NHL Players of the Week: 11/8 through 11/14

By Dara Heaps

1. Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres. Miller has been nothing short of fantastic for the Sabres this year. He’s 12-2-1 this season and leading the league with 12 wins (tied with San Jose netminder Evgeni Nabokov and Devils goalie Martin Brodeur), 1.77 GAA and .939 save percentage. Miller ended the week with 3 wins and a .954 save percentage. He’s been leading the Sabres to the top of their division and locking up the starting position for the United States Olympic team.

2. Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings. The Wings got off to a bad start but have turned things around, thanks in part to Zetterberg. Zetterberg had two assists in a 9-1 thrashing of the Columbus Blue Jackets, a goal and assist against the Vancouver Canucks and topped that off with a hat trick and two assists against the Anaheim Ducks. Zetterberg ended the week with two game winning goals, a plus-6 and 12 shots on goal.

3. Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks. Perry and Getzlaf have been doing the heavy lifting for the Ducks. They each have an 11 game point streak going and Getzlaf has a franchise-record assist streak with 17 assist in 10 consecutive games. Despite losing 7-4 to the Red Wings Saturday night, Perry had a goal and assist and Getzlaf also had a goal and three assists. They’ve been a dominate force in every game they’ve played in.

Honorable Mentions

St. Louis routed the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday 6-1, their first six goal game since January 2006. Brad Boyes had a goal and three assists, David Perron scored his first career hat trick and Andy MacDonald had a goal and two assists. … After starting the season 10-1-2, Colorado is 2-4-1 in their last 7, including their first home loss to the Edmonton Oilers allowing 4 power play goals. … After a rocky start, Miikka Kiprusoff has been stellar for the Calgary Flames. He stopped all 25 of Montreal’s shots for his first shutout of the year. Kiprusoff ends the week with a .969 save percentage and 2-0-1 road trip. … Zach Parise has been solid all season long for the Devils. He has scored in 4 consecutive games, had 5 points in 3 games and ended the week a plus-7. … Mike Modano scored two goals and added two assists in two games this week for the Stars. … Ilya Kovalchuk returned from a broken foot on Thursday and scored a goal and two assists. Kovalchuk added another 4 points (2+2) in a 7-0 thrashing of the visiting Los Angeles Kings. Ondrej Pavelecmade 38 saves. … The San Jose Sharks have points in 11 straight games after winning 3-1 in St. Louis. … Jonathan Toews scored a goal in his first game back after sustaining a concussion Oct 21st against Vancouver. … Mikko Koivu had a goal and two assists to lead the Wild past the Maple Leafs 5-2 Tuesday night. … Carey Price was outstanding for the Canadiens in a 2-0 loss Saturday night, stopping 53 of 55 shots the Nashville Predators threw at him. The goaltender at the other end of the ice, Pekka Rinne, earned his second shutout in 5 games. … Tim Thomas started the week out well with a shutout (27 saves) against a slumping Penguins team, but ended the week by playing the puck badly and Penguins forward Pascal Dupuis got his second goal of the night by putting the puck into an empty net. … The Carolina Hurricanes continued their slide last week (0-10-4) but did earn a point in an overtime loss against the New York Islanders. Wednesday marked the first game goaltender Cam Ward and center Eric Staal have been out simultaneously since March 19, 2004. … Anze Kopitar has points in 17 of 21 games this season. … Detroit thumped the Blue Jackets 9-1 Wednesday night, handing them their worst home loss in franchise history. Nick Kronwall had a goal and two assists and every Detroit skater was a plus. … The Oilers are 1-7 when they don’t score first this season. … Danny Briere had 2 goals in his first game back from having the flu and a groin injury in a 5-1 win against Ottawa. Jeff Carter, Kimmo Timonen and Chris Pronger all had two assists each. … Ruslan Fedotenko scored for the Pens at 11:32 in the first period to end Pittsburgh’s goal drought at 160:41. … Tomas Vokoun made 40 saves for his 3rd shutout in 4 games against the Boston Bruins Thursday night. The Bruins have been shutout in 3 of their past 7 games. … Tomas Plekanec continued to be one of the Habs best players by assisting on 3 of Montreal’s 4 goals against Phoenix Thursday night. … Kristian Huselius had a goal and an assist in his first game back from injury as the Blue Jackets beat the Ducks 3-2 in the shootout. Rick Nash won the game for the Jackets with a sick one-skated shootout goal. … John Tavares notched 2 goals for his first multi-goal game in the NHL in a 4-3 OT win against the Canes. … Evgeni Malkinreturned after missing 7 games with a shoulder strain and assisted on 3 goals. He also got his 200th career assist. Bill Guerin scored the tying goal against Boston with 0.4 seconds remaining on the clock. … It took 667 games but Henrik Sedin scored his first career hat trick in an 8-2 rout of the Avalanche. 11 different Canucks had assists and Roberto Luongo made 32 saves.

