L.A. Kings pick Zac Leslie scores 4 goals for Storm: Saturday’s 3 Stars

No. 1 star: Zac Leslie, Guelph Storm (OHL)

The Plymouth Whalers had teen actress Peyton List from the Disney show Jessie signing autographs at the Compuware Arena, but Leslie was the star on ice.

The 19-year-old Los Angeles Kings pick trained with former OHL 50-goal scorer Tyler Toffoli this summer. On Saturday, he scored like Toffoli, bagging four goals from his defence spot in Guelph's 6-2 win. The game was closer than the final tally suggests, but it ought to extinguish Storm's frustration from suffering their first home loss on Friday against the Windsor Spitfires. Leslie's big night gives Leslie 17 points in as many games, making him one of just three OHL defenders who are averaging at least one point per night.

The Ottawa native, whose sister Rebecca Leslie is on Canada's national women's under-18 team, opened the scoring 4:11 into the proceedings. Zac Leslie then put Guelph ahead to stay 16 seconds before the end of the second period, scoring on a setup from his namesake, overage forward Zack Mitchell (2A, +1). Leslie completed his hat trick with 7:39 to play and added an empty-netter.

No. 2 star: Justin Hickman, Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL)

The captain helped the T-Birds turn the tables on the Portland Winterhawks, scoring a late third-period tying goal in an eventual 5-4 OT win. Seattle came in as losers of eight of its previous 10 games, including a 10-2 shellacking by Portland on Nov. 12.

Hickman (2G, +2) helped Seattle get the jump by scoring in the 14th minute on a setup from rookie extraordinaire Mathew Barzal (2A, +2). Portland, as it is wont to do, scored three goals in five minutes to surge into a 4-3 lead. Hickman came to the rescue with 3:07 left, forcing overage defenceman Garrett Haar into a turnover and quickly burying the equalizer. Alexander Delnov then scored the winner 4:19 into 4-on-4 OT.

No. 3 star: Dakota Conroy, Prince Albert Raiders (WHL)

The son of former long-time NHLer Craig Conroy believes he has untapped potential that he hasn't converted on during his first three junior-age seasons. Cutting the carbs — "Before, I would eat out a lot and this summer I really focused on vegetables and lean meats" — and playing alongside projected NHL first-rounder Leon Draisaitl might help 19-year-old Conroy reach it.

On Saturday, Conroy (3G-1A, +3) sniped his first hat trick in the Dub during P.A.'s 8-2 lambasting of the lowly Lethbridge Hurricanes. The Edmonton-born forward scored two first-period goals on setups from Draisaitl (1G-3A, +4) and reciprocated by setting up the German star's power-play strike 82 seconds into the next frame. Conroy capped his hatty just prior to the game's midpoint, enabling the Raiders to cruise home with a win that keeps them three points behind conference-leading Swift Current with three games in hand.

Honourable mention: Austin Lotz, Everett Silvertips (WHL)

Team award time! The Silvertips' 1-0 win at Calgary gave them a four-game sweep of a five-day, 2,000-plus kilometre Central Division road trip, which is borderline phenomenal. Lotz (25 saves) was named first star at the Saddledome ahead of Ottawa Senators-drafted Hitmen goalie Chris Driedger (26 on 27 shots) in a close-checking, who-blinks-first goalie duel.

The Hitmen had plenty of heat on Lotz late, but the 18-year-old hung in, making a big save on Kenton Helgeson to seal the win. Josh Winquist's solitary salvo gave him a club record 16-game point streak, supplanting Zach Hamill's seven-year-old mark of 15.

The win gave Everett a three-point lead over Portland for first overall in the WHL.

Honourable mention: Alex Dubeau, Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL)

The 19-year-old goalie continued his commendable November with a 29-save shutout to help Moncton cool off Charles Hudon and the Chicoutimi Saguenéens 4-0. Dubeau, who earned a Memorial Cup ring in 2012 with Shawinigan, had been on the wrong end of his last three decisions despite allowing only five goals over that stretch.

Saturday, the 'Cats supported their goaltender with a solid road effort, taking only two penalties on the night. Captain Ryan Penny (2A, +2) assisted on tallies at the midpoint of the second and third periods, while Dubeau made 13 saves in the final frame to earn his second bagel of the year. For the month, he has a 2.19 average and .931 save percentage,

Honourable mention: Jaden Lindo, Owen Sound Attack (OHL)

Lindo (1G-2A, +1) helped the Attack get the upper hand over their old friend Cameron Brace as they edged Belleville 4-3 in the overage wing's return to Owen Sound. The 17-year-old Lindo made a great power move in the second period to set up Dallas Stars fourth-rounder Gemel Smith (1G-1A, +1) for his 20th of the season. That put the Attack ahead for good, as Lindo factored into power-play goals late in the second and early in the third.

Owen Sound needed every bit of that cushion. Brace (1G-1A) factored into goals 55 seconds apart that gave the Bulls a fighting chance.

Potent notables — Top NHL draft prospect Sam Reinhart (2G, +1) finished with five goals during Kootenay's two-game sweep of Brandon ... Draft-year D-man Julius Honka's second goal of the night vaulted Swift Current over Moose Jaw 5-4. The Warriors' Brett Howden scored his first WHL goal ... Spokane's Mitch Holmberg scored his WHL-leading 27th goal during an overtime win over rival Tri-City. Every U.S. Division team earned a point on the night ... Calgary Flames-drafted D Keegan Kanzig was a season-best plus-3 in Victoria's 5-0 win over Kamloops ... Medicine Hat's Trevor Cox had four points (1G-3A, +4) in a 5-1 win over Regina. The Pats were 5-3-0-0 over an eight-game road stretch ... Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Connor Brown (3A, +1) has an OHL-best 49 points after his effort during Erie's win over Sudbury in front of a sellout of 6,750. Otters overage Dane Fox scored his league-best 25th goal ... Saginaw's 19-year-old D-man Sean Callaghan had his first two-goal OHL game during a win over Sarnia ... Phoenix Coyotes first-rounder Max Domi (3A, +2) was first star as London skunked Windsor 4-0 to extend its point streak to 10 games (9-0-0-1) ... Barrie's rookie goalie Daniel Gibl stopped 38-of-39 shots in a 2-1 shootout loss to North Bay. The game did not have a penalty or goal in its first 51 minutes ... Detroit Red Wings first-rounder Anthony Mantha netted his QMJHL-best 25th goal during Val-d'Or's win over Sherbrooke. Teammate François Tremblay, a St. Louis Blues fifth-rounder, faced only 17 shots in notching his second shutout ... Toronto Maple Leafs-drafted goalie Antoine Bibeau stopped 43-of-45 shots, including 23-of-24 in the opening first period, during Charlottetown's 2-1 loss at Telus East division-leading Baie-Comeau ... Ottawa Senators-drafted cord cottager François Brassard stopped 37-of-40 shots for Quebec in a 4-3 shootout loss to Rimouski, improving his save percentage to .911, fourth in the Q behind Saint John's Sébastien Auger (.920), Charlottetown's Bibeau (.916) and Moncton's Dubeau (.915) ... Halifax's 16-year-old Connor Moynihan (1G-1A, +2) had his first multi-point game in Halifax's win over Saint John ... Gabriel Gagné and Angelo Miceli each scored twice to lead Victoriaville past Shawinigan.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.