The NHL released its Three Stars for last week, with Colorado Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen leading the way. The big winger had three goals and four assists in just two games, continuing an incredible stretch. Rantanen has now recorded 14 points in his last five games and is tied for fourth in the league scoring race (still nine points behind Connor McDavid, who is running away with it). At this pace, Rantanen should record the first 100+ point season of his career if he can stay relatively healthy. He had 92 last season in 75 games.
Second and third went to Linus Ullmark of the Boston Bruins and Adam Fox of the New York Rangers, who each had their own impressive weeks. Ullmark stopped almost everything he saw en route to a 3-0 week with a .956 save percentage, while Fox notched eight points in four games. The 2021 Norris Trophy winner is now just three points behind Erik Karlsson for first among defenseman scoring.
- Seattle Kraken defenseman Carson Soucy will have to pay up a little bit for his decision to punch Pierre-Luc Dubois in the back of the head, as the league issued him a $2,500 fine for roughing. It should be noted that this was not the maximum allowable, meaning it didn’t really come close to a suspension in the eyes of the league. Still, it can be taken into account for future supplementary discipline.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs may be dealing with injuries to their defense corps, but the goaltenders are getting healthy. Matt Murray is expected to start for the team on Tuesday, while Ilya Samsonov was on the ice with the team this morning. Even Joseph Woll, who has been out for the entire season so far, is expected to join the Toronto Marlies for practice tomorrow according to David Alter of Sports Illustrated. Suddenly, the Maple Leafs may have their entire goaltending group healthy all at once, after being forced to sign Keith Petruzzelli to an NHL deal just to dress a backup recently.