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No. 1 Star: Semyon Varlamov, Colorado Avalanche
In his second start with the Avs, Varlamov continued the string of good fortune Colorado has had when they visit the Boston Bruins. Making 30 saves, Varlamov earned his fifth career shutout during a 1-0 win and improved the Avs' record to 6-0-1 in their last seven trips to Beantown dating back to 1998. Milan Hejduk scored the only goal as Colorado notched their first win of the season.
No. 2 Star: Ilya Kovalchuk, New Jersey Devils
After entering the third period tied at two, Kovalchuk netted his first goal of the season that would stand as the game-winner and added two helpers as New Jersey downed the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2. Zach Parise scored twice and Johan Hedberg improved to 4-0-0 against the Canes over the last two years by making 26 saves. It was New Jersey's sixth straight win against Carolina at home.
No. 3 Star: Jason Chimera, Washington Capitals
In a the game of the night and a rematch of last season's Eastern Conference semifinal, Chimera's pair of goals in the third period, and Matt Hendricks and Alex Semin's shootout tallies helped the Capitals comeback for a 6-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. After giving the Caps a 4-3 lead early in the third period with his 100th career NHL goal, Tampa scored twice in five minutes to take the a one goal lead before Chimera's second of the night with 2:44 remaining in regulation evened things up.
Honorable mention: David Clarkson played in his 300th NHL game ... Petr Sykora scored his first NHL goal since Oct. 30, 2009 ... Andrew MacDonald and Frans Nielsen scored first period goals, while Al Montoya made 20 saves as the New York Islanders defeated the Minnesota Wild 2-1 ... Four goals in the final two periods buoyed the St. Louis to a 5-2 win over the Calgary Flames. Jason Arnott and Alex Pietrangelo each scored and recorded an assist, while Chris Stewart tallied this beauty of a backhander:
Loui Eriksson scored with 28 seconds remaining to force overtime and then in the shootout as the Dallas Stars were victorious over the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1. Kari Lehtonen stopped 40 shots and Mike Ribeiro netted the winning goal in the shootout with this nifty move:
Cody Hodgson and Alex Burrows scored in the third period as the Vancouver Canucks edged the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2. Cam Atkinson scored his first NHL goal in the loss.
Did you know? Columbus is off to their worst start in franchise history at 0-3-0.
Dishonorable mention: Tomas Vokoun, who's agent made some noise after he sat for the opening game, allowed five goals in his season debut, with the first two coming off a deflection off Mike Green's skate and a corner shot from Gervais ... Pierre-Marc Bouchard sat out the first of his 2-game suspension against the Islanders ... Flames netminder Henrik Karlsson allowed five goals on 35 shots ... Failed power plays doomed both the Coyotes (1-for-7) and the Blue Jackets (0-for-5). Columbus is now 0-for-16 to start the season ... Marc Methot was given two minutes for boarding Henrik Sedin, but will he also receive a call from Brendan Shanahan?
Photo credit: Getty Images