NHL Three Stars: Vrbata tricks Sabres; Avs win in OT

No. 1 Star: Radim Vrbata, Vancouver Canucks 

After being the Least Valuable Player last week, Vrbata started out this week strong with a hat trick in the Canucks’ 5-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. He had six shots on goal and was a plus-3.

No. 2 Star: Roman Josi, Nashville Predators

The Predators defenseman scored two power-play goals – answering a Boston Bruins’ score each time – before Viktor Arvidsson’s third-period game winner in Nashville’s 3-2 triumph at Boston. He also dropped the gloves with Brad Marchand, doing god’s work:

No. 3 Star: John Mitchell, Colorado Avalanche

Mitchell’s patient play in overtime resulted in the game-winning goal, his sixth of the season, as the Colorado Avalanche topped the Minnesota Wild, 2-1.

Honorable Mention: Zach Parise scored his eighth for the Wild. … Brandon Prust had a goal and an assist. … Semyon Varlamov made 19 saves, but one of them was a terrific stop on Parise in the overtime. … Patrice Bergeron’s assist tied him for 11th all-time with Milt Schmidt on the Bruins scoring list with 575 points. (CSNNE)

Did You Know? It was a night to honor the 20th anniversary Avs in Denver:

Dishonorable Mention: Nicolas Deslauriers was a minus-2 in 6:27 of ice time for Buffalo. … James Neal embellished a high stick, was called for it and referee Tim Peel was not happy.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.