NHL Weekly: Russian stars Vasilevskiy, Malkin & Kaprizov steal the headlines
Most productive player
The strength of Dallas lies in their depth of talent, which was demonstrated this time by Mason Marchment. The versatile forward dominated Pittsburgh with five points (1+4) and two against both Boston (2+0) and Minnesota (1+1).
Thanks to him, the Texan club won all those games. Only Matt Duchene is ahead of him in scoring at the Stars. When Marchment scores, Dallas are 7-0-0 this season.
Goaltender of the week
While Dallas' Jake Oettinger and Seattle's Joey Daccord had three wins and outstanding numbers, the star was Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Russian stopped a rampant Winnipeg, against whom he conceded once but not a single goal against a strong New Jersey. What's more, he saved 52 shots in those matches.
But the main thing was that he reached the 300-win mark, which he needed only 490 games to claim. No goalie in history has ever been this fast before. The record was previously held by Jacques Plante, who needed thirty more games for the same amount of wins.
Highlight of the week
Who is the best hockey player in this generation is probably not even up for debate. Connor McDavid reached another milestone this season. First, symbolically as a player wearing the number 99, he reached the 999-point mark in the NHL and then surpassed it.
That happened in his 659th game and the Edmonton captain ranks fourth in history, with only Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Mike Bossy having passed the mark faster.
The moment occurred on Thursday during a 3-2 win over Nashville, to which the Canadian contributed a goal and an assist. It was the 1-1 shot that marked his 1,000th point.
"To experience this and be a part of it is amazing. Plus I've seen him grow up, I've been here with him since he was 18. Great moment, he's a legend," teammate Leon Draisaitl told NHL.com after the game.
Stat of the week
Just sixteen games were enough for Kirill Kaprizov to climb to the 30-point mark in 2024/25, as well as the 20-assist mark. Both are new club records for the Wild. The fastest overseas player to reach thirty points in a season was Jaromir Jagr way back in 1995/96.
The Minnesota star, by the way, is currently on a five-game point streak and still tops the league in scoring.
Social media highlight
Pittsburgh may not be having a good season so far, but Evgeni Malkin still holds the point-per-game record anyway. The Russian hockey player has already reached the 500-goal mark in the NHL and received a nice gift from his teammates.
Thanks to the Penguins, he will go see the Champions League final in 2025. What a gift!
Photo of the week
Players aren't the only ones who are madly getting ready to perform. This is how a fan of the visiting team, decked out in a Connor Bedard jersey, prepared for the action ahead of Chicago's game in Vancouver.
His hero comes from the town. However, he would have been disappointed as the Canucks won the game 4-1 and downed the Blackhawks for the ninth time in a row.
Ladislav Smid's take
"Boston are experiencing a slower start to the season and are unexpectedly only eighth in the Eastern Conference, but I continue to believe in the Bruins. Right now, they're just not sticking and the criticism is coming from all sides.
"They don't have it easy, every year big things are expected from such a huge club but a lot has changed over the summer. Last season - the first without Patrice Bergeron - was a success and everyone was positive after that.
"Every team goes through a crisis in a season, now it will be up to them to show how strong they really are and how they can get out of it as soon as possible. The media has been slamming David Pastrnak a lot for not being the same as in previous years, but he's still picking up points for me.
"Boston just needs to catch themselves, get through a game or two properly and hope they can get out of the rut. I believe they have the experienced players, hardened by many playoff games, to do it."
