NEW YORK — Winnipeg Jets right-wing Patrik Laine, Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and Tampa Bay Lightning right-wing Nikita Kucherov are the NHL’s three stars of the week.
Laine led the NHL with 11 goals in four games. He started the week with his sixth career hat trick in a 6-3 triumph over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday and capped it with a career-high and franchise-record five goals in an 8-4 victory against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
Laine registered the 57th five-goal performance in NHL history as well as the first since Detroit’s Johan Franzen on Feb. 2, 2011.
Fleury stopped 81 of the 83 shots he faced, going 3-0-0 with a 0.65 goals-against average, .976 save percentage and two shutouts to lift the Golden Knights (12-12-1, 25 points) into third place in the Pacific Division.
Kucherov shared the League lead with seven assists and ranked second overall with nine points in four games to propel the Eastern Conference-leading Lightning to a trio of wins.
The Canadian Press