Thursday's Three Stars: McElhinney stops 40; Stempniak's trick
No. 1 Star: Curtis McElhinney, Anaheim Ducks
Making his first start of the season, McElhinney made quite the impression stopping 40 pucks as Anaheim squeaked by the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2. Ryan Getzlaf(notes) scored the game-winner with 1:46 remaining in the third period. Corey Perry(notes) added two assisted, including one on Getzlaf's late tally.
No. 2 Star: Lee Stempniak(notes), Phoenix Coyotes
Goalless through four games heading into tonight, Stempniak broke out in a big way by notching his first NHL hat trick in a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Stempniak led all Coyotes with five shots and finished a plus-three. Ed Jovanovski(notes) added three assists as Phoenix won for the first time since their opening game against Boston in Prague. Wayne Simmonds(notes) scored his first two goals of the season for Los Angeles in the loss.
No. 3 Star: Sidney Crosby(notes), Pittsburgh Penguins
The Penguins captain, playing alongside Evgeni Malkin(notes), scored game-tying goals in the second and third periods, and Kris Letang(notes) added the overtime winner as Pittsburgh edged the Nashville Predators 4-3. Crosby added an assist on Letang's goal giving him 10 points in his past five games. Marc-Andre Fleury(notes) made 21 saves for his first win of the season.
Honorable mention: Martin Brodeur's(notes) 29 saves earned him his 112th career shutout and improved his all-time record over the Montreal Canadiens to 39-16-5 in a 3-0 win ... Dallas Stars netminder Kari Lehtonen(notes) improved to 5-1-0 on the season with a 27 save performance in a 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers ... Tom Wandell(notes) scored twice and Jamie Benn(notes) added three assists ... Henrik Zetterberg(notes) and Todd Bertuzzi(notes) each scored a goal and added an assist for the Detroit Red Wings in a 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames ... Johan Franzen(notes) returned to the lineup and scored his fourth of the year with an assist from Miikka Kiprusoff's(notes) head ... Mikael Backlund(notes) scored both of Calgary's goals ... After a lengthy review, Matt Moulson's(notes) shot in overtime was overturned and given as a goal as the New York Islanders beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 to move into a tie with Pittsburgh atop the Eastern Conference standings ... Joe Pavelski(notes) scored two power play goals in the second period (both assisted by Patrick Marleau(notes) and Dany Heatley(notes)) as San Jose upended Colorado 4-2 ... Kyle Brodziak's(notes) two goals led the way as Minnesota got by Edmonton 4-2 ... That's two straight wins for the Wild since head coach Todd Richards gave them the dreaded "bag skate" ... Nathan Horton(notes) scored his fourth goal in five games and Tim Thomas(notes) stopped 38 shots as Boston defeated Washington for the second time in three days ... Thomas improved to 4-0-0 on the season with a 0.75 goals-against average and .978 save-percentage ... Martin Biron(notes) made 24 saves in his first start of the season for the New York Rangers during a 2-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs ... Colton Orr(notes) and Derek Boogaard(notes) squared off for the first time ever early in the first period:
Did you know? The Wild currently own a 14-game home winning streak against the Oilers. (AP)
Dishonorable mention: Calgary went 0-for-6 on the power play and had a terrible time in the face-off dot winning just 21 of 60 draws ... Minnesota handed the Oilers 10 power plays, tying a franchise record set during the 2001-02 season. Edmonton cashed in on two of those opportunities.
