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The three stars were announced on Monday and Steven Stamkos was the top star. It was a huge week for the Tampa Bay captain as he managed four goals and nine assists in four games. He has six straight multiple point games, and has 17 points in that stretch. Stamkos is only one point away from equaling his career high of 98 points set three seasons ago.
It would have been easy to name another Lightning player, Nikita Kucherov as he had eight points this week just on the power play. To let you know how amazing that is, only 183 players this season have managed nine or more points on the power play all year.
The second star was Kevin Fiala of the Minnesota Wild who had four straight multi-point games this week, scoring four times and adding seven assists. The Wild winger has 33 goals and 84 points this season, both career highs.
Los Angeles netminder Jonathan Quick was the third star as he was 3-0-0, giving up only four goals on 67 shots this week.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, who are always in need of a goaltender, or so it seems, signed Hobey Baker winner Dryden McKay to a two-year AHL contract. He is not eligible to play this season as he accepted a six-month suspension for an anti-doping violation but will be ready to go for the start of training camp.
There was only one game in the NHL Monday.
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CHICAGO 3 PHILADELPHIA 1
In the only game on the schedule, the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1.
It looked like it was going to be a high scoring contest as the Blackhawks struck for a pair of goals in the first 6:15 of the game as Erik Gustafsson scored his third just 1:44 into the contest and Jonathan Toews (who set up Gustafsson for the opening goal) made it 2-0.
Kevin Hayes cut the lead in half with his 10th of the season at 8:03 of the opening period with Scott Laughton and Travis Konecny picking up the assists.
But the goaltending took over after that as there was a scoreless second period and Alex DeBrincat with his 41st of the season scored the only goal of the third. Patrick Kane picked up an assist on the goal, giving him 66 this season.
Kevin Lankinen was stellar in the Chicago cage, reminiscent of last season when he was one of the biggest surprises in the first half of the season. Lankinen kicked out 33 shots as only Hayes beat him. Lankinen is 7-15-6 with a 3.53 GAA and a .890 save percentage.
Felix Sandstrom made 30 saves in the Flyers net as he lost his third straight game in regulation after starting the season with an overtime loss. Sandstrom is 0-3-1 this season with a 3.27 GAA and a .914 save percentage.
Kevin Hayes had eight shots on goal.
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NIGHTLY LEADERS
Goals
Jonathan Toews – 1
Erik Gustafsson – 1
Alex DeBrincat – 1
Kevin Hayes - 1
Assists
Dominik Kubalik – 1
Jonathan Toews – 1
Sam Lafferty – 1
Patrick Kane – 1
Jake McCabe – 1
Scott Laughton – 1
Travis Konecny - 1
Shots on Goal
Kevin Hayes – 8
Philipp Kurashev – 5
Hits
2 by many
Penalty Minutes
Sam Lafferty - 4