Top Line: Henrik Lundqvist shines vs. Stars; overworked goalies; more links

Henrik Lundqvist was brilliant against the Stars, but are the Rangers leaning too heavily on him? (Getty Images) By Allan Muir An annotated guide to this

Henrik Lundqvist was brilliant against the Stars, but are the Rangers leaning too heavily on him? (Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

An annotated guide to this morning's must-read hockey stories:

• Henrik Lundqvistwas pretty good last night, making 41 stops to steal one in Dallas. Funny how the hockey gods work, eh? Two nights after being robbed of a victory against Boston when Tuukka Rask stood on his head, the Rangers got one back that they had no right winning.

• After spending much of the season on IR with a concussion, Rick Nash finally scored his first goal last night against the Stars. It was pretty nice:

• Now why did owner Jim Dolan have to go and spoil the day for Rangers fans after a night like that?

• Is your team overworking its No. 1 goaltender? Here's a chart that lays it all out.

• Being separated from linemate Zach Parise helped Minnesota captain Mikko Koivu find his game. And it wasn't long after that the red-hot Wild found theirs. Remember the name of Mike Yeo as a dark horse Jack Adams candidate.

• Alex Ovechkin went out of his way for Adam Oates last season so, naturally, the coach did the same for his star player.

• Johnny Oduya is happy not to be dishing out free pizza in Winnipeg anymore.

• Sure, there's a baby's first steps and a sunset in Key West...but other than those, there are few things in life more beautiful than a perfectly executed hip check:

• On the 10th anniversary of the NHL's first outdoor game, Taylor Hall shares his memories of attending the Heritage Classic as a 12-year-old.

• Scottie Upshall said that he and his teammates had to put Ilya Bryzgalov in his place a couple of times when they played together for the Phoenix Coyotes.

• Gustav Nyquist scored twice in his first game of the season to help the Red Wings snap a seven-game home losing streak. Now he has to wait to see if he'll be sent back to Grand Rapids today.

• He claims the 2014 Olympics aren't on his mind right now, but Jaromir Jagr says the 2018 Games in South Korea are a real possibility. The guy is a study in contradictions, isn't he?

• Jagr's teammates in New Jersey aren't afraid to admit that they're kind of in awe of the ageless wonder. Bruins fans, though, have to be wondering where this guy was last spring.

• Semyon Varlamov says he's not thinking about "the situation" anymore, you know, since he has friends in town and hockey to worry about.

• After missing 13 games due to a lingering "facial injury", Brent Burns was back in the lineup for the Sharks. Expect them to get their game back in order in 3...2...1...

• And here's a startling moment of honesty from Vancouver coach John Tortorella. Never a dull moment when Torts is around, eh?

• The Blackhawks got one key player back in the lineup in time for him to score the game winner against the Jets, but they lost another cog.

• Is Eric Staalplaying his way off of Team Canada?

• The Hockey Central At Noon guys talk about the front-runners to man the pipes for Team Canada. Here are my picks.

• You remember that Kickstarter campaign for the non-breakable hockey stick that we featured a couple of months ago? It looks like the company is close to production...and you won't believe what they're doing to prove that their twig will do what they say it will.

• Kevin Allen offers his top-five surprises and disappointments of the first quarter.

the highlight of this weekend