Most productive player
This time, the honours go to a team rather than an individual. Anaheim won all four of their games, scoring five goals in each, but the offensive trio of Cutter Gauthier (8+2), Mikael Granlund (2+8) and Beckett Sennecke (2+8) made the biggest impact in all four wins. Gauthier also scored hat tricks against Pittsburgh and Vancouver, taking his season total to three.
That outstanding scoring form has helped Anaheim climb to third in the Pacific Division, despite conceding 66 goals, the fourth-most in the entire NHL. The Ducks are also fourth-best in the league with 69 goals scored...
Goaltender of the Week
Connor Hellebuyck could hardly have made a better start to his time with New Jersey. The American goaltender seems to have lifted the Devils to another level. He is still unbeaten in his new colours, shutting out Edmonton and St. Louis during the week before recording his first shutout for the team against Toronto on Sunday.
He made 69 saves and conceded seven goals across the three games, posting a 90.7% save percentage. The win over the Maple Leafs was also the 350th of his NHL career. However, he will miss Tuesday's hotly anticipated clash with Winnipeg.
Highlight of the Week
When Minnesota Wild beat San Jose 4-1 on Friday, they reached the historic milestone of 1,000 NHL wins and set a new record.
The franchise, which joined the league in 2000 and has featured Czech players including Martin Havlat, Marek Zidlicky, Martin Hanzal, Pavel Patera, Ladislav Benysek and Zbynek Michalek, reached the mark in their 1,995th game, faster than any team in history. Philadelphia previously held the record, needing 2,018 games to achieve the feat.
Although they have set the record for wins, the Wild are still waiting for a greater achievement in their 26-year history. They came closest in 2003, when they reached the Conference Finals and finished among the league's top four teams. They have missed the playoffs 10 times.
Even so, Minnesota has a significantly better record than the Columbus Blue Jackets, who joined the league at the same time. The Ohio-based team has just 854 wins and has missed the postseason 19 times.
Another interesting statistic: Minnesota became only the second team in history to play an NHL game without a Canadian player on its roster. In the aforementioned game against the Sharks, for example, the lineup featured nine Americans, four Russians, three Swedes, one Czech, one Finn and one German.
And so far, that has not proved to be a problem. Only one team in the league currently has a better record: the reigning Stanley Cup champions from Carolina.
Wondering which team was the first to do it before Minnesota? It was Pittsburgh, coached by Czech legend Ivan Hlinka, in December 2000. And back then, it happened in exactly two games.
Stat of the Week
Three goaltenders have recorded at least three assists in the 2025/26 season, and Anthony Stolarz of Toronto reached that mark in just six games. His most recent assist came in the 4-2 win over Vancouver. He currently has as many assists as, among others, Alexandr Ovechkin, William Karlsson, Mikael Backlund and Jonathan Marchessault...
From Social Media
As if it were not enough that Montreal have had one of the league's most feared enforcers, Arber Xhekaj, on their roster for five years, his younger brother, Florian, is also gradually working his way into the Canadiens' lineup this season. He is not afraid to drop the gloves either, doing so eight times in the AHL last season. At the highest level, his older brother is keeping an eye on him, and they are learning from each other.
Photo of the Week
Pressure is something every professional athlete at the highest level must learn to handle. David Pastrnak knows what it is like to have everyone in the arena watching him, and he knows how to handle it. Shortly after this photo was taken, he converted a shootout attempt against Vegas to seal Boston's 3-2 win.
