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Habs pick Tim Bozon has 4-pointer for desperate Kamloops Blazers: Tuesday’s 3 Stars

Neate Sager

No. 1 star: Tim Bozon, Kamloops Blazers (WHL)

Bozon (2G-2A, +3) made up for missed time due to an earlier hand injury by playing with a hunger that was not slaked until he had dinged the mighty Portland Winterhawks for four points in the 5-1 Game 3 win that pulled Kamloops back into the Dub's Western Conference final.

Blazers coach Guy Charron, whose team scored just one goal in their two losses at Portland, presciently reunited the Colin Smith-Bozon-JC Lipon for the must-win game. It took just less than a period for them to dial into the same frequency. Smith (1G-2A, +2) put some wind into Kamloops' sails with a power-play tally, with Bozon getting the second assist.

Bozon and Smith helped set up St. Louis Blues defence prospect Joel Edmundson 66 seconds into the second to put the Blazers ahead for good. Kamloops fourth-liner Aaron Macklin embiggened the Blazers' spirit with a perfectly cromulent goal, then Bozon really gave them some separation by striking twice in a 2:08 span.

First the Montreal Canadiens draft choice slyly trailed the play and took a feed from sophomore Matt Needham to open a 4-1 lead. On his next shift, Smith and Lipon (1A, +2) sprung Bozon with a breakaway pass. The 19-year-old Frenchman got overage goalie Mac Carruth to commit, then beat him five-hole.

The Smith-Bozon-Lipon line combined for eight points and a plus-7. Portland's Nic Petan-Brendan Leipsic-Ty Rattie production line had two points and was a combined minus-7. Their lone goal came on a 5-on-3.

No. 2 star: Bo Horvat, London Knights

The projected NHL first-rounder helped London beat Plymouth 6-4 for a big road win and a 2-1 OHL Western Conference final lead. Horvat (2G-1A, +1) scored two short-handed goals in 69 seconds to help London surge out 3-0 before the game was even 10 minutes old. On his first goal, the sophomore Horvat got in front of Whalers veteran Rickard Rakell to intercept a breakout pass, then bulled in on net and practically willed the puck into the goal.

[Teammate] Ryan [Rupert] was doing a good job up front [on the penalty kill]," Horvat said, "I just had to get my body in the lane, get my stick in the lane, and fortunately got some good bounces."

Horvat also assisted on Max Domi's game-tying goal with 4:43 to play. The Rodney, Ont., pried the puck free off an offensive-zone faceoff, then made a better door than a window in front of Whalers goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, who never moved until Domi's shot dented the back of the net.

No. 3 star: Alexandre Bélanger, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies

Bélanger (46 saves) could not have done much more to give the Huskies a chance to take down the powerful Halifax Mooseheads. The 17-year-old goalie made two or three stellar saves for every one that the vaunted Zach Fucale (22 saves) had to make at the other end. The 6-foot-1 Bélanger, who was considered to be a question mark for Rouyn-Noranda because of his paucity of playoff experience, stoned top draft prospect Nathan MacKinnon numerous times on the night.

Rouyn-Noranda, which was outshot 49-24, including 37-12 from the second period onward, just kept trying to deny, deny, deny and earn a break. They succeeded in creating a next-shot-win game when the barely 17-year-old rookie Francis Perron, a scratch for much of their playoff run, scored with 3:52 to play. Bélanger came up with 10 saves in OT before MacKinnon made a fine feed to Jonathan Drouin for the heartbreaker.

Honourable mention: Greg Chase, Calgary Hitmen (WHL)

Well, that escalated quickly. It really got out of hand fast for the Edmonton Oil Kings fast in Game 3 of the Dub's Eastern Conference final, as Calgary scored five goals in 13 minutes to beat the Oil Kings 5-2 and go up 2-1.

Chase, an 18-year-old Edmontonian, buoyed the Hitmen and buckled the Oil Kings with a breakaway goal 24 seconds into that period that tied the game 1-1. That sparked Calgary to a typical all-hands-on-deck win, as they had five different goal scorers and 18-year-old Calder Brooks (1G-1A, +2) had the club's lone multi-point night.

Honourable mention: Christopher Clapperton, Blainville-Boisbriand Armada (QMJHL)

The Armada distanced themselves from the Stefan Matteau soap opera by grinding out a 3-0 win to pare the Baie-Comeau Drakkar's QMJHL semifinal series lead to 2-1. Clapperton was named the first star after scoring the clincher 2:47 into the third period. Detroit Red Wings blueline prospect Xavier Ouellet (1G-1A) had a pair of power-play points. St. Louis Blues draft pick Ryan Tesink, who missed three months due to a knee injury, also had his first of these playoffs.

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.