NHL Three Stars: Nash rules Blues; Wheeler gets a Gordie

No. 1 Star: Rick Nash, New York Rangers

Remember last postseason, when Nash couldn’t buy a goal even if he used Cablevision’s money? Well, he scored 4:01 into the first period against the St. Louis Blues; assisted on Chris Kreider’s goal that broke a tie in the second; and then scored the game-winner with 1:50 left in regulation to power the Rangers to a 3-2 win.

No. 2 Star: Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg Jets

Wheeler had a Gordie Howe hat trick in the Jets’ win vs. the Arizona Coyotes, with two goals and an assist and a first-period fight against Shane Doan. But most of all, his goals came just 15 seconds apart. The Jets won, 6-2.

No. 3 Star: Mason Raymond, Calgary Flames

Raymond had a hat trick, including two goals in the third period to blow the game open, in Calgary’s 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers. Joe Colborne had assists on all three.

Honorable Mention: Patrick Kane scored the lone goal in the shootout while Duncan Keith had a goal and an assist in the Chicago Blackhawks’ 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars. … Cam Atkinson and Artem Anisimov scored third-period goals and Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1. … Mike Cammalleri scored two goals and Dainius Zubrus had the game-winner in the New Jersey Devils’ wild 6-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Wayne Simmonds had two goals and an assist in the loss. … Dustin Tokarski made 30 saves and led the Montreal Canadiens to a shootout win over the Washington Capitals. Andre Burakovsky scored his first NHL goal for the Caps in Barry Trotz’s debut. … The Detroit Red Wings limited the Boston Bruins to 17 shots on goal, and second-period tallies from Justin Abdelkader and Gustav Nyquist were enough to beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1. … Victor Hedman’s overtime power-play goal on an assist from Ben Bishop (!) gave the Tampa Bay Lightning a 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers. Aaron Ekblad earned his first NHL point with an assist on Jonathan Huberdeau’s goal. … Paul Stastny scored his first goal as a Blue. … Shea Weber had a key third-period goal and Filip Forsberg had two assists at Peter Laviolette won his Predators debut with a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators. …  Minnesota pounded Colorado, 5-0, as Zach Parise had a goal and two assists. …  Pascal Dupuis had a 4-point night and Sidney Crosby had two goals and an assist in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 6-4 win over the Anaheim Ducks. Patric Hornqvist scored his first as a Penguin. Corey Perry had a hat trick in the loss. …

Did You Know? The Oilers played in front of Edmonton's 1984 Stanley Cup-winning squad, in town to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their first of five NHL titles in a seven-year span. Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Lee Fogolin dropped the puck before the game and will be featured in a special gala celebration on Friday at Rexall Place. (AP)

Dishonorable Mention: Mark Fayne was a minus-3 in his Oilers debut. … Martin Erat was a minus-5 for the Coyotes, while Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Martin Hanzal were a minus-3. … The Devils blew a 3-0 lead in their game at Philly. … Michael Raffl, Michael Del Zotto, Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek were minus-4. Luke Schenn was a minus-5. … Dan Boyle broke his hand against the Blues. … Evander Kane left the Jets’ game with the Coyotes with what looked like a significant knee injury.  … The Avs allowed 35 shots in two periods in front of Semyon Varlamov.