NHL Players of the Week: 11/1 through 11/7

1. Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose Sharks. Nabokov was simply phenomenal this week for the Sharks, winning 3 games and losing another in a shootout. Nabby faves 117 shots this week, stopping 113 of them and earning a shutout against the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

2. Jonas Gustavsson, Toronto Maple Leafs. Last week, Tomas Kaberle was the Leafs best player. This week, its been “The Monster.” Gustavsson won 2 of 3 games this week, the only loss coming in overtime to Tampa Bay. Gustavsson stopped 99 shots of 104 in 3 games, good for a .951 save percentage. Thanks to Gustavsson, Kaberle and the debut of Phil Kessel (who scored his first goal as a Leaf Saturday night in a 5-1 blowout of the Red Wings), the Leafs have points in 7 straight games.

3. Andrew Raycroft, Vancouver Canucks. Raycroft has shined in the absence of starting netminder Roberto Luongo. Raycroft started 3 games and won all 3, including a shutout against one of the hottest teams in the league, the Colorado Avalanche.

Honorable Mentions:
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist earned his 150th career victory against the Boston Bruins Sunday in a 1-0 shutout win. … Raffi Torres scored 4 goals this week for the Blue Jackets. … Mike Richards and Jeff Carter each scored 2 goals and an assist against Tampa Bay on Monday. … Chris Osgood earned his 50th career shutout against the Boston Bruins stopping 29 shots. … Rich Peverley continues to shine for the Atlanta Thrashers. Peverley notched a goal and 2 assists in a 5-4 win against the Montreal Canadiens. … Sidney Crosby made a fantastic save against Scott Niedermayer, stacking the pads late in the game to help the Pens to a 4-3 victory. … Tomas Vokoun and Ryan Miller each earned shutouts Wednesday night, stopping 32 and 24 shots respectively. … Nicklas Bergfors scored 2 power play goals and Travis Zajac had 2 assists for the New Jersey Devils Wednesday. The Devils improved their road record to 8-0-0 this week. … Milan Hejduk (2+1), Paul Stastny (0+3) and Peter Budaj (playing his first game after having the H1N1 virus) helped the Colorado Avalanche to a 4-1 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes. The Avs are undefeated at home this season. … Patrice Bergeron scored with 18 seconds left against Montreal to break their 192 minutes and 6 seconds goal drought Thursday night. Carey Price made 42 saves in regulation and overtime then went on to stop all 3 shots in the shootout for the Habs. … Jonas Hiller made 40 saves against Nashville for his first shutout of the season. … Logan Couture (SJS) scored his first NHL goal against the Red Wings Thursday night. … Anze Kopitar added to his point total by scoring 3 goals and 3 assists this week. He leads the league with 27 points. … Jason Spezza returned from injury to score his first goal of the season in overtime to help his Senators beat the Lightning. He also had 2 assists. … Cory Schnieder made 45 saves against the Dallas Stars Friday night in his first start of the season. … Ryan O’Reilly scored 2 goals against the Blackhawks but the game needed 8 rounds in a shootout to decide a winner. The Avs came out on top. … Mike Knuble scored 2 goals and had 2 helpers and Tomas Fleischmann had a pair to lead the Ovechkin-less Caps to a 7-4 victory over the Florida Panthers. Dmitry Kulikov (FLA) scored his first NHL goal in the loss. … Columbus scored 3 goals in 2:41 Saturday night to extend the Hurricanes winless streak to 12 games. The Canes lost Eric Staal to injury Sunday night and then lost starting netminder Cam Ward Saturday night when Rick Nash cut Ward’s leg. … Antero Niittymaki has been solid for the Lightning this week after coming in relief of Mike Smith against Philadelphia. Niittymaki has 2 wins and an OTL in 3 games with a .951 save percentage. … Dan Boyle (1+1), Manny Malhotra (1+1) and Joe Pavelski (1+1) helped the Sharks beat the Pens 5-0 Saturday night. Pavelski made his return to the lineup after missing 5 weeks with a broken foot.

Notes:

The Carolina Hurricans haven’t won in 12 games. Their luck seems to be getting worse, not better. Number one center Eric Staal went down with an upper body injury Sunday and saw his 349 consecutive games streak come to an end. To make an awful situation even worse, starting netminder and 2006 Conn Smythe winner Cam Ward had his leg sliced open by Rick Nash’s skate Sunday night. For the Canes, it seems they can do no right. They’ve been shut out 3 times this season and they’ve lost by 3 or more goals 6 times. Things don’t look like they’re going to get better anytime soon with their top-2 players out for an unknown amount of time. After a spectacular run to the Eastern Conference finals last spring, Canes fans expected big things this season. Unfortunately, they’re digging themselves into one very large hole.

Injury Report:
Alex Ovechkin (WSH), upper-body, week-to-week.
Eric Staal (CAR), upper-body, will miss “some time” according to GM Jim Rutherford.
Kris Letang (PIT), upper-body.
Cam Ward (CAR), leg laceration, 3-4 weeks minimum.
Radek Martinek (NYI), torn ligament in his right leg, out for the season.
Jason Williams (DET), fractured right fibula, out 6-8 weeks unless surgery is required.
David Krejci, diagnosed with H1N1 virus, out until fever and symptom free for 24 hours.

Patrick Elias (NJD), Jason Spezza (OTT), Phil Kessel (TOR) and Joe Pavelski (SJS) all returned from injury this week.