NHL Three Stars: Penguins, Kings take Game 1 wins

No. 1 Star: Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings

The Kings’ Conn Smythe winner kept rolling, winning his fifth straight game and posting his second shutout of the postseason with a 2-0 win over the San Jose Sharks. Quick made 16 of his 35 saves in the third period to secure the Game 1 victory.

No. 2 Star: Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins’ leading scorer in the playoffs assisted on Paul Martin’s power-play goal and scored the eventual game-winner just under 10 minutes later in the first period. The Penguins took Game 1 against the Ottawa Senators, 4-1.

No. 3 Star: Tomas Vokoun, Pittsburgh Penguins

Making his third start, Vokoun was solid in making 35 saves to backstop the Penguins to victory.

Honorable mention: Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis had the other Penguins goals. … Colin Greening scored for the Ottawa Senators. … Mike Richards had a strong game for LA, setting up Slava Voynov’s goal and scoring his first of the playoffs. Voynov also assisted on Richards’ goal. … This was a rather devastating hit by Brooks Orpik on Eric Gryba.

Conn Smythe Watch: 1. Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins; 2. David Krejci, Boston Bruins; 3. Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks; 4. Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings; 5. Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings; 6. Joe Pavelski, San Jose Sharks; 7. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers; 8. Craig Anderson, Ottawa Senators; 9. Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins; 10. Logan Couture, San Jose Sharks.

Dishonorable mention: The Senators allowed two power-play goals to the Penguins, and failed to score on five chances of their own. … Chris Neil and Zack Smith were given misconduct penalties late in the third period. … This Raffi Torres hit has fans split on whether it was shoulder to shoulder or to the head.