Charlottetown Islanders' Filip Rydstrom has 5 points against Halifax: Thursday's OHL & QMJHL 3 Stars

No. 1 star: Filip Rydstrom, Charlottetown Islanders  (QMJHL)

December often affords a club's less heralded import a chance to play choice minutes. With Filip Chlapik away from the Islanders after being cut from the Czech Republic junior squad, Rydstrom (2G-3A, +5) had his best night for the Islanders during an 8-2 throttling against the young Halifax Mooseheads. The Swedish centre and his linemates Oliver Cooper (2G-2A, +4) and Ross Johnston (4A, +4) were just too physical to Halifax to contend with, as they combined for a baker's dozen of 13 points. That beastly effort gave Charlottetown its first home win over the Mooseheads since Sept. 13, 2013.

Rydstrom got the icebreaker just prior to the six-minute of the first to help stake the Islanders to a 2-0 lead. In the second, his night became, in his wording, "unreal," as he drew assists on consecutive Cooper goals and snuck a backhand past goalie Kevin Resop with 16.8 seconds left for the 5-0 goal.

The Mooseheads spoiled Mason McDonald's shutout bid with two third-period power-play goals. Rydstrom completed his career night with a short-handed assist as the Islanders officially got to .500 at the break.

No. 2 star: Conor Garland, Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL)

It was no Ivan Barbashev, no problem for the Q's leading scorer. Garland (2G-3A, +2) and Cameron Askew (5A, +4) took the Wildcats on a point night and then some with a 10-5 rout against the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

For the second time this week, Moncton fell into a huge hole, going down 5-2 near at the midpoint after tallies just more than two minutes apart from the Eagles' Loïk Léveillé and Matthew Nosella. That lead was gone fewer than two minutes later after a pair of special-teams tally and a goal assisted on by Askew and Garland. On the shift following that goal, Garland sniped to put the Wildcats into the lead, then chipped in another as part of a run that included six goals in fewer than 7½ minutes. Garland also had a third-period assist, giving himself the holiday-break scoring lead with 63 points, five clear of Rimouski's Alexis Loiseau (who did suit up vs. Quebec after leaving his team's last game with an injury).

No. 3 star: Brendan Perlini, Niagara IceDogs (OHL)

The Carter Verhaeghe-Perlini-Josh Ho-Sang troika tallied a combined 10 points as the 'Dogs played arena football on frozen water, beating Owen Sound 8-7 after the teams combined for six goals in the final nine minutes of the third period.

Perlini (1G-3A, +2) ended the mayhem and got the IceDogs a valuable second point with a quintessential goal scorer's goal 3:54 into the 4-on-4. The Arizona Coyotes first-rounder took a dish from Vince Dunn and rifled a screened shot by Attack goalie Jack Flinn, glove side. That mooted a late collapse since the IceDogs blew 6-4 and 7-6 advantages, with Owen Sound defenceman Santino Centorame (3G-1A, +2) scoring the equalizer with 21 seconds left. That came after a go-ahead by Ho-Sang (2G-1A, +1), who found a sliver of space to one-time a pass out from Verhaeghe (3A, +2).

Honourable mention: Zack Bowman, Plymouth Whalers (OHL)

Team award time! Bowman turned back 30 shots in a 4-2 Whalers road win against the Barrie Colts that broke an eight-game losing skid. The 17-year-old St. Catharines native didn't give up an even-strength goal and was particularly strong in the second period for Plymouth, which got the W while having three players away at national junior team camps. Jacob Collins chipped in his first OHL goal for Plymouth and overage centre Mathew Campagna (1G-1A, +3) got the first-star nod inside the Barrie Molson Centre.

Potent notables — Detroit Red Wings signing Jake Paterson made 36 saves in Saginaw's 2-1 win at Windsor ... Los Angeles Kings pick Jake Marchment (2G-1A, +3) scored with 2:40 left for the winner in Belleville's 5-4 road win against Peterborough ... Sophomore defenceman Colton White (2A, +1) assisted on Sault Ste. Marie's OT winner against Guelph. Red Wings second-rounder Tyler Bertuzzi netted his 20th for the Storm ... Egor Popov (1G-1A, +2) scored with 1:06 left to lift Acadie-Bathurst over Saint John, 4-3, in QMJHL play ... New York Rangers prospect Ryan Graves (2G, +1) scored his first QMJHL hat trick during Quebec's 7-3 win against Rimouski in an East Division tilt ... Overage Cam Darcy's first goal for Sherbrooke was a game-winner against Shawinigan ... Joey Brennan, a 17-year-old rookie, scored in his first game for the Gatineau Olympiques ... Mathieu Ayotte (3G, +3) led Victoriaville to a 6-4 win over Drummondville.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.