After becoming the first Kings goalie to ever post three consecutive shutouts, Jonathan Quick has been named the NHL’s first star of the week.
Over the weekend, PHT’s very own Joe Yerdon posed the question: Is Quick now the best goalie in the NHL? After Boston Bruins fans pelted him with obscenities and Tim Thomas bobbleheads, we were inclined to say no. But it’s hard to ignore the fact that, statistically speaking, Quick is the league’s top netminder.
Put it this way: the NHL’s third star of the week, Washington’s Tomas Vokoun, is off to a flying start with a goals-against average of 1.80. Quick’s GAA is almost a full goal less than that.
Or, put it this way: Dallas’ Kari Lehtonen is on fire right now with a .957 save percentage. Quick’s is fifteen points higher than that.
Quick also represents 22 percent of the shutouts posted in the NHL this year. Crazy.
The second star of the week went to Ottawa’s Jason Spezza. The Senators center had 3G-4A in three games and figured in seven of his team’s 10 goals. Spezza’s honor was a noteworthy achievement for an Ottawa team that’s had very few of them this season. As you can see, he was pretty happy with how last week went:
As mentioned, third star went to Vokoun. He helped the Capitals extend their franchise-record start to 7-0-0 by posting three consecutive victories with a 1.00 goals-against average, .968 save percentage and one shutout. Remember when Bruce Boudreau started Michal Neuvirth in the season opener and everybody thought there’d be a goaltending controversy? Yeah, us neither.