NHL Three Stars: Niemi assists on his shut out; Parise goes hatty in Wild comeback
No. 1 Star: Antti Niemi, Dallas Stars
The storyline heading into Dallas’ game against the Pittsburgh Penguins was the new super duo of Phil Kessel and Sidney Crosby. Niemi crushed that narrative with a beautiful 34-save performance in his first game with the Stars. Dallas defeated the Penguins 3-0. Niemi also had two assists – meaning he was the first player in NHL history to record two assists and a shutout in the same game.
No. 2 Star: Zach Parise, Minnesota Wild
The Wild forward fired a hat trick to help the Wild come from deficits of 3-0 and 4-1 to beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-4. Two of Parise’s goals came in the third period.
No. 3 Star: Alexander Burmistrov, Winnipeg Jets
The former Atlanta Thrashers first-round pick made quite the return from his sabbatical to the Kontinental Hockey League. Burmistrov scored a goal (empty-netter), added an assist and was a plus-4 in the Jets’ 6-2 drubbing over the Boston Bruins.
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Honorable Mention: Ottawa Senators coach Dave Cameron won a coach’s challenge on a perceived goal by Evander Kane. Cameron said a play was offsides … Senators forward Kyle Turris fired two goals in a 3-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres. His first score came 30 seconds into the game … Sabres rookie forward Jack Eichel scored his first NHL goal … Buffalo fans for voting “Let me Clear My Throat” by DJ Kool as the Sabres new goal song … Winnipeg Jets forward Drew Stafford scored a goal and added an assist .. Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba was a plus-3 in 21:09 of action … Tampa Bay forward Jonathan Drouin notched two assists in the Lightning’s 3-2 overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers … Lightning defenseman Jason Garrison scored the first 3-on-3 OT winner this season … Wild forwards Mikael Granlund and Jason Pominville each notched two assists … Dallas Stars forward Ales Hemsky scored a goal and added an assist … Nashville Predators defenseman Seth Jones notched two assists in a 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes … Colorado defenseman Francois Beauchemin notched three assists in his Avalanche debut … Colorado center Nathan MacKinnon had two assists … St. Louis Blues goaltender Brian Elliott stopped 23 of 24 Edmonton Oilers shots on goal … St.Louis rookie Robby Fabbri fired the game-winner over the Oilers in Connor McDavid’s debut … Blues sniper Vladimir Tarasenko showed he still has his magic breakaway touch.
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Did You Know? The Winnipeg Jets/Atlanta Thrashers organization won its first game in Boston since March 31, 2007. Keith Tkachuk was on that team and scored the game-winner.
Dishonorable Mention: Erik Karlsson, for cutting his hair before the start of the regular season … Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux failed to convert on the season’s first penalty shot. He and Jakub Voracek were held without a point in Philly’s season opener … Bruins defenseman Matt Irwin and forward Ryan Spooner were each a minus-3 … Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask allowed five Jets goals on 31 shots on goal … Colorado forward Matt Duchene was a minus-3 … Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov stopped just 25 of 30 shots on goal in the Avs’ meltdown against Minnesota … Crosby had 0 shots on goal in his first game as Kessel’s center … Kessel fired six shots on goal, but none went in.
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