No. 1 star: Marc-Andre Bergeron, Montreal Canadiens

Bergeron was signed to slap a Band-Aid on the Montreal power-play following the injury to quarterback Andrei Markov, who was sidelined on opening night. In that sense he's been a failure, providing only one point on special teams since his first week in a Montreal sweater. But lately – and somewhat uncharacteristically – he's been a force at even strength. Tuesday Bergeron scored a pair of goals in Montreal's 5-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Neither will go in the scrapbook – the first was scored on a deflection and Bergeron hardly got all of the slapshot that resulted in the game-winner – but it's hard to discount a game-high eight shots and a plus-3 rating for a defenseman generally considered an even-strength liability.

No. 2 star: Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens

Price made several highlight-reel saves and kept the Canadiens within striking distance after two periods despite the fact that Columbus held a 28-16 advantage in shots through 40 minutes of action. With each passing game, Price's November numbers are making it harder to fathom the fact that they were calling for exile to the AHL a little more than a month ago. R.J. Umberger (5 shots, 0 points) may not be sleeping soundly Tuesday night.

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No. 1 star: Matt Bradley, Washington Capitals

Bradley got the worst of it when trading wild right hands with New York Rangers forward Aaron Voros in a first-period fight. As he skated off the ice he appeared to ask a linesman, "is this mine?" while pointing at the blood cascading from above his left eye. The answer came in the affirmative, which didn't seem to faze the Washington right wing. That was his last act of the period, but after a little time in makeup he returned to make an impact, scoring the game-winner (video) in an eventual 4-2 win over the Blueshirts. Nice skill play by Bradley, who won a battle with Wade Redden, then used his body to shield the puck from pursuing defenseman Matt Gilroy before snapping it past Henrik Lundqvist at 15:09 of the third.

No. 2 star: Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens

Price actually bit on Matt Cullen's fake in the sixth round of the shootout, but a desperation pad save stopped the puck just short of the goal line, preserving a 3-2 Montreal victory. The knock on the Canadiens' third-year goalie has been that he plays just well enough to lose close games, but Tuesday he was at his best in pressure situations. Price made 13 third-period saves to allow Montreal to tie the score, survived a 7-1 Carolina advantage in shots in the overtime and then turned aside three do-or-die shots in the scoreless shootout before a Maxim Lapierre goal set the stage for the stop on Cullen.

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No. 1 star: Chris Osgood, Detroit Red Wings

Osgood has been challenged by Red Wings coach Mike Babcock and Tuesday he delivered with his 50th career shutout in a 2-0 win over the Bruins. The embattled Detroit goalie did his best work in the first period when he stopped Marco Sturm on a point-blank chance, then corralled the rebound with his glove after receiving an assist from the post. In all Ozzie made 29 saves as he moved within six wins of 400 career victories. After all the finger pointing that followed his rough October (3.10 GAA, .889 save pct.), Osgood was in dire need of an effort like this.

No. 2 star: Kris Letang, Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins aren't supposed to win in California and certainly the loss of Sergei Gonchar is expected to catch up with the reigning Stanley Cup champions, but neither obstacle was a factor in Tuesday's 4-3 win over the Ducks. Pittsburgh blueliners combined for six points, led by Letang, who scored his first goal of the season and added an assist on Pascal Dupuis' game-winner as the Pens improved to an NHL-best 12-3-0. Letang led all Penguins skaters with 23:46 of ice time, sharing team-high honors in both shots (3) and blocked shots (3).

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No. 1 star: Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings

If the Red Wings cruise into April atop the Central Division, we may well look back at Tuesday's early hook of Chris Osgood as rock bottom, and the third-period comeback sparked by Datsyuk as the first step toward restoring normalcy. With Detroit trailing 3-2 early in the third, Datsyuk deked Christian Ehrhoff and beat Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo through a screen to tie it up. He'd score on a power play three minutes later and though the Canucks would briefly tie things on a 5-on-3, Datsyuk's three-point night resulted in a 5-4 victory for the Wings' first road win of the season. Speaking of firsts – and here's further evidence that nobody is immune from blame in Motown – the two goals snapped a 21-game goalless streak for Datsyuk that included last season's Stanley Cup playoffs.

No. 2 star: Jose Theodore, Washington Capitals

A strong case can be made here for the usual suspects. Alex Ovechkin scored two goals, Alexander Semin netted the game-winner and had two helpers and Nicklas Backstrom snapped out of a scoring slump (one point in six) in style with a four-point night (goal, three assists), but we'll give the curtain call to Theodore, who spent the better part of the third period making degree-of-difficulty saves in a one-goal game. Theodore stopped 41 shots in all – 20 in the third period alone – including a Darroll Powe penalty shot with just over 13 minutes remaining. Caps coach Bruce Boudreau called Theodore's performance in the 4-2 victory perhaps his best as a member of the Caps.

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No. 1 star: Matt Cooke, Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pens are now 8-1 and on this night it was secondary scoring that made the difference, with five players scoring goals and 13 contributing points in a thorough 5-1 shellacking of the St. Louis Blues. Cooke did not land on the scoresheet until he screened Chris Mason and deflected a Kris Letang slapper for Pittsburgh's fourth goal, but his physical stamp was all over this one. Cooke registered a team-high six hits in 11-plus minutes of ice time and was instrumental in killing both St. Louis power-plays.

No. 2 star: Ondrej Pavelec, Atlanta Thrashers

It's not often we send a losing goalie out for a curtain call, but Tuesday's Pavelec-Jaroslav Halak showdown was that good, and even though the Montreal Canadiens would prevail in a shooutout, it was Pavelec who provided the highlight-reel saves (video). He did plenty of heavy lifting through the end of regulation, then was forced to protect the tie when a Slava Kozlov checking-from-behind major handed Montreal a 7-0 shot advantage in the extra period. Stealing the point allowed the Thrashers to match their best start (4-1-1) since joining the NHL in 1999.

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No. 1 star: Darcy Tucker, Colorado Avalanche

Toronto fans cheered twice Tuesday, once for a video tribute to Tucker, playing in the city for the first time since a contract buyout ended his eight-year stint as a member of the Leafs in 2008, and once for the Francois Beauchemin goal that briefly gave the home fans hope. Then Tucker spoiled things. Not quite a minute after the Beauchemin goal cut the Avs' advantage to 2-1, Tucker dressed up drew an elbowing call on Toronto's Mike Komisarek. As the Colorado power-play was winding down, Tucker crashed the net and deflected the puck past Joey MacDonald for his third goal of the season. It was pretty much all boos from there, but for Tucker (goal, assist, plus-1, 3 shots) you have to figure there's no looking back. The win moved the Avs (4-1-1) into first place in the Northwest.

No. 2 star: Thomas Vanek, Buffalo Sabres

For a team having trouble scoring goals, it has to be bittersweet that a welcome six-goal outburst – Buffalo never plays well against Detroit – came at the expense of one of its top scorers. Vanek scored twice in a 6-2 win over the Wings, but was injured burying Buffalo's fourth goal of the second period and early word is that he could miss weeks of action. He had plenty of help on both goals. Vanek's first tally was aided by an aggressive Drew Stafford rush to the net and Derek Roy did most of the dirty work on No. 2 after a brutal Niklas Kronwall turnover in his own zone. Vanek pounded home the rebound, but was tripped up and his collision with the end boards was his final act.

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