No. 1 star: Rick Nash, Columbus Blue Jackets
The Detroit Red Wings were missing Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk, out on their quasi-suspensions for missing the all-star festivities, and Henrik Zetterberg, who left the game after the second period with back spasms. But Detroit carried the play late in the third period and for most of the overtime, before the Jackets' captain ended it. Nash quickly carried through the zone, dished to Fedor Tyutin, got the puck back, sent a pass through several legs that Mike Commodore couldn't handle before reacquiring the puck and beating Chris Osgood at 3:27 for the 3-2 victory. Nash's goal completed a hat trick, having also scored power-play and shorthanded goals. Red Wings fans aren't exactly thrilled with the circumstances behind the OT loss, if you haven't figured that out already.
No. 2 star: Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins
After a rough first period, Thomas ended up making 34 saves on the night, including a sensational kick-save in overtime before David Krejci's deflection power-play goal gave Boston the 3-2 win over the Washington Capitals. Thomas gets the nod for getting the victory, but enough can't be said about the performance of Jose Theodore for Washington, who made several sensational stops in a 25-save night. Of course, the Capitals are probably happy to escape Boston with Alexander Ovechkin in one piece, after he crashed into the boards (video) following a Zdeno Chara hook and remained motionless for over a dozen seconds. He suffered a stinger, but returned to the game.
No. 3 star: Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose Sharks
The San Jose goalie went 31-for-31, shutting down the Colorado Avalanche for a 3-0 victory in Claude Lemieux's return to Denver as a Shark. Milan Michalek scored twice for San Jose in the 3-0 victory. Fun with numbers: Nabokov had a 3.19 road GAA entering the game, compared to 2.08 at home; he improved to 8-1 on Tuesdays this season.
Honorable Mention: Drew Stafford had a hat trick, Tim Connolly scored twice and five other Buffalo Sabres had goals in a 10-2 curb-stomping at the Edmonton Oilers. Stafford hat trick came in just over 13 minutes of ice time. ... Brandon Dubinsky had the game-winning goal, and Henrik Lundqvist Stephen Valiquette had the good sense to save a last-second deflection off of Wade Redden's skate to preserve a 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes at MSG. ... Jamie Langenbrunner scored twice and Brendan Shanahan had his second goal of the season as the New Jersey Devils won, 4-1, at the Ottawa Senators. ... Rookie Michael Frolik had a goal and two secondary assists to give the Florida Panthers a big 3-2 home win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Tomas Vokoun made 33 saves. ... Mike Smith did the heavy lifting in the first period for the Tampa Bay Lightning, making 18 saves; then it was Vincent Lecavalier, Vaclav Prospal and Steve Downie scoring in the second that powered the Bolts to a 5-2 win at home over the Montreal Canadiens. ... Marty Turco stopped 25 shots, outdueling Kari Lehtonen (31 saves) for a 2-0 shutout win over the Atlanta Thrashers. Dallas is 8-2-1 in its last 11 home games. ... Corey Perry said he scored "Plinko" goals against the Phoenix Coyotes, including one off of his glove, in the Anaheim Ducks' 7-3 victory. Chris Kunitz and Shane Doan scored twice as well.
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Dishonorable Mention: Mike Richards wasn't happy that a Flyers goal was disallowed because of a goalie interference call on defenseman Kimmo Timonen: "It's a little suspect when, and no offense to Kimmo, he's pushing people around in front and they're falling like that ... Maybe the guys should hit the gym more." ... David Hale may have accidently put one behind his own goalie, Ilya Bryzgalov, in the Phoenix loss. ... Hard to tell which Oilers goalie stunk up the arena more: Dwayne Roloson (8 shots, 5 saves) or Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers (29 shots, 22 saves). ... Insult to insult: Steve Mason won for the Blue Jackets over shorthanded Detroit despite also skipped out on all-star weekend due to injury ... Justin Pogge's audition for the Toronto Maple Leafs was a flop, as the team's defense stunk in front of him and he made just 15 saves on 21 shots in a 6-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild. Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored twice for Minny; well, at least Ron Wilson still has his sense of humor (H/T Fanhouse):