Notes:

The New Jersey Devils started the season 3-3. Now they’re riding a 8 game win streak, aiming for 10 consecutive wins on the road and they’re boasting a top-4 penalty kill (84.8%). Despite having their top defensemen out (Paul Martin, Johnny Oduya) the Devils winning. The Devils have the lowest goals allowed average at 2.06. Their best players have been their best players. Zach Parise is riding a 4-game goal streak. Rookie Niclas Bergfors has 6 points in his past 4 games (including a goal and two assist against Pittsburgh). David Clarkson is adding in offensively to go with his physical style. The Devils are getting the best from all of their players. Martin Brodeur is tied for 1st in wins and chasing Terry Sawchuk’s shutout record. All of this play can come down to the return of head coach Jacques Lemaire. He’s getting the best of out his players which is what a coach is supposed to do. Before allowing Tomas Fleischmann’s power play goal on Saturday night, the Devils killed 20 consecutive penalties. The Devils are aiming for their 10th road win tonight against the Flyers to tie the NHL record set in 2006 by the Buffalo Sabres. With the way they have been playing, there’s no reason why they won’t get it.

Milestones:

-Mark Recchi got his 900th career assist on Daniel Paille’s goal Tuesday night.
-Niklas Backstrom got his 100th career win Tuesday night against Toronto.
-Columbus head coach Ken Hitchcock coached his 1,000th NHL game Wednesday. Unfortunately his team lost 9-1.
-Don Brashear played his 1,000th career game Thursday.
- Paul Bisonette scored his first career goal Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens.
-Scott Niedermayer played his 1,200th game of his career Friday night against the Blue Jackets.
-Ben Lovejoy got his first career point assisting on Pascal Dupuis’ first goal Saturday night.
-Tyler Ennis scored his first career goal Saturday.
-Pascal Dupuis scored his 100th career goal in overtime against the Bruins.
-The Devils won their 1,000th game since moving to New Jersey (1,000-852-248).

Injury Report:

-Brooks Oprik (PIT) 2 weeks, lower body.
-Mike Komisarek (TOR) 3 weeks, quadriceps tear.
-Dave Bolland (CHI) 3-4 months, back surgery.
-Ed Jovanoski (PHX) unknown, lower body.
-Brandon Dubinsky (NYR) 3-4 weeks, broken hand.
-Chris Drury (NYR) indefinitely, concussion.
-Mike Knuble (WSH) 3-4 weeks, broken finger.
-Petr Sykora (MIN) indefinitely, concussion.
-Saku Koivu (ANA) day-to-day, groin strain.

Devin Setoguchi (SJS), Shea Weber (NSH), Radek Dvorak (FLA), Domenic Moore (FLA), Kamil Kreps (FLA), Henrik Lundqvist (NYR), Roberto Luongo (VAN), Victor Hedman (TB), Milan Hejduk (COL), Evgeni Malkin (PIT) and Boyd Gordon (WSH) all returned from injury or illness.