NHL Three Stars: Chad hangs shutout on Nashville; shootout thriller between LA, Canucks

No. 1 Star: Chad Johnson, Phoenix Coyotes

He didn’t have to be spectacular, as the Coyotes played one of their best games in front of him. But Johnson made 21 saves in his first NHL start since Jan. 31, 2010, leading Phoenix to a 4-0 blanking of the Nashville Predators – his first NHL shutout. Keith Yandle had a goal and two assists in the win. Nick Johnson scored his first of the season.

No. 2 Star: Jeff Carter, Los Angeles Kings

Carter got the Kings’ rally going with a second period goal on what’s been a terrible power play for the Cup champions this season. He later scored the only goal of the shootout on a wicked backhand past Roberto Luongo for the 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.

No. 3 Star: Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins

The Bruins captain scored on the power play and had the primary assist on two other goals in Boston’s 5-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. He led all Bruins with 26:02 TOI.

Honorable Mention: Derek Dorsett and Vinny Prospal had the goals and Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Dallas Stars, 2-1. Jamie Benn, in his first game of the season, assisted on Philip Larsen’s lone goal for Dallas. … The Edmonton Oilers got power-play goals from Ales Hemsky, Jordan Eberle and Shawn Horcoff in defeating the Colorado Avalanche, 4-1. Nail Yakupov had the empty netter (also on the power play), while P.A. Parenteau scored his third for the Avs. Devan Dubnyk made 37 saves. … Tyler Seguin scored his first, into an empty net. … Alex Semin was a plus-3 with two assists for Carolina. … Zack Kassian scored his fourth for the Canucks. … Slava Voynov’s goal with 44 seconds left earned the Kings a point. ... If you've not seen Kari Lehtonen's save of the year candidate, please do so. ... Rookie Dougie Hamilton made a sweet pass to set up David Krejci for the game-winner against the Canes.

Did You Know? The Denmark national soccer team, which plays Mexico in Glendale on Wednesday night, attended the Coyotes game. (AP)

Dishonorable Mention: Colorado was terrible on the kill, giving up four goals on six chances to the Oilers. … Eric Staal took a slashing penalty at 18:29 of the third with his team down a goal. … Nashville managed only three shots in the first period. … Columbus was 0 for 7 on the power play.