No. 1 star: Chris Mason, St. Louis Blues
During the off-season, the Nashville Predators decided to re-sign goalie Dan Ellis and trade Chris Mason, whom Ellis beat out for the starting job, to the Blues. Mason returned to Nashville last night and exacted a bit of revenge with a 47-save performance that included two more in the shootout. His sliding save on Ville Koistinen in the shootout gave St. Louis the 1-0 road win. "That was probably one of the games that I wanted to win more than any game I've ever played," said Mason.
No. 2 star: Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta Thrashers
On a night when the Thrashers played a tough and gritty game at the Toronto Maple Leafs, Kovalchuk was a factor throughout their 6-3 victory. His second-period unassisted snap shot past Curtis Joseph was his only point of the night, but the goal was a momentum-killing play that gave Atlanta a 4-1 lead. We'll have more on this later this morning, but Kovalchuk also had two memorable physical exchanges with Ian White of the Leafs as well.
No. 3 star: Curtis Glencross, Calgary Flames
Take your pick for a hero from the Flames' 6-2 domination of the Los Angeles Kings, but we'll give the nod to Glencross for his goal and two helpers. He has an assist on Rene Bourque's first-period goal to make it 2-0, and then chased goalie Erik Ersberg with a goal of his own to make it 4-0. The line of Bourque-Conroy-Glencross combined for eight points and was a plus-7.
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Honorable Mention: Atlanta's Johan Hedberg (32 saves) made the save of the night with a sliding stop on Mikhail Grabovski during a 2-on-1 for the Leafs. ... Dan Ellis was outdueled by Chris Mason, but not by much; he had 17 saves for the Predators to earn a point. ... Jarome Iginla scored his 12th of the season. ... Jamal Mayers unleashed hell on Garnet Exelby of the Thrash in a second-period fight:
Dishonorable Mention: It was a game that certainly had its moments, but a scoreless 65 minutes probably isn't what Versus wanted out of the Blues and Preds. ... Ron Wilson called out Colby Armstrong of Atlanta after a hit to the head of Jason Blake. ... The Kings pulled Ersberg after four goals on 18 Flames' shots. ... Finally, six goals on home ice to the Thrashers isn't exactly the best audition for Brian Burke if you're the Leafs.
