Michael St. Croix spurs Edmonton Oil Kings to knot Battle of Alberta: Wednesday’s 3 Stars

No. 1 star: Michael St. Croix, Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL)

St. Croix and the Oil Kings had collectively had struggled to even bring their 'B' game by times early on against the Calgary Hitmen. Fear of being pushed to the brink of elimination impelled them to turn in most complete effort of these playoffs, as they rolled 7-3 to square the Eastern Conference final 2-2. St. Croix (1G-3A, +3) did what a 19-year-old star who has led his team in scoring in three of his four seasons should do in the swing game of the series.

The New York Rangers prospect set up overage T.J. Foster (2G-1A, +4) for two goals in the first 2:10 of the game, spurring Edmonton to take a 5-1 lead after just 20 minutes. (It was the third game in a row in the series that one team has thrown up a five-spot in one period; Calgary did so in the second in Game 3 whereas Edmonton did it in third during Game 2.) St. Croix's contribution to the early onslaught also included starting a tic-tac-toe passing play for a pretty goal by defenceman Ashton Sautner.

In the third, St. Croix snapped in a goal off a feed from Foster to put the game out of reach. That tally gave the Winnipegger his first four-point playoff game.

Foster was named first star in the Scotiabank Saddledome. The Oil Kings broadcast team had St. Croix and Foster 1-2. Either way, it is a best-of-3 with Edmonton hosting Game 5 on Friday.

No. 2 star: Xavier Ouellet, Blainville-Boisbriand Armada (QMJHL)

Has a playoff hat trick from a defenceman in a series-tying win ever been less of a talker? All anyone will remember from B-B's 4-3 Game 4 win over the Baie-Comeau Drakkar is the fracas after the final buzzer. That overshadowed that Ouellet (3G was a two-way force. The Detroit Red Wings prospect and Armada captain gave the Drakkar more than they could handle when he jumped into plays to support his forwards. Ouellet scored the game's first goal to help the Armada gain confidence, then restored them to the lead with another goal with 4:16 left in the second period. Ouellet came up with another response goal in the third period, putting B-B on top to stay.

Ouellet has seven goals in these playoffs. No other QMJHL defenceman has more than three.

No. 3 star: Nic Petan, Portland Winterhawks (WHL)

The diminutive centre is high-risk, high-reward NHL draft prospect, was definitely the latter in the Winterhawks' 3-0 strangehold win over Kamloops in Game 4 of the Dub's Western Conference final. Petan (2G-1A, +2) and the WHL's best-known roommate tandem, Seth Jones (1G-1A, +2) and Ty Rattie (3A, +2) provided all the offence while Portland played systematic shutdown hockey in front of overage goalie Mac 'The Truth' Carruth, who handled 29 shots for his fourth shutout of these playoffs.

Petan gave Portland some early jump by banging in a cross-ice pass on a two-man power play 2:09 into the game. He got his apple on Jones' goal later in the frame, then scored off a scramble 1:35 into the third to put it out of reach. Petan also chipped in during a five-minute penalty kill in the final frame after Portland's Keegan Iverson got a charging major/game misconduct for knocking Kamloops veteran Brendan Ranford out of the game.

Thanks in part to being 5-foot-9 and 166 pounds, Petan is only NHL Central Scouting Service's 33rd-ranked domestic skater. He never stops scoring, though.

Honourable mention: Seth Griffith, London Knights (OHL)

The Knights are set up to clinch their return to the league final on Friday after beating the Plymouth Whalers 6-4 to go up 3-1 in the OHL Western Conference final. London was sparked by their 19-year-old leaders. Captain Scott Harrington was selected first star in the building, while Griffith (2G-1A, +2) and Alex Broadhurst (2G-1A, +1) were each integral offensively.

The Whalers clawed back from a multi-goal deficit for the second night in a row, only to pay heavily for a penalty at a most importune time, as so often happens against London. On a power play 5:29 into the third, Griffith, a Boston Bruins prospect who scored the winning goal in Game 3, hit Broadhurst with a perfect pass that was redirected in to put the Knights up 5-4.

Griffith also added the empty-netter with a 140-foot flip from his own zone. The 20-year-old has six points in the series, which is as many as he had across the first two rounds.

The Barrie Colts took a 3-1 lead in the Eastern final after beating Belleville 4-3. Rookie Brendan Lemieux scored 5:24 into overtime.

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.