Plekanec, Kuemper, Crosby earn NHL weekly honors

New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) – Montreal Canadiens forward Tomas Plekanec, Minnesota Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper and Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby have been selected as the NHL’s top players for the first week of the 2014-15 campaign.

Plekanec gained First Star honors by tying for the league lead with four goals and recording five points as the Canadiens finished 3-0-0 to begin the year. He tallied twice — including the winner inside of a minute remaining — in a season-commencing 4-3 win at Toronto, picked up his club’s lone shootout goal in a 2-1 win over the Capitals and added a score and assist in Montreal’s 4-3 shootout decision in Philadelphia.

Kuemper received the Second Star after stopping all 46 pucks he faced over the first two games of the season, back-to-back shutout victories over the Colorado Avalanche. Minnesota became the fifth team since 1943 to begin a season blanking opponents twice.

Crosby earned the Third Star by recording back-to-back three-point performances to open the season, as the Penguins won both of their contests last week. In a 6-4 home win over Anaheim last Thursday, he totaled two goals and one assist, then reversed those numbers in a 5-2 road win against the Leafs on Saturday.

Categorized in: NHL