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Oh, come on. It's Monday. We're having some fun.
Lundqvist was named one of the NHL's stars of the week, as was Anaheim goalie Jonas Hiller. Both fine goalies had excellent performances last week.
But they'll have to take a back seat to No. 1 - Islanders captain, center and warp engine, John Tavares, who has been on a tear this month, and indeed this season.
From the official release:
Tavares led all skaters with four goals (tied), six assists and 10 points to power the Islanders (18-22-7, 43 points) to a season-high four consecutive victories.
...
Tavares capped the week by registering 1-1-2, including the game-winning goal with 1:24 remaining in regulation, in a 4-2 victory over the Dallas Stars Jan. 12, stretching the Islanders' road winning streak to seven games. The 23-year-old Mississauga, Ont., native is tied for second in the NHL with 56 points (21 35-56) in 46 games this season, including 8-10-18 in his last nine outings.
According to Eric Hornick's indispensable The Skinny blog posts, Tavares is now 26-36-62 in 53 career January games.
So a great week for Tavares means a great week for the Islanders, who are starting to string wins together, finally, this season.
The blurbs above don't even begin to cover the beauty and artistry on display this week from Tavares and company. Plays like his tricky steal and mind-meld with Thomas Vanek on the first goal against the Stars last Monday. Or the hat trick goal in that same game. Or the winner last night in Dallas on a sweet feed from junior and now NHL-running mate, Calvin de Haan*.
In the succinct and inarguable words of Frans Nielsen, "oh, sick. that what he do."
The NHL also preemptively announced that Sidney Crosby will be named first star next week, out of respect for the Penguins star.
But until then:
via i.minus.com
(*err... sorry Stars fans. Guess one guy's great week is another team's bad one.)
