Players of the Week - 10/5/09 through 10/11/09

By Dara Heaps

1. Dany Heatley, San Jose Sharks. Heatley made quite a debut at home for the Sharks, netting a hat trick, an assist and was an astonishing +6 on the night. This week, Heatley exploded for 5 goals, 4 assists and finished a +5. The Sharks top line of Heatley, Joe Thornton and Devin Setoguchi are starting to click with great results.

2. Mike Richards, Philadelphia Flyers. Somewhere in Canada, Pierre McGuire is estatic. Richards upstaged Alex Ovechkin, scoring three goals in an overtime win against the Capitals. He went on to add two assists against their bitter rival Penguins and scored a goal in a shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks. Philly is loaded up front, but it all starts with Richards.

3. Ryan Malone, Tampa Bay Lightning. Malone powered the Lightning to their first victory of the season Saturday night with a hat trick versus Carolina. He also had a goal in a shootout loss to the Canes on Tuesday. He, Marty St. Louis and Steven Stamkos have great chemistry.

Honorable Mentions: San Jose’s Joe Thornton had 8 assists in 3 games. … Jordan Staal was one of the bright spots in Pittsburgh’s loss to the Phoenix Coyotes, winning 12 of 13 faceoffs. He also scored 2 goals this week. … The Finnish Flash scored 2 goals against Boston, then Teemu Selanne repeated the feat, scoring another 2 against Philadelphia. … Marian Gaborik, Michael Del Zotto and Vaclav Prosopal all had a great week for the Rangers, combining for 12 points in 3 games. … Jonas Hiller won both of his starts for Anaheim, allowing only 3 goals on 69 shots. … Sidney Crosby netted 2 goals for Pittsburgh against Toronto. He also was 21-3 on faceoffs in Philadelphia. … Henrik Sedin scored 3 goals this week and 7 assists. Bad news for his brother, Daniel, who will be out 4-6 weeks with a broken foot. … Mathieu Garon spoiled the Coyotes sold-out home opener by posting a shutout, stopping 36 shots. … In a battle of goaltenders, Ryan Miller topped all 25 shots against the Predators for his first shutout of the year. In the opposite net, Pekka Rinne only allowed 1 goal on 42 shots. … Stephen Valiquette made his first start for the Rangers and stopped all 18 shots the Ducks threw at him.

Thumbs down to… Tim Thomas. The reigning Vezina winner has looked awful for Boston this year. He’s been out of position and failing to make saves to keep his team in the game. Its early in the year, but for Boston to finish top in the conference again, Thomas needs to find his form.Also thumbs down to Los Angeles’ penalty kill. LA finally looks poised to make the playoffs, but no way they’re going to if they allow San Jose 4 power play goals. If LA does make the playoffs, there’s a good chance they’ll be seeing San Jose in the first round. Special teams are extremely important in this league and the Kings need to improve their penalty killing.