Harding’s hatty helps bury Wolves: Sunday’s 3 stars

No. 1 star: Sam Harding, Oshawa Generals (OHL)

The Gennies second-year center has never been known to light the lamp all that much in his young career. He’s more of a defensive forward.

But on John Tavares night in Oshawa, he sure came to play. He evened his goal total from last season in one game. Harding buried three pucks past Sudbury Wolves netminder Troy Timpano en route to a 4-0 win.

He scored a goal in three different situations, even strength, on the powerplay and shorthanded. Six different Generals had a hand in his three markers.

His first came five-on-five late in the second period, burying a Tobias Lindberg pass. He stuffed in two more in the third, one shorthanded off a Hunter Smith elbowing penalty, and a powerplay marker just under six minutes into the final frame on a feed from Stephen Desrocher.

Harding was a second round pick of Oshawa in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection. He notched 14 points last season, including three goals. He now has four in the young 2014-15 campaign.

Ken Appleby earned his first shutout of the season, steering aside 30 shots in the victory. Chris Carlisle had a pair of assists in the win, which improved the Generals to 2-0-1-0, atop the East Division.

Timpano stopped 38 shots in the loss, as Sudbury dropped to 1-2-0-0 on the year.

No. 2 star: Marc-Olivier Roy, Quebec Remparts (QMJHL)

The Oilers second rounder made his three shots count Sunday, scoring a hat-trick of his own in Quebec’s 6-3 win over Shawinigan. Two of his goals were of the unassisted variety, as Roy planted two pucks behind Marvin Cüpper in the Cataractes goal.

The goals were Roy’s first three in a Remparts uniform. The Oilers prospect was just returned to the team from Edmonton’s training camp. He was traded to the Remparts in the summer from the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, where he had 35 points in 39 games last season in an injury-plagued year.

Roy scored two tying goals, evening the game at 2-2 and at 3-3, and scored the fifth goal, an insurance marker 24 seconds after the winner that blew the wind out of the sails of the Cataractes, capping off a four-goal third for the Remparts.

Adam Erne scored a goal and assisted two more after arriving in Quebec City from Lightning training camp Sunday morning. Winger Guillaume Gauthier also potted a goal and two helpers.

The loss was Shawinigan’s first in regulation, the last Q team remaining without one. Quebec improved to 3-3-0-0.

No. 3 star: Ivan Barbashev, Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL)

Barbashev notched his own hat trick in Moncton’s 5-3 win over Charlottetown, including a back-breaker that halted an Islanders comeback.

Barbashev scored his third of the afternoon with just under four minutes to play, killing the momentum the Islanders had generated from three unanswered goals in the third period.

He opened the scoring, connecting with linemates Christophe Lalonde and Conor Garland midway through the opening twenty. Lalonde had the feed on Barbashev’s second in the middle stanza. Moncton led 4-0 after 40 minutes.

The goals were Barbashev’s first three points since returning from Blues’ camp late last week.

Lalonde finished with a goal and three assists, including helpers on all three of Barbashev’s markers. Alex Dubeau got the win in goal, while Mason McDonald took the loss.

Honourable mention: Christopher Clapperton, Rimouski Oceanic (QMJHL)

Clapperton had his hand in every Oceanic goal on Sunday, scoring twice and assisting on the winner as Rimouski dropped Victoriaville 3-1.

He opened the scoring midway through the first frame with his fourth of the season, assisted on Simon Bourque’s eventual winner in the second, and sealed the deal with an empty netter in the final minute.

Clapperton’s three points give him eight in his first two games with the Oceanic. The overager was returned from Panthers’ camp last week.

Rimouski moved to the top of the East Division with their fifth win of the season, improving to 5-1-0-0. Victoriaville dropped to 4-2-0-1.

Honourable mention: Carson Stadnyk, Everett Silvertips (WHL)

Stadnyk led the ’Tips offense to a 6-4 win in Portland with a goal and three helpers. The undrafted forward earned all four of his points in a wild second period that saw eight total goals on just 22 total shots.

Everett scored five unanswered goals in the middle frame, with two goals from Graham Millar and markers from Noah Juulsen and Kevin Davis along with Stadnyk. Juulsen added two assists to go with his goal.

Evan Weinger had two goals in the crazy second period. He added an assist for Portland in the loss.

Austin Lotz got the win in relief of Carter Hart for the Tips, who improve to a perfect 3-0-0-0 so far. Brendan Burke took the loss as the ’Hawks fell to 0-5-0-0.

Notables: Yakov Trenin had a goal and three assists as Gatineau blasted Val-d’Or 7-2. Louick Marcotte added a goal and two assists of his own, while Jonathan Bourcier scored twice. … Terrell Draude had a goal and added three helpers as Calgary destroyed Lethbridge 9-2. Travis Sanheim and Pavel Karnaukhov each scored twice, and Cal Babych added three assists. Zane Jones had both goals for the Hurricanes. … Gabryel Paquin-Boudreau had three assists and scored the winner in the shootout as the Chicoutimi Sagueneens win their second in two nights with a 5-4 win in Saint John. Sébastien Auger was on his game for the Sea Dogs, stopping 50-of-54 shots in the loss. … Tyler Benson scored the winner midway through the third person to complete the comeback for Vancouver in a 4-3 win over Victoria. Alec Baer and Carter Popoff each had a goal and an assist for the Giants in the win. … Lucas Thierus and Tim Weiser each lit the lamp twice as Sherbrooke doubled up Drummondville 6-3. Kay Schweri added 3 assists, giving him a team-leading 14 points in six games. … Matthew Hotchkiss snapped a 1-1 tie with his first career OHL goal and it proved to be the winner in a 2-1 win for Guelph over Windsor. Justin Nichols made 28 saves for the win.