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NHL Three Stars: All hail Jake Allen in Blues’ win

No. 1 Star: Jake Allen, St. Louis Blues

With due respect to overtime game-winner Joel Edmundson, it was all Jake Allen in the Blues’ 2-1 win over the Minnesota Wild in Game 1. He made 51 saves (and admittedly had some luck) in carrying St. Louis to victory. For those worried about his playoff mettle (raises hand), this was impressive.

No. 2 Star: Melker Karlsson, San Jose Sharks

The Sharks forward completed their rally against the Edmonton Oilers, sniping a goal at 3:22 of overtime for the 3-2 Game 1 win.

No. 3 Star: Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers

The King made goals by Tanner Glass and Michael Grabner stand up with a 31-save shutout, out-dueling Carey Price in the Rangers’ 2-0 Game 1 win over the Montreal Canadiens.

Honorable Mention: Brad Marchand scored at 17:27 of the third period to give the Boston Bruins a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators in Game 1. … Bobby Ryan had the Ottawa goal. … Rookie Charlie McAvoy was solid in skating 24:11 for Boston. … Vladimir Sobotka scored his second goal in two games for the Blues. … Cam Talbot made 41 saves. … Marc-Edouard Vlasic had two assists and helped limit Connor McDavid to one. … Marc-Andre Fleury made a surprise start for the Pittsburgh Penguins in place of the injured Matt Murray, making 31 saves in their 3-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game 1. … Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist, the latter coming on a nifty kick-pass:

Did You Know? It was Lundqvist’s 10th career playoff shutout in his 116th consecutive postseason start for the Rangers. (NHL)

Dishonorable Mention: Zach Parise evened things out, scoring a goal after preventing one for his team. … Andrei Markov was given a misconduct for this spear on Rick Nash at the end of the game.