Bruins winger Brad Marchand, Blues goalie Jake Allen and Oilers winger Taylor Hall have been named the NHL’s three stars for the past week.
From NHL.com:
Marchand shared first in the NHL with four goals and added a pair of assists to lead the Bruins (6-3-1, 13 points) to a trio of wins, extending the club’s point streak to seven contests (6-0-1).
Allen went 3-0-0 with a 0.98 goals-against average, .963 save percentage and one shutout to backstop the Blues (8-2-1, 17 points) to three consecutive victories.
Hall posted a trio of multi-point games to pace the NHL in scoring (2-5—7) and guide the Oilers (4-8-0, 8 points) to one win in three starts.
On a side note, it’ll be interesting to see how Allen’s play affects the always-interesting goaltending situation in St. Louis. Brian Elliott has been good, but not great, in five starts, registering a .908 save percentage.
Allen’s save percentage is .929.
“We’ve still got probably six, eight games before we make a decision, whether the decision is to split, or guy with one guy more, or not,” coach Ken Hitchcock said last week.
Of course, it doesn’t really matter how the two are playing now; as we learned last year, it’s all about who’s the hottest going into the playoffs.
That being said, if the Blues had a choice, they’d probably prefer Allen to be the guy. He’s five years younger and can’t become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2017, like Elliott can.