Wednesday’s Three Stars: Neuvirth blanks Habs; Mueller leads Avs

No. 1 Star: Michal Neuvirth, Washington Capitals

Making his first start in 11 games, Neuvirth recorded his second shutout of the season and sixth of his career with a 31-save night in a 3-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Holding the lead and shutout in place, Neuvirth made 17 of his 31 saves in the third period. The Capitals got goals from Mathieu Perreault, Marcus Johansson and Alex Ovechkin for their 10th win in their last 14 games in Montreal.

No. 2 Star: Peter Mueller, Colorado Avalanche

After missing all of last season with a concussion and playing just three games in October before once again being out of the lineup, Mueller returned to the Avs last week and in his fourth game back scored a pair of goals and added an assist as Colorado edged the Florida Panthers 4-3 in overtime. Ryan O'Reilly was the hero netting his 13th of the season in the extra frame:

No. 3 Star: Francois Beauchemin, Anaheim Ducks

Beauchemin recorded his first 3-point game since Oct. 6, 2007 and first 2-goal (regular season) game since Mar. 14, 2007 during a 6-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes. Jason Blake scored a goal and added an assist to give him six points in his last three games. Jonas Hiller stopped 25 saves for his fifth win in six starts.

Honorable Mention: Dave Bolland, Jimmy Hayes and Andrew Shaw each scored a goal and added an assist, while captain Jonathan Toews chipped in a pair as the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Buffalo Sabres 6-2 to improve to 4-0-1 i their last five. Toews now has goals in three straight games along with a five-game point streak. Rookie Shaw scored for the fourth straight game and has started his NHL career with five tallies in his first eight games ... Thanks to Luca Sbisa, the Coyotes were denied a great scoring opportunity against the Ducks:

Stephen Weiss scored a goal in the loss for the Panthers in his 600th NHL game ... It didn't take long for Rene Bourque to have to answer for his elbow earlier this month on Nicklas Backstrom:

Did you know? In Mueller's last six games that he's been on the scoresheet, dating back to the 2009-10 season, he's done so with multiple points.

Dishonorable Mention: Jhonas Enroth was in net for all six Chicago goals and dropped his seventh straight start ... Buffalo has now lost 12 of their last 15 and 10 straight games on the road ... As a team, the Sabres won just 19 of 50 faceoffs ... Montreal dropped to 4-10-1 in their last 15 games ... Florida has now lost seven in a row away from BankAtlantic Center.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy