NHL Three Stars: Hagelin’s hatty; Kuzy’s first NHL points; Ducks, Avs 9 goals in 2nd period

Posted on by Jen Neale

No. 1 Star: Evgeny Kuznetsov, Washington Capitals

Playing in only his third game for the Washington Capitals, the long-awaited rookie scored his first NHL point, and had his first NHL multi-point game against the Vancouver Canucks. Kuznetsov assisted on three goals, including this beautiful pass to Tom Wilson for the goal:

No. 2 Star: Roman Josi, Nashville Predators

Josi is one of the hidden gems of the NHL; probably because he’s usually paired with some guy named Shea Weber. On Friday, Josi provided assists on all three of Nashville’s goals against the defending champ Blackhawks; Preds won the game 3-2. On the GWG, Josi hit Ryan Ellis with a pass right as he stepped out of the penalty box:

No. 3 Star: Carl Hagelin, New York Rangers

Congrats go out to Hagelin on scoring his first NHL hat-trick in the Rangers 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets. Kevin Klein assisted on two of Hagelin’s three goals.

Honorable mention: Vancouver overcame a two-goal deficit to the Caps in the third period to tie it up; Mike Green scored the eventual 4-3 game winner … (sigh) another one-time torpedo of a power play goal from Alex Ovechkin …

… Sharks remain tied with Ducks for the Pacific Division lead after beating the Islanders 4-3 for their fifth-straight win … Frans Nielsen brought the Isle within a goal with 22 seconds left in the game … San Jose put on a passing clinic on this Jason Demers goal (Leahy tweeted the Harlem Globe Trotters theme song should have been playing) …

… The Avs and Ducks combined for 9 goals in the SECOND PERIOD; part of which included all of Anaheim’s 6 goals in their 6-4 win … People thought there might be fireworks between Patrick Roy and Bruce Boudreau. Corey Perry made sure the glass dividing the two benches was secure … Detroit’s Riley Sheahan and Edmonton’s Ryan Smyth each scored a goal and the score remained tied after OT. The Red Wings beat the Oil 2-1 (SO) on this slick goal by Tomas Tatar:

… In the Battle of the Escaped (?) Canucks, Cory Schneider started strong against Roberto Luongo and then struggled to find his rhythm … The Devils were up 3-1 over Florida midway through the second period, and then Florida scored four unanswered goals to win 5-3 … Brian Campbell and Tom Gilbert were both plus-4 for the Cats … Jonathan Toews is a robot or the Predators are REALLY crappy at face-offs; Toews won 19 draws and lost 4 … And this goal he scored is just stupid amazing:

… Rich Peverley was on hand to cheer on his teammates against the Calgary Flames. He and the entire Stars medical staff got a very much deserved ovation from the crowd … Alex Chiasson was back in the lineup … The Stars were up by two goals in the third when the Flames Paul Byron and Mike Cammalleri tied the score. In the shoot-out, Jordie Benn scored for Dallas and Sean Monahan and Corban Knight scored for Calgary. The Flames win it 4-3 (SO).

Did you know?

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Dishonorable mention: Cam Fowler did not return to the game after the first period due to a lower-body injury … Erik Johnson and Matthieu Perreault got into a bit of a controversial scrum. Perreault cross-checks Johnson and Johnson returns the favor to Perreault’s face. Shanaban forthcoming? You be the judge … Semyon Varlamov was pulled after giving up 5 goals on 24 shots to the Ducks … This Avs goal was signaled ‘no goal’ on the ice and confirmed by The Situation Room in Toronto. Did they make the right call?

Devils collapsed under vets: Marek Zidlicky (minus-4), Travis Zajac (minus-3), Jaromir Jagr (minus-3), and not a vet, John Merrill (minus-3) … Hey, at least Bryce Salvador scored his first goal of the season (bright side?) …