Saturday's three stars: Hartnell saves best for last

No. 1 star: Scott Hartnell, Philadelphia Flyers
It wasn't the first hat trick of Scott Hartnell's career – his fifth, in fact – but the veteran winger never accomplished one quite like this during a 7-1 rout by his Philadelphia Flyers over the Washington Capitals on Saturday. Hartnell scored all three of his goals within 11:40 of the third period, his second hat trick in five games. Hartnell scored at even strength at 4:45, converted on the power play at 7:29 and capped the hat trick with another even-strength tally at 16:25. Hartnell added an assist for a four-point game during which he was a plus-4 and had five shots in 17:27 of ice time as the Flyers snapped the Capitals' five-game winning streak.

No. 2 star: Ilya Bryzgalov, Phoenix Coyotes
The team's key acquisition last season flashed some of that success Phoenix fans got used to seeing from Ilya Bryzgalov soon after the goalie was plucked off waivers from Anaheim in 2007-08 on Saturday night. Bryzgalov stopped 31 shots for his first shutout of the season as Phoenix blanked the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-0. It was Bryzgalov's sixth shutout of his career.

No. 3 star: Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings' captain helped the hosts rally in the third period for a 6-4 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Lidstrom had three assists, including one on Detroit's third-period tying goal and then on the team's insurance empty-netter. Lidstrom was a plus-2 with three shots on goal and led the team with 25:43 of ice time.

Honorable mention: After going 19 straight games without a goal, Alexei Kovalev has three in three games after bagging the overtime winner for Montreal. … First NHL goals were scored by a pair of defensemen – Toronto's Jonas Frogren and St. Louis' Roman Polak. … Dave Jackson became the seventh active referee to skate his 1,000th game. … Jason Smith picked a heck of a time to collect his first goal and point of the season – 3:30 into overtime to make Ottawa winners over Dallas. … Nashville's Pekka Rinne stopped 23 shots for his third shutout of the month. … Defenseman Tomas Kaberle had three assists in Toronto's rout at Pittsburgh. … Sergei Kostitsyn scored two goals including the late-regulation tying tally in Montreal. … Three goalies came up big to lead their teams to a win – Philadelphia's Antero Niittymaki (47 saves), Chicago's Cristobal Huet (30 saves) and San Jose's Evgeni Nabokov (32 saves).

Dishonorable mention: The Stars have allowed five or more goals 13 times this season. … Ottawa's Antoine Vermette and Jason Spezza scored a goal apiece and were both minus-3 during a win – that's hard to do. … The New York Islanders have scored only 17 goals during their current 0-8-1 winless streak. … Tampa Bay has lost 17 of 19 games.

Copyright PuckD - Puck Daddy
Contact Us