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Right on, Reinhart; Kootenay beats Calgary, nabbing home-ice advantage: Thursday’s 3 Stars

Neate Sager

No. 1 star: Sam Reinhart, Kootenay Ice (WHL)

Since Reinhart could conceivably be part of the Calgary Flames organization by this summer, the vaunted 18-year-old NHL draft prospect seems to be extra-beastly whenever the Ice meet the Calgary Hitmen at the Saddledome. The Ice were hardly a one-man show in their fully merited 5-2 Game 1 road win, but Reinhart (2G-1A) was a no-brainer pick for first star after getting in on three of their first four goals. It is the first time in four tries that Kootenay has won a series opener against Calgary.

Edmonton Oilers prospect Greg Chase scored on the Hitmen's first shot of the night, which turned out to be a harbinger of very little. Fellow 18-year-old Luke Philp (1G-1A) zipped a pass to Reinhart for a goal midway through the first period. In the second, Reinhart reciprocated by setting up Philp to put the Ice up for good. Kootenay was up 3-1 in the third when the North Vancouver, B.C., native won a faceoff back to defenceman Rinat Valiev, who carried down the boards and circled behind the goal and centered to Reinhart, who buried the chance.

That gives Reinhart 20 points in eight games this season vs. the Hitmen, who had the WHL's fourth-best record.

Overage Zach Franko (2G, +2) also had a big night for Kootenay, which hardly got out unscathed since an injury to defenceman Tyler King left it to finish the game with only four able-bodied defenceman. In other words, it might need even bigger efforts from Reinhart to upset the physical Hitmen.

There were only three games on Thursday night, but two involved potential NHL lottery picks. That was good, since it kept Reinhart and Barrie's Aaron Ekblad away from scouting their perhaps future teammates.

No. 2 star: Danick Martel, Blainville-Boisbriand Armada (QMJHL)

How questionable Martel really was to suit up on Thursday can be questioned, but the 19-year-old came up big in B-B's 3-2 Game 1 win over the Moncton Wildcats. The Drummondville, Que., native missed the last three games of the regular season and wasn't able to help prevent the Armada from dropping down to the fifth seed for the President's Cup playoffs. However, the 32-goal man in the regular season apparently didn't lose his timing while he was convalescing. Nine seconds after Ryan Tesink (1G-1A, +1) opened the scoring 12:13 into the contest, Martel (2G, +2) scored off a feed from Frédéric Bergeron to open a 2-0 spread.

Martel struck again with 7:51 left in the second with helpers from Tesink and Bergeron. That proved to be the game-winner. It was also Martel's fourth multi-goal game this season vs. a Maritimes Division opponent.

No. 3 star: Kevin Labanc, Barrie Colts (OHL)

Labanc (1G-1A, +2) had a more successful playoff debut than he probably could have visualized, factoring into the Colts' first two goals in their 3-2 Game 1 win over the Sudbury Wolves. Barrie, characteristically a slow starter, broke the ice with 4:49 left in the first when Labanc broke into the Wolves zone with speed and curled a drop pass to Justin Scott, who went top shelf for the goal. In the second, Labanc was right on the spot when a pass by Colts defenceman C.J. Garcia (2A, +3) went off the Wolves' Connor Crisp and to the Staten Island, N.Y., native, who had a wide-open net.

Honourable mention: Ivan Barbashev, Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL)

The 18-year-old returned after being out for almost three weeks to cop second-star honours. Barbashev (1G, +1, four dangerous shots on goal) showed some fabulous sleight-of-hand on a redirect goal 2:34 into the third that cut the Armada's lead to 3-1 and gave Moncton hope of a comeback. Will Smith scored with just fewer than four minutes to go but B-B ran out the clock.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.