NHL Three Stars: Budaj ruins Garden party; Saad’s spinning assist

Getty Images The Rangers lost. Matt Harvey did not. Here he is with Russian model Anne V.

No. 1 Star: Peter Budaj, Montreal Canadiens

The Habs backup stopped 27 shots in shutting out the shorthanded New York Rangers, 2-0, in the Blueshirts’ home opener at the renovated MSG.

No. 2 Star: Brandon Saad, Chicago Blackhawks

Saad was awesome in the Blackhawks’ 5-1 win over the Minnesota Wild, scoring a goal and brilliantly setting up Patrick Kane’s tally with a spin-o-rama pass. He also got his agitation on, running goalie Niklas Backstrom and ticking off the Wild.

No. 3 Star: Matt Moulson, Buffalo Sabres

The Sabres fell to the Dallas Stars, 4-3, but props to Matt Moulson for scoring two goals in his Buffalo debut – without John Tavares!

Honorable mention: Ryan Kesler scored his eighth goal and Daniel Sedin notched his fifth to rally the Vancouver Canucks to a 3-2 win. Mikhail Grabovski scored his fifth fort the Washington Capitals. … Rookie Jayson Megna had a goal and an assist in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 3-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Sidney Crosby picked up his 20th point with an assist on Chris Kunitz’s fifth goal. … Kane had a goal and an assist, while Corey Crawford made 29 saves. … Tyler Seguin had a goal and an assist. … Tomas Plekanec and Alex Galchenyuk had the Montreal goals.

Did You Know? Alex Ovechkin had a penalty shot against Roberto Luongo. He failed.

Dishonorable mention: Andrej Sekera and Justin Faulk were a minus-3. … Ryan Suter and Mikko Koivu were a minus-2. … Mikhail Grigorenko had an assist but was a minus-2 in just 9:17 of ice time. … Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Marcus Johansson were a minus-2.

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