NHL Three Stars: Tavares leads Islanders; new Jets impress

No. 1 Star: John Tavares, New York Islanders 

The captain had a 4-point night in the Islanders’ 6-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. That included two third-period goals to put the game away. Anders Lee also had four points.

No. 2 Star: Drew Stafford, Winnipeg Jets

The new Jet scored a critical goal in the second period and won the four-round shootout for Winnipeg in a 5-4 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Fellow newbie Tyler Myers had two assists.

No. 3 Star: Thomas Vanek, Minnesota Wild

Vanek opened the game with two goals and added an assist as the Wild defeated the Carolina Hurricanes, 6-3.

Honorable Mention: David Desharnais had the winner in the shootout as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1. P.K. Subban had an assist and played a career regular-season high 35:21. … Milan Michalek had two goals and an assist in the Ottawa Senators’ 7-2 rout of he Edmonton Oilers. … Matt Cullen and Craig Smith had a goal and an assist and Pekka Rinne had 21 saves in the Nashville Predators’ 3-1 win over the New Jersey Devils. … Rick Nash scored his 35th in the New York Rangers’ 5-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes.  Cam Talbot made 34 saves and stopped Tobias Rieder on a penalty shot. … Alex Tanguay had a goal and an assist and Jarome Iginla scored goal No. 18 in the Colorado Avalanche’s 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars. … Huge win for the Calgary Flames, 3-2 over the Vancouver Canucks. … Sean Monahan had two goals and Lance Bouma had the game winner in the third. … Despite Alex Ovechkin’s 34th, the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Washington Capitals, 3-1. Jonathan Quick had 27 saves. … Lindy Ruff pulled his goalie with over 10 minutes left in the game … and it worked!

Did You Know? Alain Vigneault won his 500th game.

Dishonorable Mention: Chris Neil broke his thumb in a fight is out indefinitely. … Viktor Fasth was pulled after giving up three goals on 15 shots. … Justin Schultz was a minus-3. … Alexander Wennberg and David Savard both were a minus-3. … Eric Staal and John-Michel Liles were minus-3. … Keith Yandle was a minus-3. …