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NHL Three Stars: Sidney Crosby cracks 1,000 points

Greg Wyshynski

No. 1 Star: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins

Crosby scored his 1,000th career point with a first-period assist on Chris Kunitz’s goal, and then potted the game-winner at 4:38 of overtime for goal No. 31 on the season. The Penguins outlasted the Winnipeg Jets, 4-3.

No. 2 Star: Robin Lehner, Buffalo Sabres

The goalie made 23 saves as the Sabres handed the Colorado Avalanche their fifth straight loss, 2-0. Evander Kane scored his 19th.

No. 3 Star: Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers

McDavid had a goal and two assists in the Oilers’ 6-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. He scored goal No. 19 and assisted on tallies by Jordan Eberle and Oscar Klefbom.

Honorable Mention: Andrew Ladd scored twice and John Tavares had two assists in the New York Islanders’ big 4-2 win over the New York Rangers. Anders Lee scored his 22nd goal. … Mike Condon made 21 saves for the shutout in the Ottawa Senators’ 3-0 win over the New Jersey Devils. Dion Phaneuf, Erik Karlsson and Kyle Turris had the goals. … Patrik Laine scored goal No. 27. … Vladimir Tarasenko and Alex Steen had a goal and an assist while Kevin Shattenkirk had three assists in the St. Louis Blues’ 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks. … Darcy Kuemper made 34 saves in the Minnesota Wild’s 3-1 win over the Dallas Stars. Erik Haula had goal and an assist. … Mike Smith made 41 saves in the Arizona Coyotes’ 5-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Brendan Perlini and Jordan Martinook both had two goals. … Tanner Pearson had two goals for the Kings.

Did You Know? Crosby (29 years, 193 days) became the second youngest active player to reach 1,000 NHL points, behind Jaromir Jagr (28 years, 319 days).

Dishonorable Mention: The Kings had a controversial video review go against them. … Alec Martinez was a minus-3. … Brandon Manning was speared by Milan Lucic and head-slammed by Patrick Maroon. … Nino Niederreiter was given a major for interference and a game misconduct for this hit on Patrick Sharp.