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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No. 1 star: Mikael Samuelsson, Detroit Red Wings

It's always hard to overlook the overtime winner and in this case it's even tougher, given the fact that Samuelsson triggered the deciding rush by stealing the puck from Brian Campbell at the opposite end before getting all of a Valtteri Filppula feed to send everyone home. It was an active night for the Swede that included highs (a team-high six shots) and lows (failure to clear the puck prior to Chicago's first goal).

No. 2 star: Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks

You can't accuse Toews of not being a factor in this one. He opened the scoring when his centering pass deflected off a Detroit skate and into the goal for a 1-0 lead, and later tied the game at 2-2 with a redirect of his own off a Kris Versteeg slapper. He created numerous other scoring chances, drew a penalty in the second period with the team trailing 2-1 at the time and more than held his own in the faceoff circle (9 of 14 draws won).

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No. 1 star: Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks

His minutes were down in Game 4 and his line was broken up in Game 5, but Getzlaf's unit stepped up big time in Tuesday's series-extending 2-1 victory over the visiting Red Wings. Reunited as expected with Corey Perry for the survival game, Getzlaf used a hard hit on Dan Cleary behind his own net to start a power-play rush, then converted a rebound of a Scott Niedermayer shot on the other end to give Anaheim a 1-0 lead in the second period. He'd add an assist on Perry's goal later that same period while dominating all night in the faceoff circle (16 of 24 draws won) and adding three hits.

No. 2 star: Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins

If you worked yourself into a scoring position and put your stick on the ice, you probably wound up on the scoresheet Tuesday in Boston's 4-2 win in Carolina that forced a Game 7. All four Boston goals were the result of superb feeds, with Bergeron providing two of the best for the Bruins. His pass to Mark Recchi on a 2-on-1 led to Boston's first goal and his thread-the-needle dish to Chuck Kobasew provided some breathing room late in the second period. It was a complete effort for the centerman, who played in all situations while leading Bruins forwards in ice time.

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No. 1 star: Jussi Jokinen, Carolina Hurricans

The postseason's most dangerous man in a tie game was at it again Friday, taking a pass from Rod Brind'Amour that trickled through the crease and pounding it home to break a 1-1 deadlock in an eventual 4-1 Carolina win in Game 4. Talk about a guy with a flair for the dramatic, Jokinen – they've taken to calling the native of Finland "The Finnisher" – now has six goals in the playoffs, five coming in the third period or overtime and three holding up as winners. Who says he needs the shootout to send a crowd home happy? Things unraveled late for the Bruins, with Jokinen picking up a pair of assists on the goals that iced the game.

No. 2 star: Rob Scuderi, Pittsburgh Penguins

Let's start with the two assists. As a defenseman who came in with four points in 34 career playoff games, Scuderi doesn't get many curtain calls for plays that wind up with a puck in the back of the net. So we'll let him think this is a nod to his puck handling, even if we're truly recognizing the 23-plus minutes he spent shadowing Alexander Ovechkin in Pittsburgh's 5-3, series-evening win. Scuderi helped limit Ovechkin to two shots, recorded three blocked shots and was a game-high plus-3. The Pens may not have taken a two-goal lead to the locker room if Scuderi hadn't made a stick save on a close-in Ovechkin chance late in the first period (Marc-Andre Fleury's robbery of Sergei Fedorov was instrumental, too).

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No. 1 star: Jonas Hiller, Anaheim Ducks

For the better part of two periods Tuesday, this was looking like another system win for Hiller. Traffic was limited and rebounds were cleared, leaving Hiller to clean up what was left – managing, not stealing, a Game 3 victory. Then came a third period that featured 18 Detroit shots, two Red Wings power-plays and plenty of staring at Tomas Holmstrom's backside for Hiller, who again refused to blink in the final period of a one-goal game. The final tally: 45 saves and one very fortunate whistle for the first-time playoff goalie. Counting the lengthy overtime in Game 2, Hiller has turned aside 74 of the last 75 shots faced in the series.

No. 2 star: Kevin Bieksa, Vancouver Canucks

With defenseman Sami Salo out of action everyone had to pick up a little slack for Vancouver, including Bieksa, who played a team and personal playoff-high 27:54 as the Canucks used a total team effort to neutralize Chicago's speed and skill in a textbook road win. Bieksa made the initial centering pass that led to Vancouver's first goal and spent the rest of the night helping neutralize the Blackhawks' top line. We'd be remiss not to give an honorable mention to Taylor Pyatt, who saw his first action since the death of his fiancée in a car accident.

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