Slovak hockey player Juraj Slafkovský was announced as the third star of the past week in the overseas NHL.
In two games, the 21-year-old striker scored three goals and two assists and helped the Montreal Canadiens extend their point streak to five games.
He received the star of the week award in the best league in the world for the first time in his career.
Forward Nikuta Kučerov, who scored four goals and two assists in three games, was announced as the first star of the week. He helped the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 100 percent week and move to 2nd place in the Atlantic Division.
Thirty-two-year-old Kučerov is seventh in NHL scoring after 34 games of the current season with 17 goals and 32 assists (49 points).
The second star of the week award went to Finnish forward Eeli Tolvanen, who recorded a balance of two goals and four assists in three duels. He helped the Seattle Kraken to a four-game winning streak.
Slafkovský confirms the role of a key player for Montreal. He started his sleepy ride the day before Christmas Day, when the Canadiens clearly dominated the ice of the Boston Bruins with a score of 6:2.
The Slovakian winger had a hand in the last two goals – first he charged Nick Suzuki in a power play and then he himself sealed the victory for the guests. During more than 18 minutes on the ice, he managed to give out two hits.
After the Christmas break, the Canadiens played against Tampa Bay, and although Montreal lost 4-5 after separate runs, Slafkovski was the central figure of the match.
VIDEO: Juraj Slafkovski’s two goals against Tampa
With a record of 2+1, he became the second star of the duel, while he collected all his points in the final period:
- With an unfavorable score of 0:3, he found Ivan Demidov, who started the Canadiens chase;
- at 49:16, he took advantage of Oliver Kapanen’s pass;
- just four seconds before the end of regular time, he uncompromisingly sent the match into overtime.
Slafkovský was one of the busiest and most active players of the team (time 20:27), sending five shots at the opponent’s goal and adding one plus point to his statistics.
The Slovak striker is currently experiencing one of the best seasons in the NHL. He already stretched his scoring streak to four matches, in which he scored a famous 8 points (4+4).
In the course of the season so far (as of December 29), he has played 38 matches with a record of 13 goals and 15 assists. He played a total of 238 matches in the pro league, scoring 55 goals and scoring 139 points.
Within the team, he worked his way up to the second place among the scorers, where only Cole Caufield is ahead of him with 18 accurate hits.
The information was brought by the portal nhl.com.
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