NHL Three Stars: Tavares leads Isles; Holtby blanks Flyers

No. 1 Star: John Tavares, New York Islanders

Tavares was in beast mode as the Islanders took Game 1 5-4 over the Florida Panthers. The Islanders captain scored once and assisted on two others to open his postseason in style. He got things going with a great deke to set up Frans Nielsen’s first-period goal:

Tavares would later pick Brian Campbell’s pocket and set up Kyle Okposo to snap a 3-3 tie in the third period:

No. 2 Star: Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals

Holtby recorded his third career postseason shutout as the Capitals blanked the Philadelphia Flyers 2-0 in Game 1 of their series. After facing 11 shots in the first period, Holtby wasn't tested too heavily the rest of the way as he finished with 19 saves. John Carlson and Jay Beagle provided the goals for Washington.

No. 3 Star: Joe Pavelski, San Jose Sharks

Pavelski’s goal 17 seconds into the third period snapped a 3-3 tie and helped give the Sharks a Game 1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings 4-3. The goal was Pavelski’s second of the night, and Brent Burns and Joel Ward chipped in two points each.

Honorable Mention: Washington’s special teams were solid with one power play goal and four penalty kills … Nielsen, Okposo and Ryan Strome each recorded two points … Great late stop by Thomas Greiss:

Reilly Smith scored twice and finished with three points in a losing effort … Jamie Benn finished with three points, Jason Spezza scored a goal and setup another and Kari Lehtonen stopped 22 shots as the Dallas Stars beat the Minnesota Wild 4-0 in Game 1. After Radek Faksa opened the scoring, Spezza put home his first of the postseason after a great fake:

Drew Doughty for Vezina?

Great to see Bob Miller back at Staples Center:

Did You Know? 

Dishonorable Mention: Florida blew three different leads … The Wild mustered only two shots in the first period … The Flyers will reportedly be without Sean Couturier for the rest of the series after he suffered an upper-body injury following an Alex Ovechkin hit … Wayne Simmonds took himself off the ice late in the game after taking Tom Wilson’s bait:

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