Saturday’s Three Stars: Blackhawks spoil Kings’ banner day, Jagr raises the beast

The LA Kings watch their Stanley Cup banner raised to the rafters. Pay attention, Jeff Carter.

No. 1 Star: Jaromir Jagr, Dallas Stars

The Stars left some of us scratching our heads with the signings of Jagr and Whitney, but they looked like geniuses on opening night, at least. Jagr had a huge 4-point night -- 2 goals and 2 assists, and Whitney added 1 and 1 in the Stars' 4-3 win over the Phoenix Coyotes. Radim Vrbata had 2 and 1 in the loss. By the by: Jagr's first of the night was the 666th of his career. Here he is, raising the beast:

No. 2 Star: Teemu Selanne, Anaheim Ducks

It was the quadragenarians who stole the show on opening night. First Jagr, then Selanne, who made the Vancouver Canucks look completely hapless numerous times in a 7-3 win. Selanne had 2 goals and 2 assists.

No. 3 Star: Jaroslav Halak, St. Louis Blues

Halak wasn't busy, facing just 14 shots in the game, but he stopped them all in a 6-0 shutout win over the Detroit Red Wings. Clearly, the Blues are picking up right where they left off, allowing absolutely nothing. But they looked a whole lot more offensively potent. T.J. Oshie had a goal and 2 assists, and both Chris Stewart and rookie Vladimir Tarasenko had 2 goals apiece.

Honourable Mention: Marian Hossa scored 2 goals in the Blackhawks' 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings to kick off the 2013 NHL season. He also picked up the only assist on Patrick Kane's goal, a beautiful one-timer that was the first goal of the 2013 NHL season:

Kyle Clifford picked up 2 assists in the Kings' loss. Jonathan Toews has a goal, an assist, and went 16-for-25 in the faceoff circle... Tyler Kennedy and James Neal scored less than 3 minutes apart in the first period versus the Philadelphia Flyers, and it was all the offence the Pittsburgh Penguins would need in a 2-1 win... Erik Karlsson's bid for his second Norris started well, with a goal and an assist in the Ottawa Senators 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets... David Clarkson scored the game-winner as the New Jersey Devils edged the New York Islanders, 2-1... Patrice Bergeron contributed an assist, a game-high 5 shots, and 12 faceoff wins in 17 attempts in the Boston Bruins 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers. Rick Nash picked up his first point, an assist, as a Ranger in the loss, and Henrik Lundqvist made the save of the night:

.. Martin St. Louis had 2 powerplay goals and an assist in the Tampa Bay Lightning's 6-3 win over Washington Capitals. Eric Brewer scored twice, Teddy Purcell added three assists, and Cory Conacher scored his first career NHL goal for the Lightning as well... Tyler Bozak and Nazem Kadri scored as the Toronto Maple Leafs won their opener, 2-1, over the Montreal Canadiens. Now that Luongo trade will never happen... Joel Ward scored twice in the Capitals' loss... The Columbus Blue Jackets are undefeated! They won their opener versus the Nashville Predators 3-2 in a shootout. Derick Brassard had the shootout winner... Dany Heatley scored twice in the Minnesota Wild's 4-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche. Zach Parise picked up assists on both. Ryan Suter played a game-high 27:05... In his first NHL game, Jonathan Huberdeau scored his first NHL goal 3:37 into the game and added two assists in a 5-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Brian Campbell added two goals, and Alex Kovalev's first game back was a huge success -- he had a goal and 2 assists as well.

Did you know? Everything that happened tonight is 100% predictive of what will happen over the rest of the season. Fantasy owners: trade for Joel Ward right now.

Dishonourable Mention: The Vancouver Canucks. I should probably be more specific. They were the worst. On the bright side, Cory Schneider was pulled in Vancouver for Roberto Luongo midway through the game, so that Canucks blog I run won't be stuck for content any time soon... Mike Richards, Dustin Brown, and Simon Gagne were all minus-3 in the Kings' loss... Somewhere, Dale Hunter palmed his face as the Capitals allowed 6 goals... Chris Neil made grumpy cat face in Ottawa...

Cam Ward was pulled in the Hurricanes' loss after allowing 4 goals on 12 shots in the first period... Jimmy Howard was pulled after allowing 5 goals on 28 shots. The Red Wings looked in dire need of some sort of, I don't know, Hall of Fame defenceman? Just spitballin'.