Saturday's Three Stars: Hat tricks aplenty; Selanne upset after hit
No. 1 Star: Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings
Zetterberg was a large factor in Detroit's rally from a 3-1 second period deficit with a four-point night. After scoring the opening goal of the game on the power play, Zetterberg set up Tomas Holmstrom's(notes) tying goal late in the second period, added his own game-tying tally midway through the third period and then helped set up Pavel Datsyuk's(notes) beauty of a game winner with 11.4 seconds to go in regulation giving the Red Wings a 5-4 win over the Anaheim Ducks:
No. 2 Star: Brad Richardson(notes), Los Angeles Kings
Not someone who you'd think would be a hat trick hero, but Richardson made an impact in Los Angeles' 6-4 win over Colorado tonight. Tallying his first career hat trick, Richardson's second goal came shorthanded and was the eventual game-winner with 6:56 remaining in the third period. He'd complete the trick three minutes later to give the Kings an insurance marker.
No. 3 Star: Alexander Semin(notes), Washington Capitals
Off to a bit of a slow start, Semin carried the scoring load for the Capitals on a night where their power play went 0-for-4 and Alex Ovechkin(notes) was held off the scoresheet. Semin recorded his fourth career hat trick and Tomas Fleischmann(notes) scored the overtime winner as Washington slipped past the Atlanta Thrashers 4-3.
Honorable mention: Finishing off another night of a hat trick of hat tricks, New York Islanders forward John Tavares(notes) registered his first in a 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers ... P.A. Parenteau(notes) recorded two assists, giving him nine points through eight games. His previous career high was eight points through 22 games ... The Panthers honored the franchise's first team president and former Islanders GM Bill Torrey during a pre-game ceremony ... Andrei Kostitsyn(notes) scored twice and Carey Price(notes) made 19 saves for his fifth career shutout in a 3-0 Montreal win over Ottawa. The shutout was Price's first in 90 games ... Ryan Callahan(notes) of the New York Rangers recorded his 100th career point in a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins ... Erik Johnson's(notes) overtime winner ended an exciting goaltending duel between Brent Johnson(notes) (23 saves) and Jaroslav Halak(notes) (31 saves) as the St. Louis Blues got past the Pittsburgh Penguins 1-0 ... The win was St. Louis' 10th straight at Scottrade Center ... Steve Mason(notes) made 30 saves in a 3-2 Columbus win over Chicago. Patrick Sharp(notes) scored his 8th goal of the season in the loss ... Thomas Vanek(notes) scored twice as Buffalo routed New Jersey 6-1 with Ilya Kovalchuk(notes) out of the lineup as a healthy scratch ... Mike Richards(notes) scored his first goal of the season for the Flyers and assisted on two others as Philadelphia beat Toronto 5-2. The Flyers outshot the Maple Leafs 40-14 ... Evander Kane(notes) scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season in the overtime loss to Washington ... Pekka Rinne(notes) made 30 saves for his 15th career shutout as Cal O'Reilly(notes) provided the only goal in Nashville's win over Dallas ... After going down early on another highlight-reel shorthanded tally from Jordan Eberle(notes), the San Jose Sharks scored six unanswered goals in a 6-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers. Joe Pavelski(notes) and Joe Thornton(notes) each contributed three points and Antero Niittymaki(notes) made 21 saves ... The Sharks finished 3-for-5 on the power play ... Anton Babchuk's(notes) overtime goal gave Carolina a 4-3 edge over the Phoenix Coyotes. Jussi Jokinen(notes) had a goal and an assist, while Kyle Turris(notes) scored twice, his first NHL goals since March of 2009 ... Finally, the Kings and Avalanche Twitter accounts engaged in a hashtag battle where if users Tweeted either #GoAvs or #GoKings the teams would donate $1 to local charities. The final tallies were 29,374 for the Kings and 13,876 for the Avalanche.
Did you know? Three out of Carey Price's five career shutouts have come against the Ottawa Senators.
Dishonorable mention: Carolina managed the OT win over Phoenix despite winning just 19 of 59 draws ... Johan Hedberg(notes) made his first start in goal for the New Jersey Devils and lasted only 28 minutes after allowing four goals on 11 shots ... After Friday night's cross-check to the face of Mark Giordano(notes) by Rick Nash(notes), Colin Campbell's Sunday will likely be busy reviewing a butt-end by Wayne Simmonds(notes) on T.J. Galiardi(notes) that got the Kings forward five minutes and a game misconduct ... Anaheim's Teemu Selanne(notes) was not happy with a Niklas Kronwall(notes) hit he believed was dirty, "That guy is dangerous out there," Selanne said. "One of these days somebody's going to get him, for sure. I know that. It's just a matter of time when. For sure his elbow hit in my face. I didn't see the replay but I know how it felt." Here's the play:
