Caps' Backstrom leads Saturday's three stars

Here are the Three Stars from Saturday's playoff action:

1. Nicklas Backstrom: The smooth skating Swede authored a hat trick in a game that saw his Washington Capitals trial 4-1 late in the second period. He set up the game-tying goal with 1:14 remaining and scored the game-winning goal :31 into overtime to secure a 6-5 victory and knot the series at 1-1 heading back to Montreal.

2. Alex Ovechkin: After failing to register a shot on goal in Game 1 -- only the second time that had happened all season -- Ovechkin scored his first goal of the playoffs and added three helpers. Ovechkin had eight hits in the game as well, getting himself involved physically before he ever hit the score sheet. It seems one leads to the other in Ovechkin's case. It certainly did on this night.

3. Zdeno Chara: The big Bruins' defenseman led all in TOI, was a physical presence and potted two goals -- one was at the top of the crease and the other a seeing-eye wrister from the blue line that tied the game in the third period. In his own zone, he oftentimes handled two attackers at once, decking DerekRoy and then wrestling TimConnolly to the in one memorable late-game sequence.