NHL Three Stars: Fleury blanks Devils; Vrbata’s hat trick; Caps rally vs. Flames

No. 1 Star: Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins

Behind his 27 saves, Fleury led the Penguins to a 3-0 shutout of the New Jersey Devils. Sidney Crosby, Chuck Kobasew and Craig Adams, who was playing in his 800th NHL game, all scored for the home side. The shutout was the 24th of Fleury's career and the win was his 250th. One of his stops included this late pad save on Ryane Clowe:

No. 2 Star: Radim Vrbata, Phoenix Coyotes

Vrbata's fifth career hat trick (natural) led the way for the Coyotes during their 4-1 win over the New York Rangers. Mike Smith made 23 saves and Martin Hanzal recorded a pair of helpers. Smith frustrated the Rangers all night, like for example...:

No. 3 Star: Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

The Calgary Flames built up 3-0 and 4-1 leads until Ovechkin took over, scoring twice late in the second period and adding one of two Capital shootout goals during a 5-4 victory. Ovechkin finished with a three-point night after assisting on Nicklas Backstrom's game-tying power play goal with 5:50 left in regulation. Marcus Johansson recorded three assists.

Honorable mention: Marc Staal scored a power play goal in his return from an eye injury ... Patrice Bergeron's shorthanded goal was the insurance tally as the Boston Bruins downed the Tampa Bay Lighting 3-1. Chris Kelly opened the scoring on a penalty shot in the first period and Tuukka Rask made 32 saves. Jarome Iginla and Radko Gudas set off some early fireworks with this tilt:

Dating back to the 2011 Eastern Conference Final, the Bruins have won eight straight home games against the Lightning. According to Elias, the Bruins are the first NHL team to ever score their first goal of the season on a penalty shot ... Washington cashed in on two of their three power plays and won 46 of 75 faceoffs ... The St. Louis Blues scored three times in the opening 9:45 en route to a 4-2 win over the Nashville Predators. David Backes, Alex Steen and Alex Pietrangelo each had two points and Jaroslav Halak made 28 saves. Two of the four Blues goals came via the power play ... Tim Thomas's debut with the Florida Panthers was a success. Two goals from Marcel Goc and 25 saves from Thomas was good enough for a 4-2 win over the Dallas Stars ... Jeff Carter scored the game-tying goal with 6:46 left in the third and potted the game-deciding goal in the shootout as the Los Angeles Kings edged the Minnesota Wild 3-2. Jonathan Quick made 27 stops and Willie Mitchell played his first game since Game 6 of the 2012 Stanley Cup Final ... First NHL goals Thursday night from Connor Carrick of the Capitals and Aleksander Barkov of the Panthers ... After falling behind 1-0, the San Jose Sharks scored four unanswered goals as they beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-1. Justin Braun, Brent Burns, Tommy Wingels and Patrick Marleau all lit the lamp for the Sharks, while Antti Niemi made 21 stops.

Did You Know? Barkov became the youngest goal scorer in NHL history at 18 years and 31 days. (@jhiitela)

Dishonorable mention: The Lightning failed on all five of their power play attempts ... Braden Holtby was pulled after allowing three goals on the first 11 shots he faced ... Pekka Rinne was pulled after allowing three goals on six shots ... Jack Hillen left the game in the first period after taking this hit from Lance Bouma: