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NHL Three Stars: Skinner tricks the Capitals in OT

No. 1 Star: Jeff Skinner, Carolina Hurricanes

The Hurricanes forward completed a hat trick with an overtime game-winner, leading Carolina to a 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals. Skinner opened the scoring with a power-play goal and tied the game in the second, less than a minute after the Caps took the lead.

No. 2 Star: Curtis McElhinney, Columbus Blue Jackets

The Columbus goalie’s 34-save effort propelled them to a 2-0 win over the Phoenix Coyotes.

No. 3 Star: Kyle Okposo, New York Islanders

The Olympic snub responded with the OT game-winner and an assist in the Islanders’ 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks, and the fans responded by chanting “USA” in his honor.

Honorable mention: Brad Marchand scored an impressive OT game-winner as the Boston Bruins topped the Nashville Predators, 3-2. … Alex Ovechkin scored his 31st, snapping a 4-game goal-less streak. … Zack Smith and Clarke MacArthur scored third period goals, and the Ottawa Senators hung on for a 4-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets. … T.J. Oshie scored twice and Brian Elliott made 30 saves for the shutout in the St. Louis Blues’ 5-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings. … The Minnesota Wild scored three second-period goals, including Jason Pominville’s 18th, as they rolled to a 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres. … Max Pacioretty had two goals and two assists and P.K. Subban had a goal and three assists as the Montreal Canadiens rallied to beat the Dallas Stars in a wild 6-4 game. … Patrick Marleau and Brent Burns scored in the first and the San Jose Sharks never looked back, routing the Edmonton Oilers, 5-1. Nail Yakupov scored for Edmonton after being a healthy scratch earlier in the week. … Jamie McGinn and Ryan O’Reilly scored and Semyon Varlamov outdueled Steve Mason in the Colorado Avalanche’s 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Did You Know? Nathan Horton scored his first goal as a Jacket in his first game as a Jacket,

Dishonorable mention: Martin Jones was chased after giving up two goals in 31:41. … Zemgus Girgensons and Matt Moulson were a minus-3. … Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin were a minus-3. … David Perron, Nick Schultz, Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins were a minus-3. … Finally, Oliver Ekman-Larsson was injured on this borderline hit from Derek MacKenzie: