechkin’s shootout goal completed a Washington Capitals’ rally for a 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres. Mike Green’s goal at 19:20 of the third tied the game. Ville Leino scored his first two goals of the season in the loss. … Mike Knuble and Matt Read spotted the Philadelphia Flyers a lead they wouldn’t surrender as they upset the Boston Bruins, 3-1. Ilya Bryzgalov made 33 saves. … Eric Staal’s goal 28 seconds into the third period was the dagger, as Justin Peters’ 34-save effort propelled the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets, snapping their seven-game winless streak. … Logan Couture had the lone goal in the shootout, as the San Jose Sharks defeated the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-2. Marc-Edouard Vlasic had the game-tying goal in the third. … Zach Parise had a goal, and assist and a shootout goal as the Minnesota Wild defeated the Los Angeles Kings, 4-3. The Wild scored on each of their shootout attempts vs. Jonathan Quick. Jeff Carter had goal No. 19 in the loss. … Carey Price made 34 saves and P.K. Subban had three assists in the Montreal Canadiens’ dominating 3-0 win over the New York Rangers. … Dmitry Kulikov’s first of the season at 1:43 of overtime gave the Florida Panthers a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils. Shawn Matthias tie the game at 19:33 with the goalie pulled. …
Did you know? The Canadiens put defenseman Tomas Kaberle on waivers, perhaps to free space for a trade before Wednesday's deadline
Dishonorable mention: Chris Kunitz earned a major and a game misconduct for hitting Josh Bailey from behind on a questionable call. … Chris Phillips was a minus-3. … The Leafs and Sens had three fights in the first period. … The Canucks now have the 30th best power play in the NHL (12.8 percent). … Scottie Upshall may have touched the puck with a high stick before Matthias tied it vs. New Jersey. … Sidney Crosby was in the hospital overnight after taking a Brooks Orpik shot to the face.
