GAUDREAU, SMITH NAMED NHL STARS OF THE WEEK

CALGARY -Heading into their bye week, the spotlight is on the Flames.
Not only is Calgary riding a seven-game win streak, keeping them undefeated in 2018 and moving them up to second in the Pacific Division, but players are earning plaudits from the league for their individual efforts this month.
Johnny Gaudreau has been named the NHL's First Star Of The Week for Jan. 8-14 after leading the league with eight points in four games and Mike Smith has earned Second Star honours after posting three wins on the road.

Gaudreau's offensive outburst now has him sitting second in the NHL scoring race with 15 goals and 54 points in 45 games, trailing leader Nikita Kucherov by just six points. The 24-year-old is averaging 1.20 points-per-game this season, which ranks him seventh in the NHL, and he has registered 17 powerplay points, which places him 15th in the NHL in that regard. Gaudreau's possession numbers have been strong this season as well. His five-on-five Corsi-For percentage is sitting at 53.45%, which ranks him sixth amongst Flames skaters.
Smith led all goaltenders last week with three wins and posted a 1.32 GAA and a .963 save percentage during that stretch. The 35-year-old faced more shots than any other netminder last week as well, stopping 104 of 108. In his first season with the Flames, Smith has posted a 20-13-3 record in the first half of the year. Among goaltenders with 20+ starts, Smith's 2.46 GAA sits eighth in the league and his .924 save percentage is fourth in the NHL.
Gaudreau, Smith and the Flames are back in action on Saturday when they host the Winnipeg Jets at 1:00 p.m. MT.