NHL 3 Stars: Kovalchuk, Steen with 3-point nights; Toews, Thornton scrap

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No. 1 Star: Alex Steen, St. Louis Blues

Steen helped the Blues to put the Calgary Flames away early, scoring a goal and adding a helper as part of St. Louis's four-goal first period. Steen would pick up his third point of the night, a second assist, on the game's final goal in a 5-2 Blues win.

No. 2 Star: Ilya Kovalchuk, New Jersey Devils

Kovalchuk gave the Devils a strong start versus the Philadelphia Flyers, setting up Travis Zajac for the game's first goal 40 seconds in. The Devils squandered the early lead, however, falling behind 3-1 by the end of the first, so Kovy did it again, setting up the newly-acquired Alexei Ponikarovsky 26 seconds into the second. Granted, it's Martin Brodeur's insane second assist that really makes this play:

Wow. Anyway, this time around, the rest of the team would follow suit, scoring four unanswered for the 5-3 win. Kovalchuk finished with 3 assists.

No. 3 Star: Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks

Two assists for the Canuck captain, pushing him past Markus Naslund to become the all-time leading scorer in Canucks' history. Unfortunately, the Canucks wasted the evening. Henrik's second assist gave them a 3-1 lead, but the Dallas Stars clawed back for a 4-3 win. Brendan Dillon scored the game-winner with just inside four minutes to play.

Honourable mention: First goals galore in Buffalo, where Drew Stafford finally got his first goal of the season and Dougie Hamilton finally got the first of his career in the Boston Bruins' 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres... Andrew Cogliano scored twice for the Anaheim Ducks, who dropped 4 unanswered goals on the Detroit Red Wings in a 5-2 win... Marcus Kruger had a goal and an assist as the Chicago Blackhawks pushed their regulation unbeaten streak and the San Jose Sharks' losing streak one game further with a 4-1 victory. Joe Thornton and Jonathan Toews fought in this game:

.. Craig Adams scored twice as the Pittsburgh Penguins dealt the Winnipeg Jets a 3-1 loss... Mike Richards scored the game-winner early in the third period and the Los Angeles Kings held off the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 2-1 triumph...

Did You Know? Jay Bouwmeester played his 600th consecutive game Friday.

Dishonourable mention: Mason Raymond had a goal called off in Vancouver for pretty much no reason... Columbus only tested Jonathan Bernier 13 times... Ian White's hockey stick can go straight to Hell:

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