NHL Three Stars: Crosby leads, Calvert bleeds and Holtby saves

No. 1 Star: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins

Sid opened the scoring with his 11th goal of the season and added a perfect assist on Kris Letang’s game-winning OT goal as the Penguins outlasted the New York Islanders, 3-2.

No. 2 Star: Matt Calvert, Columbus Blue Jackets

As we covered earlier, Calvert was hit in the face with a New York Rangers’ shot, needed 36 stitches to close his wound and then ended up scoring the game-winning shorthanded goal in their 4-2 win. Wow! (He was also a plus-3.)

No. 3 Star: Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals

When the Capitals needed a big save, they got one from Holtby, who made 25 of them in their 1-0 win over the struggling Detroit Red Wings. Jay Beagle had the game-winner at 14:49 of the third period.

Honorable Mention: The Carolina Hurricanes got three straight goals from Jeff Skinner, Teuvo Teravainen and Victor Rask to rally past Al Montoya and the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2. … Marian Hossa scored goal No. 10 at 17:37 of the third period, on a controversial play the Calgary Flames couldn’t challenge without a timeout, to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 3-2 win. … Letang also assisted on Crosby’s goal. … Michael Grabner scored his 11th of the season. … Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves.

Did You Know? The Capitals played most of the game with nine forwards after T.J. Oshie, Lars Eller and Andre Burakovsky were injured in the first period. (NHL.com)

Dishonorable Mention: The Red Wings were 0-for-4 on the power play. … Mika Zibanejad, Mats Zuccarello and J.T. Miller were all a minus-2. … Andrew Shaw ended up with 14 penalty minutes, including a misconduct, late in the game for Montreal. … The Flames were 0-for-5 on the power play.