Staal named NHL's First Star of the Week

The NHL announced today that Minnesota Wild forward Eric Staal was named First Star of the Week for the week of Jan. 19-25. Staal ranked T-1st in the NHL with four goals and seven points last week tallying a point in all four games as the Wild went 4-0-0 and moved into third place in the Central Division.

He recorded an assist in a 5-3 win at the New York Islanders on Monday, tallied a goal in a 4-2 win at the New Jersey Devils on Thursday (900th point of his career, 9th active player to reach milestone), notched a season-high four points (2+2) including the GWG in a 4-1 win at the New York Rangers and tallied a goal in Sunday's 3-2 overtime win against the Sharks.

Staal leads the Wild in goals (T-7th in NHL), PPG (8), points (T-20th in NHL), shots, multi-point games (15) and takeaways (41) and ranks 3rd in assists.
He is the third Wild player to earn Star of the Week honors this season, joining Jason Zucker (First Star, 11/13/17) and Devan Dubnyk (Third Star, 2/12/18).
It's the second time Staal will be named a Star of the Week with the Wild, his first time as First Star. He was previously named Third Star on Dec. 19, 2016. It's the 12th time a Wild player has been named the NHL's First Star of the Week.