Most productive player
Ottawa forward Drake Batherson collected the most points with eight. He led the Senators to a 7-2 win over Boston with two goals and one assist, followed by two assists in a 3-7 defeat in Chicago. He added another one against Calgary and most recently a 1+1 performance against Montreal.
The Canadian forward was followed in scoring by generational talent Connor Bedard, who is starting to show more and more why he should be one of the biggest stars of the competition.
First, he warmed up with a goal against Los Angeles, then he exploded with his first NHL hat-trick, which secured Chicago's victory over Ottawa. He also added an assist in the same game.
Goaltender of the week
After Jakub Dobes, Lukas Dostal of Anaheim is the only goalie who managed to pick up three wins this week. The Czech world champion conceded only five goals out of 96 shots, and the last Stanley Cup winners from Florida, the young Detroit team and the experienced New Jersey Devils left the game with their heads down.
Dostal averaged 1.63 goals per game and maintained a 94.8% save percentage. In total, he has already celebrated five wins in the new season, which ranks him tied for sixth in the NHL.
Czech of the week
Tomas Hertl of Vegas may have had a better scoring average (two points per game to be exact), but Colorado mainstay Martin Necas deserves the award this time around.
The native of Nove Mesto na Morave signed a lucrative eight-year contract with the Avalanche before the weekend and immediately began to make an impact.
In his first game after signing, he helped the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 with three points (1+2), scoring after 41 seconds of play.
In the next game, Colorado unexpectedly lost to San Jose 2-3 in overtime, but the Czech forward scored again right at the start of the game, this time after 30 seconds. With two goals in the opening minute he equalled Jan Hlavac's feat from 2000.
Highlight of the week
Fun and work have to take a backseat sometimes and Brad Marchand showed that he is first and foremost a human being. The two-time Stanley Cup champion excused himself from the Florida game so he could help his long-time friend through a tough time.
Instead of a home game against Anaheim, he went to his hometown of Halifax and coached a game for the March and Mill Co. youth team, Hunters. Marchand replaced long-time friend J.P. MacCallum on the bench, whose 10-year-old daughter died of cancer a few days earlier.
The former Boston leader and now one of Florida's most experienced players is co-owner of the Hunters. He wasn't the only one who came to help. Along with him, another draft pick, Andrew Bodnarchuk, took over the practice.
"This gesture reflects the true spirit of the hockey community in Nova Scotia, which is built on compassion, loyalty and connection and extends far beyond the ice. Our thoughts are with J.P., his loved ones and the entire Hunters organization," said Paul Graham, president of the youth hockey league, in a statement.
Stat of the week
Although Canadian defenceman Brent Burns is now 40 years old, it doesn't show in his performance. The rugged defenceman scored his 43rd career game-winning goal in Colorado's 4-2 win over Vegas, moving him into fifth place on the all-time defenceman list behind Paul Coffey.
He also surpassed Bobby Orr's 916 points (262+654) and moved into 11th place in the NHL in defenseman productivity. Burns was drafted as a forward, but spent most of his career as a defenseman. This season, he has already surpassed the 1,500 starts in competition.
From social media
Sidney Crosby had a historic night in Pittsburgh's 6-3 win over St. Louis. The Canadian set a club record for most games with more than one point. He also became the ninth NHL player to reach the 1,700-point mark in the regular season and the fourth to do so with the same club. Including playoffs, he has 1,904.
The legendary centre proves that even at 38 years old he is not an old man. He played four games last week and scored five points (3+2). Overall, he has sixteen points (9+7) this season, making him one of the most productive players in the NHL.
Photo of the week
An unpleasant moment took place in the game between Philadelphia and Toronto, when the visitors' defenceman Chris Tanev was badly injured in the 49th minute. The thirty-five-year-old Maple Leafs defenceman collided with Matvei Mickov, but the experienced defenceman did not expect it and fell face first onto the ice.
Paramedics stabilised the quarterback's head and neck and took him off the ice on a stretcher. It was the first game for Tanev, who had an assist in the game, after a four-game break due to a concussion.
Michkov was given a two-minute penalty for the hit. Tanev was released from a Philadelphia hospital on Sunday and returned to Toronto.
