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Ilya Bryzgalov is the NHL first star of the week

Tyler Bozak, Ilya Bryzgalov

Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, right, saves a shot by Toronto Maple Leafs’ Tyler Bozak during a shoot out of an NHL hockey game in Toronto on Saturday, March 10, 2012. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young)

AP

Ilya Bryzgalov’s massive turnaround this season is finally turning some heads and now the NHL is taking notice as well. Bryzgalov locked down the NHL’s first star of the week award after putting up monster numbers during a week that saw him go 3-0-0 with two shutouts.

Bryzgalov’s goals against for the week was a microscopic 0.65 while stopping shots at a .979 percentage. Putting up back-to-back shutouts against Florida and Toronto helped him lock down the weekly award, fighting off big weeks from the league’s second star Ilya Kovalchuk and third star Jaroslav Halak.

Kovalchuk had five goals and nine points on the week while Halak was equally huge in goal for the Blues going 3-0-0 as well with slightly worse numbers than Bryzgalov (1.00 GAA, .962 SV%).

For Bryzgalov, the award for the week is helping show off how great he’s been of late for the Flyers. He got the call in 11 straight games and has established himself as the absolute No. 1 guy in goal in Philly. After a tumultuous start to his first season in Philly, he’s settled down in a big way.