NHL Three Stars: Stewart powers Blues; Kane’s killer shootout move

No. 1 Star: Chris Stewart, St. Louis Blues

The Blues’ power forward scored two goals and had the primary helper on returning linemate Alex Steen’s goal, as St. Louis shut down the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-0. Jake Allen made 28 saves for the shutout – the first of his career.

No. 2 Star: Logan Couture, San Jose Sharks

Meshing well with new linemate Brent Burns, Couture had two goals and an assist in the Sharks’ 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings. He assisted on Burns’ goal to open the scoring in the first, and later scored a key third-period goal that ended up being the game-winner.

No. 3 Star: Evgeni Nabokov, New York Islanders

Nabby only had to make 18 saves in the Islanders’ 2-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, but the margin for error was razor thin as New York couldn’t only manage a John Tavares power-play goal in the second period until Brad Boyes’ empty-netter.

Honorable mention: Patrice Bergeron scored two goals and Tuukka Rask made 29 saves as the Boston Bruins defeated the Florida Panthers. 4-1. Mike Ribeiro had a late goal in the third and Alex Ovechkin had a goal and an assist in the Washington Capitals’ clutch 3-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. … P.A. Parenteau had two goals for the Avs. … Jonas Brodin scored his first NHL goal for the Wild. … Pascal Dupuis scored two goals, both assisted by Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz, as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1. This pass from Sid was sick:

The Minnesota Wild’s holy trinity of Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise and Ryan Suter combined for seven points in the Wild’s 5-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche. But it was Koivu who completed a stellar passing play in the second period to extend the lead to 4-2 and who then iced the game with an empty netter. Suter had three assists. Parise had two helpers. … The Winnipeg Jets outlasted the New York Rangers, 3-1, as Ondrej Pavelec made 28 saves. … Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan scored in the shootout while Jonas Hiller made 33 saves in the Anaheim Ducks’ 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars. … The Vancouver Canucks had seven different goal scorers in defeating the Nashville Predators, 7-4. Andrew Ebbett had three points. … Patrick Kane had an assist on a Johnny Oduya goal and this sick stick-handling shootout goal in the Chicago Blackhawks’ 2-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Did you know? Tampa Bay had six shots in each period: 6-6-6. Wonder if the Devils ever achieved that?

Dishonorable mention: David Schlemko took three minor penalties for Phoenix. … Tomas Fleischmann was a minus-3. … Ryan Ellis was a minus-4 for the Predators, and had a puck go off of him and into the net. Brandon Yip and Scott Hannan were both minus-3. Pekka Rinner was chased after 8 saves on 12 shots. … Finally, Andrew Desjardins delivered a gorgeous clean hit behind the Kings’ cage but still had to answer for it. Jake Muzzin was given the instigator.