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Spirit’s Paterson shuts the door; Pats’ MacAuley posts his first shutout: Wednesday’s 3 stars

Kelly Friesen

No. 1 star: Jake Paterson (Saginaw Spirit, OHL)

The Detroit Red Wings prospect stymied the Connor McDavid-led Erie Otters’ offense in a 2-1 Saginaw win. Paterson turned away 43 of 44 shots, including the first 27 that came his way throughout the first two periods. The Otters couldn’t get one by him until roughly four minutes into the final frame when Michael Curtis notched one on the power play. The icing on the cake for Paterson is that he outperformed Columbus Blue Jackets second-round pick Oscar Dansk at the other end of the ice.

The win over the Otters was Paterson’s second consecutive outstanding showing in the blue paint. In his previous game against the Kitchener Rangers, he stood on his head, stopping 52 of 55 shots in the 4-2 loss.

Cody Payne scored just 47 seconds into the contest and Kristoff Kontos netted the game-winner slightly over two minutes into the second frame for Saginaw.

No. 2 star: Dawson MacAuley (Regina Pats, WHL)

Following a rough Pats debut against the Swift Current Broncos, where he let in five goals on 18 shots, MacAuley redeemed himself with a 34-save shutout in a 6-0 win against the Edmonton Oil Kings.

Even though MacAuley is in his 19-year-old season, the contest was just the 10th of his WHL career. The 6-foot-6, 202-pounder was cut by the Medicine Hat Tigers in his three camps as a major junior eligible player. Following being released by the Tigers, the Calgary Hitmen picked him up, but later traded him to the Pats before training camp started. He is now in a battle with Teagan Sacher for Regina’s starting job.

Calgary Flames first-rounder Morgan Klimchuk led the Regina offense with two goals and one assist. Washington Capitals prospect Chandler Stephenson and blueliner Dimitry Sinitsyn added shorthanded markers.

No. 3 star: Mike Aviani (Spokane Chiefs, WHL)

Aviani started and finished the 6-1 win over the Victoria Royals for the Chiefs. After scoring two power-play goals in the first 10 minutes of the game, the 20-year-old forward added two more in the last 10 minutes of the third to wrap up the contest.

Mitch Holmberg (1G-3A, +2) and Reid Gow (3A, +1) didn’t do too bad themselves on the Chiefs’ score sheet.

Honourable mention: Danny Mumaugh (Seattle Thunderbirds, WHL)

While all eyes were on Mathew Barzal in his first WHL game against his hometown Vancouver Giants, Mumaugh came away with the game’s most impressive performance. He stopped all 31 shots that came his way in his first major junior shutout.

Alexander Delnov (2G-2A, +3), Branden Troock (1G-2A, +3) and Connor Honey (1G-3A, +3) padded their stats against the young and inexperienced Giants.

Honourable mention: Anthony Richard (Val-d’Or Foreurs, QMJHL)

Richard led the Foreurs over the Rouryn-Noranda Huskies in a 7-4 win with a hat trick. He netted two even-strength goals (one in the second and other in the third), and wrapped up his three-goal night with a power-play marker in the final frame.

Richard’s three goals puts him halfway to his goal total from last year, where he scored six goals and eight points in 42 games as a rookie.

Red Wings prospect Anthony Mantha (3A, +2), Louick Marcotte (2G-1A, +1), and Nicolas Aube-Kubel (1G-2A, +1) also had three-point nights for the Foreurs.

Honourbale mention: Zachary Fortin (Rimouski Océanic, QMJHL)

Following maintaining .882 and .750 save percentages in his first two regular-season games in that respective order, Fortin boosted his stats in a 2-1 victory over the Shawinigan Cataractes. He turned away 33 of 34 shots to maintain a .970 save percentage.

Kelly Friesen is a Buzzing the Net columnist for Yahoo! Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KellyFriesen