NHL Three Stars: Night of a thousand rallies

No. 1 Star: Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres

There were many, many blown leads on Tuesday night. None more egregious than the Los Angeles Kings blowing a two-goal lead in Buffalo, with Eichel leading the rally. He had two goals and an assist on Evander Kane’s third-period knockout punch. The Sabres won, 6-3.

No. 2 Star: Mike Smith, Arizona Coyotes

Look what Mike Smith can still do! The Coyotes goal made 37 saves to lead Arizona to a 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings, leading a PK that killed four power plays. Jamie McGinn scored twice.

No. 3 Star: Justin Faulk, Carolina Hurricanes

The wildest game of the night came down to the Hurricanes defenseman scoring his fourth of the season to break a 5-5 tie and then stealing a puck and assisting on Lee Stempniak’s empty goal to clinch the 8-6 win over the Vancouver Canucks. The Hurricanes scored six goals in the third. Faulk had nine shots in the game.

Honorable Mention: Goals by Sam Gagner and Cam Atkinson rallied the Columbus Blue Jackets to their seventh straight game, 3-1, over the Edmonton Oilers. Sergei Bobrovsky made 33 saves. … Jamie Benn had a goal and two assists as the Dallas Stars scored five straight third-period goals in their 6-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. … The Minnesota Wild scored the first five goals of the game in a 5-1 win over the hapless Florida Panthers. … After going down 3-0, the Nashville Predators scored six straight goals to defeat the St. Louis Blues, 6-3. Mike Fisher scored two goals and James Neal scored his 12th. … Logan Couture had the lone goal in the shootout, completing a San Jose Sharks’ rally for the 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. … Auston Matthews scored No. 13. … Scott Darling (33 saves) out-dueled former Chicago Blackhawks backup Antti Raanta (24 saves) for the 2-1 Chicago win. … Matt Niskanen scored two goals as the Washington Capitals won their fifth straight game, 4-2, over the New York Islanders. … Casey Cizikas and Zach Hyman barely avoided severe injuries.

Did You Know? Twelve Hurricane players and 11 Canucks had at least a point in their game.

Dishonorable Mention: Edmonton was 0-for-4 on the power play, including a double-minor and a late third-period power play. … John Gibson was pulled in the third period after giving up five goals on 24 shots. … Ryan Kesler was a minus-3. … Roberto Luongo was pulled after giving up five goals on 17 shots. He was not happy.

Jake Allen was pulled after giving up five goals on 33 shots. … Peter Budaj was pulled after giving up four goals on 22 shots. … Jake Muzzin was a minus-4, while Alec Martinez was a minus-3. … Cam Ward was pulled after giving up three goals on 18 shots. … Ryan Miller was pulled after giving up six goals on 30 shots.