Posted by Love him or loathe him, Dany Heatley is still a premier sniper who has slotted in perfectly on the top line in San Jose. He secured his eighth career hat-trick in the Sharks home opener to Columbus encouraging the crowd to cheer his name. Heatley appears assertive to have maybe his best year to date but the rumours have started that he is the team’s postseason saviour. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.
Give me that puck. (Photo courtesy of svictoria29/ Flikr.)
Numbers: three games played, five goals, three assists, eight points, plus-five rating.
Another Shark who impressed this week was Joe Thornton bringing his seeing-eye passing to the table. Given the assignment of feeding Heatley’s one-timer, the veteran has had no problems doing that or assisting on the goal-scoring of others. If Thornton turned Jonathan Cheechoo into a 50-goal man, what’s to stop Heatley from possibly 60 goals?
Numbers: three games played, eight assists, eight points, plus-one rating.
A decent set-up man himself, Martin St. Louis has been the best Lightning player by far in the early going. The former Art Ross and Hart Memorial Trophy winner is always a bundle of energy trying to keep his squad from defeat. While Ryan Malone’s hat-trick gave Tampa Bay their first win on Saturday, St. Louis was the catalyst all night.
Numbers: three games played, five assists, five points, plus-three rating.
Beginning our defensive unit is a 25-year-old who has taken advantage of his opportunity making people take notice. Matt Carle, currently leading Philadelphia in helpers, has seen his responsibilities increased by receiving much more ice time. He may not be the biggest rearguard but he’s usually out there with Chris Pronger which stabilizes the blue line.
Numbers: three games played, six assists, six points, plus-one rating.
A defenseman or an extra forward? The decision remains up in the air as to what Dan Boyle resembles more. Keen to join in on the fun with Thornton and Heatley, he supplied continual fast pace and challenges for goaltenders. Laughing at Tampa Bay is in order considering they gave up on someone who steers a powerplay so fluently.
Numbers: three games played, one goal, four assists, five points, plus-two rating.
Buffalo has scored a league-low four times in three games. To give you a picture of how underwhelming that is, six different players have excelling totals themselves. However, the Sabres are off to a 2-0-1 start begging the question: what’s the deal? Miller time is in full effect as Ryan has backstopped the team flawlessly. Everyone knows his injury was what cost Buffalo a playoff berth last season and his one goal allowed for the entire week solidifies that.
Ryan Miller is focused and playing A-class hockey. (Photo courtesy of mark6mauno/ Flikr.)
Numbers: two games played, two wins, .979 save percentage, 0.50 GAA, one shutout.
Team of the Week
Center: Joe Thornton
Left Wing: Dany Heatley
Right Wing: Martin St. Louis
Defenseman: Matt Carle
Defenseman: Dan Boyle
Goaltender: Ryan Miller
As we mentioned, we love promoting a young gun here and Michael Del Zotto checks in this time. Riding a four-game point streak, the 19-year-old rookie seems to know exactly when to pinch in on the play and doubles back accurately making Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival look that much worse. Keep up the good work.
The only thing we enjoy more than saluting a youngster is making up new awards. Travis Zajac is our clutch performer for his tying goal in Tampa Bay with a second on the clock saving the Devils from an 0-3 start. New Jersey would win the shootout and followed it up with a victory in Florida getting back to .500. Zajac supplied two more points in Sunrise.
Sure, he’s unbeaten in his last three games making this hard but Henrik Lundqvist nearly buried his team after Nicklas Backstrom’s shoot-in from the red line skipped past him. They don’t call him the King for no reason because the Swede was razor-sharp from then on and New York fought back to defeat Washington.
Assuming the role of teacher, Anton Volchenkov made a few youths remember they are in the NHL. Viktor Stalberg, John Tavares and Zach Bogosian were all lined up as targets for the Russian rearguard.
But none of those were harder than Patrick Kaleta’s stepping up on Petr Prucha Thursday. Jumped by Martin Hanzal afterwards, the feisty forward drew 19 minutes in penalties on that play alone and a few more minors later. Just goes to show you how valuable energy players can be.
We’ve decided to leave the goal of the week honour up to the readers. Our first selection is Alexander Semin’s nifty toe-drag through Braydon Coburn and five-hole closure on Ray Emery. Avert your eyes Flyers fans. Up next is Kyle Okposo who made Volchenkov regret his decision to expect a quick shot going for the block. And lastly, Boston’s audience got caught gazing at Corey Perry as he came in from the left and outlasted Tim Thomas. By audience, we mean the five Bruins players on the ice who watched.
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