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Nicklas Backstrom clearly prefers making his teammates around him better rather than shooting. Whoever continues insisting that he should fire the puck more needs to let the Swede play his game in peace. After all, it’s gotten him 175 points in 178 career games in just over two years.
People have called him the assisting assassin. (Photo courtesy of Wendy Bullard/ Flikr.)
Numbers: four games played, one goal, six assists, seven points, plus-one rating.
No Evgeni Malkin but Chris Kunitz is part of a handful of Penguins who have boosted their performances helping execute a couple of wins, two to be exact. The rate of injuries has become ridiculous affecting every club and Pittsburgh is no different except for the fact that they haven’t let it get to their heads.
Numbers: three games played, two goals, four assists, six points, plus-four rating.
Florida doubled their win total for the season on the weekend thanks largely to Nathan Horton’s presence. This takes the heat off the enigmatic winger momentarily but the Panthers remain near the bottom of the barrel. If Horton can keep it up, the team may just be able to move up to a respectable ranking.
Numbers: three games played, one goal, six assists, seven points, plus-five rating.
I’m a firm believer in putting the team before a single person. To say Tomas Kaberle had a week he’ll never forget though is a behemoth of an understatement. Toronto earned five points out of possibly eight and without the Czech’s clever play from the blue line, it wouldn’t have been as decent. Twice, he snatched an equalizer for the Maple Leafs in the final minute of regulation. To be fair, Mikhail Grabovski remarkably tipped one of them in although Kaberle sent the puck at the net.
Numbers: four games played, two goals, ten assists, 12 points, plus-two rating.
Always keen to join in on the fun, Mike Green gets the nod for the first time as he continues to pile up assists with ease. The million dollar question is whether he can repeat within the 30-goal range again. If not, he could establish a new personal best with the amount of helpers he is producing on his current point streak.
Numbers: four games played, five assists, five points, even rating.
Rinne's Calder consideration should have been higher in 2009. (Photo courtesy of Gosh@/ Flikr.)
Give the advantage to Pekka Rinne for who’s going to be Nashville’s No.1 in goal. The Finn was unstoppable doing everything with calm and poise throughout the week. We’d like to call him the Monster due to his size but that name has already been taken. I guess we will be sticking with Beast.
Numbers: three games played, three wins, .968 save percentage, 0.76 GAA, one shutout.
Team of the Week
Center: Nicklas Backstrom
Left Wing: Chris Kunitz
Right Wing: Nathan Horton
Defenseman: Tomas Kaberle
Defenseman: Mike Green
Goaltender: Pekka Rinne
We’re beginning to get the feeling that Ondrej Pavelec reads our column. Having mentioned how unfortunate he was to let in that stinker against Washington not too long ago, he bounced back by literally stealing a win for Atlanta in Ottawa. Pavelec made a string of saves in the third period worthy of putting onto a DVD collection, stopped 50 of 51 shots and didn’t give an inch when his mask was knocked off. Good luck outdoing that Kari Lehtonen.
As for the goal of the week, we hand that to Wojtek Wolski whose game winner sunk Calgary’s hopes and was worthy of the instant replay. Cutting between two Flames, he came into the slot and…just take a look.
A request to John Tortorella; let Artem Anisimov play more than ten minutes per night and give him some decent line mates or powerplay chances. This kid can obviously handle himself at the NHL level and is deserving of more opportunities. Despite his limited ice time, he’s eighth on New York in points ahead of players like Chris Drury and Christopher Higgins.
And we want to give a big thumbs up to Steven Stamkos for getting through last year’s adversity and shutting the mouths of all his pundits. Counting Monday’s goal, the 19-year-old has 11 in 13 contests. I don’t care how young or inexperienced he may be, those digits have Olympics written all over them.
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