NHL Three Stars: Brassard leads Rangers; Brunner saves Wings

No. 1 Star: Derick Brassard, New York Rangers

The Rangers desperately needed offense, having scored one goal in two games against the Washington Capitals. Brassard responded: He scored a power-play goal and assisted on two even-strength goals as the Rangers topped the Caps, 4-3. The only goal he didn’t have a point on was Derek Stepan’s game-winner in the third. The Rangers are now down 2-1 to the Caps.

No. 2 Star: Damien Brunner, Detroit Red Wings

Brunner scored the game-winner at 15:10 of overtime, giving the Red Wings a huge 3-2 victory and a 2-2 series tie with the Anaheim Ducks.

No. 3 Star: Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins

Rask was given plenty of offensive support, but still made 45 saves to lead Boston to a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, taking a 2-1 series lead.

Honorable mention: Justin Williams’ deflection goal, scored 1:16 after Anze Kopitar tied the game with his first goal since March 25, gave the Los Angeles Kings a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Blues. Mike Richards had two assists. T.J. Oshie had two goals for St. Louis. … Milan Lucic had three assists and was a plus-3 for Boston. Phil Kessel scored his second of the series for Toronto. … Mike Green scored his second for the Capitals. … Pavel Datsyuk’s third-period goal tied the game for the Wings. .. Jonas Hiller made 46 saves in defeat.

Conn Smythe Watch: 1. Logan Couture, San Jose Sharks; 2. David Krejci, Boston Bruins; 3. Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks; 4. Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins; 5. Antti Niemi, San Jose Sharks; 6. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins; 7. Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals; 8. Craig Anderson, Ottawa Senators; 9. Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings; 10. Jonas Hiller, Anaheim Ducks.

Dishonorable mention: Every Leaf outside of Colton Orr was a minus. … Derek Dorsett was a minus-2 in 9:57 TOI for the Rangers. … Patrik Berglund, Oshie and David Perron were a minus-3 for the Blues. … Finally, the refs decided the Capitals had too many men on the ice in the first period, when the Rangers had, like, all the men on the ice: