No. 1 star: Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay Lightning
Forwards like Ryan Malone and Steven Stamkos continued to struggle and the Tampa defense continued to be woeful, as the Atlanta Thrashers rallied from a 2-0 deficit to send the game into overtime. But there's a reason Lecavalier wears the 'C': His slot blast past Kari Lehtonen, on a rare overtime power-play, gave Tampa Bay its first victory of the season and Barry Melrose his first coaching win since 1995.
No. 2 star: Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres
Miller had 30 saves on the night -- including an absolute robbery of David Krejci of the Boston Bruins with his glove in the third -- and then three more in the shootout to help Buffalo go 5-0-1 on the season with a 3-2 win. (Marc Savard's final chance of the skills competition ended with the puck rolling off his stick.) Miller isn't a goalie who steals too many victories for his team; tonight, he was the difference-maker for the Sabres.
No. 3 star: Flames/Leafs team defense
Following a lengthy closed-door meeting with Coach Mike Keenan today, the Calgary Flames' defense crashed, banged and came up big against the Washington Capitals in a 2-1 victory at home. Alexander Ovechkin was limited to a secondary assist on Sergei Fedorov's first-period goal; Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin were held scoreless.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Maple Leafs allowed just four shots to the Anaheim Ducks in the second period, after going down 2-0 in the first, and then held Anaheim without a shot in the third period. Yes, Anaheim is struggling offensively and was missing Ryan Getzlaf due to some dental issues; but that doesn't make this gritty effort any less impressive.
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Honorable Mention: Of course, in the end, Corey Perry and Teemu Selanne did put pucks past Curtis Joseph in the skills competition, giving the Ducks a sorely needed 3-2 victory. ... Derek Dorsett, a 21-year-old rookie winger for the Columbus Blue Jackets, scored his first NHL goal and it ended up being the game-winner against the injury-plagued Vancouver Canucks. Goalie Pascal Leclaire (23 saves) was solid in the third period. ... Nik Antropov scored both Toronto goals. ... Thomas Vanek went scoreless in the first four frames, but tallied the shootout winner for the Sabres.
Dishonorable Mention: Ron Wilson's wacky scheme of replacing starter Vesa Toskala with CuJo for the shootout gets an 'A' for ingenuity and an 'F' for results. The video of CuJo's efforts. ... Dave Steckel took a strange penalty for the Capitals, getting two minutes after tossing his stick to goalie Jose Theodore, who needed one. Jarome Iginla scored an unassisted goal on the ensuring two-man advantage power play to tie the game, 1-1. ... That said, it's difficult to say what looked worse: The Capitals' power play (0-for-5), the Flames' power-play (1-for-10) or the referees that whistled 14 different minor penalties in the game? The Capitals actually had a nine-minute power-play in the first period.
