NHL Three Stars: Overtime heroes before Christmas break

No. 1 Star: Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche

The Avs forward used defenseman Tyson Barrie as a decoy and snapped a shot past Corey Crawford for the 2-1 overtime win, snapping Colorado’s five-game losing streak. He earlier assisted on Mikko Rantanen’s goal.

No. 2 Star: Kevin Leblanc, San Jose Sharks

The Sharks rookie had an adventurous overtime game-winner, as he battled three Oilers and eventually found an empty space in front of the goal for his second of the game. San Jose won, 3-2.

No. 3 Star: Charlie Coyle, Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild won their 10th game in a row with a 7-4 win over the New York Rangers. Coyle had a goal and three assists – three points in the Wild’s five-goal second period. Mikko Koivu and Jason Zucker had a goal and two assists.

Honorable Mention: Ryan Strome scored a goal and assisted on John Tavares’s 10th of the season in the New York Islanders’ 5-1 rout of the Buffalo Sabres. … Make that 24 goals in 29 games for Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, as they defeated the New Jersey Devils, 4-1. Evgeni Malkin had two assists. … John Carlson scored twice, Alex Ovechkin scored his 15th and Braden Holtby made 23 saves in a 4-0 shutout of the Tampa Bay Lightning. … Another night, another Columbus Blue Jackets win: 12 in a row, as Sam Gagner and Brandon Saad scored in their 2-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens. Sergei Bobrovsky made 36 saves. … Jared Coreau made 31 saves and won his first NHL game in the shootout, as the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Florida Panthers, 4-3. Frans Nielsen had a goal and an shootout goal. … Teuvo Teravainen scored his ninth goal at 3:01 of overtime to give Carolina a 3-2 comeback win over the Boston Bruins. The Hurricanes are 9-0-1 in their past 10 home games. … Jamie Benn sent a pass that rookie Esa Lindell slammed home for a 3-2 overtime win for the Dallas Stars over the Los Angeles Kings. … Jeff Carter scored goals Nos. 18 and 19 in the loss. … Mark Giordano scored two goals and the Calgary Flames limited the Vancouver Canucks to 14 shots in their 4-1 win. … Auston Matthews managed to pick up an assist on Connor Brown’s opening goal, as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the rookie’s childhood team the Arizona Coyotes. 4-1. Leo Komarov scored two goals and Freddie Andersen made 31 saves.

Did You Know? Shane Doan reached the 1,500-game milestone for his career.

Dishonorable Mention: Henrik Lundqvist allowed four goals on 13 shots before being pulled 4:55 into the second. … Michael Cammalleri was a minus-3. … Anton Stralman was a minus-3.