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NHL names Alex Ovechkin First Star of the Month for January

By Ian Oland

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February 1, 2020 1:50 pm

Alex Ovechkin was named the NHL’s First Star of the Month for January, Saturday afternoon.

Ovechkin is currently having one of the best stretches of his NHL career. The Russian machine scored 13 goals in 10 January games — the most in the NHL — including consecutive hat tricks going into the Capitals’ bye week. Ovi also had 15 points which ranked fifth in the NHL during that span.

This is the second time this season a Capitals player has won NHL’s First Start of the Month honors. John Carlson was named the NHL’s first star of October.

More from the NHL:

NEW YORK (Feb. 1, 2020) – Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin, Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl and Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy have been named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the month of January.

FIRST STAR – ALEX OVECHKIN, LW, WASHINGTON CAPITALS

Ovechkin led the NHL in goals (13) and ranked fifth in points (15) in January as he surpassed four Hockey Hall of Fame members on the NHL’s all-time goals list to move within five goals of 700 in his career and help the Capitals (35-12-5, 75 points) maintain their position as the League’s No. 1 team for a second straight month. The 34-year-old recorded three straight multi-goal games for the first time in his career (Jan. 13-18) and also netted 11 goals in five games for the first time (Jan. 13-31). He scored a hat trick on both Jan. 16 and Jan. 18 to become the third player in NHL history – and just the second in the past 98 years – to record consecutive hat tricks three times in his career, joining Wayne Gretzky (3x) and Joe Malone (4x). A total of five multi-goal games in January helped him score 13 or more goals in a calendar month for the first time since April 2013 and fifth time in his career. On track to become the second-fastest player in NHL history to reach the 700-goal mark (behind Gretzky), Ovechkin begins February with a share of the League lead in goals in 2019-20 (37). The eight-time Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy winner needs three goals to join Gretzky (12) as the second player to hit the 40-goal mark in 11 seasons.

SECOND STAR – LEON DRAISAITL, C, EDMONTON OILERS

Draisaitl led the NHL with 1.89 points-per-game in January (min. 3 GP), tallying 6-11—17 in nine games to boost his 2019-20 totals to 29-50—79 (51 GP), overtaking teammate Connor McDavid (27-50—77 in 51 GP) for the NHL lead in points and helping the Oilers (27-18-6, 60 points) post the best points percentage among Pacific Division clubs last month (.778). Draisaitl recorded at least one point in all nine games in January to extend his overall point streak to 10 contests dating to New Year’s Eve (7-11—18), his second-longest run of the season (13 GP from Oct. 24-Nov. 19). The 24-year-old is the first Oilers player in 31 years to record multiple double-digit point streaks in a single season (Jimmy Carson in 1988-89). A native of Cologne, Germany, Draisaitl paces all players with 24 multi-point games in 2019-20 (including seven in January) as he aims to become the first German player to lead the League in points at the end of a season.

THIRD STAR – ANDREI VASILEVSKIY, G, TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

Vasilevskiy led the NHL in wins (9), goals-against average (1.58) and save percentage (.948; tied), posting a 9-0-1 record across 10 games to help the Lightning (31-15-5, 67 points) register a League-high 10 wins in January (10-2-1; .808 P%) to move within five points of first place in the Atlantic Division. Vasilevskiy allowed two or fewer goals in seven of ten appearances including the fourth set of back-to-back shutouts of his career (Jan. 9 and Jan. 11). The 25-year-old became the eighth goaltender in NHL history to record zero regulation losses in a calendar month multiple times in his career (min. 10 GP in each; 9-0-2 in February 2019). A native of Tyumen, Russia, Vasilevskiy leads the NHL with 26 wins in 2019-20 – after topping the League with 39 victories last season – and carries an active 15-game point streak into February (13-0-2 dating to Dec. 17). His 15-game point streak is the second-longest in franchise history (Nikolai Khabibulin: 12-0-4 from Feb. 15 – April 2, 2003) and third-longest in the NHL over the past five seasons (Tuukka Rask: 19 GP in 2017-18 and Sergei Bobrovsky: 16 GP in 2016-17).

Headline photo courtesy of NHL

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