NHL Three Stars: Hertl power; Jokinen pulls trick on Hurricanes

No. 1 Star: Tomas Hertl, San Jose Sharks

The New York Rangers were absolutely hapless on this night, suffering an embarrassing 9-2 to the Sharks, and Tomas Hertl had all their haps. The boxscore was Hertls all the way down. The Sharks' rookie scored four goals to push his total through his first three NHL games to six. His fourth goal was an absolute thing of beauty.

No. 2 Star: Jussi Jokinen, Pittsburgh Penguins

Jokinen registered a hat trick in the Penguins' 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, scoring twice on the powerplay and once at even-strength. Paul Martin and Tanner Glass scored the other goals for the Penguins, but we won't hold that against Jokinen.

No. 3 Star: Josh Bailey, New York Islanders

Bailey and the Islanders handed the Phoenix Coyotes a 6-1 drubbing, with Bailey picking up 1 goal and 2 assists along the way. Michael Grabner had three apples, and John Tavares added two goals in the rout.

Honourable mention: Filip Forsberg scored his first NHL goal and the Nashville Predators added two more in the first period, skating to a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild. Seth Jones played a game-high 25:02... The Tampa Bay Lightning rallied for a 3-2 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres. Alex Killorn scored the winner:

P.A. Parenteau's goal was the difference as the Colorado Avalanche handed the Toronto Maple Leafs their first loss, 2-1... Tim Thomas left the Florida Panthers' game after surrendering two early goals and looking to be in some discomfort, and that's all the Philadelphia Flyers would need for a 2-1 win, their first of the season... Daniel Sedin had a goal and an assist to propel Roberto Luongo's Vancouver Canucks to a 3-2 overtime victory over Cory Schneider's New Jersey Devils. Jason Garrison scored the winner... It came in a loss, but Eric Staal's deflection on this goal was amazing:

Did You Know? Hertl scored his four goals in a span of 22:46 -- the fastest individual 4-goal performance in Sharks history.

Dishonourable mention: Mike Smith was pulled after allowing 5 goals on just 20 shots... good Lord, the Rangers were terrible. Rough night for Marc Staal especially. He was a team-worst minus-4.