Alexander Ovechkin, Martin Jones and Carter Hutton have been named the National Hockey League’s three stars of the week.
No huge surprise that Ovechkin, the Washington captain, was named top star -- he led the NHL with five goals last week and tied for third with six points as the Caps captured five of a possible six points to maintain their second-place standing in the Metropolitan Division.
The highlight of Ovechkin’s week was a four-goal game in a 6-5 shootout with over Tampa Bay, though his heroics on Sunday -- he scored the game-tying goal versus Philly with less than a minute remaining -- were equally impressive. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Ovechkin has seven game-tying goals in the final minute of regulation during his NHL career; no other player has scored more than four such goals since he entered NHL in October 2005.
The second star went to Jones, making him the second L.A. netminder to win a star of the week this season -- in mid-November, Ben Scrivens won first star honors after posting two shutouts over a four-game stretch. This past week, Jones went 3-0-0 while posting a .972 save percentage and ran a consecutive shutout streak of 177:16 -- he’s now 5-0-0 on the year, with a 0.99 GAA and .967 save percentage.
Third star went to Hutton. He’s currently back in the starter’s role in Nashville, which is another team that’s received excellent backup netminding this season. After Marek Mazanec won rookie of the month for November, the Preds turned back to Hutton as their No. 1 last week and he responded with aplomb, posing a 3-0-0 record with a 1.33 GAA and .960 save percentage. His stellar play helped Nashville record just its second three-game winning streak of the season.