Photo Credit: Peter Diana/Post-Gazette
The NHL has announced it’s three “Stars of the Month” for the month of October. This is the process the NHL uses to denote it’s most outstanding players of the month, with the first star considered the best.
The first star is awarded to rightwing on the Anaheim Ducks, Corey Perry.
In 12 games, Perry led the League with 10 goals, which helped the Ducks (9-3-0, 18 points) finish October with the top record in the NHL. He started out the season with points in each of his first five outings (5, 2-7), including his sixth career hat trick at his teams season opener October 9th, against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Just 13 days later, he recorded his second hat trick of the 2014-15 season when his team played the Buffalo Sabres, making him the sixth player in the past 29 years to post multiple three-goal games in his team’s first seven contests of one season. He ended the month with multi-point performances against the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 24th, and again on October 31st versus the Dallas Stars. Overall, first star winner Perry found the scoresheet in eight of Anaheim’s 12 October games, including his four multi-point performances. He was the 28th overall selection by the Ducks in the 2003 NHL draft, and to this day, has 274-288–562 in 668 career regular-season games.
The second star is awarded to captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Sidney Crosby.
Captain Sidney Crosby (7-8–15), of the Pittsburgh Penguins, tied for the League, lead with 15 points in nine October games to lift the Penguins(6-2-1, 13 points) to the top spot in the Metropolitan Division. He posted three-point performances consecutively to open the season versus the Anaheim Ducks (2-1–3) on October 9th, and again on October 11th against the Toronto Maple Leafs (1-2–3), which brought him to be the first Penguins player since the 1995-96 season to register three or more points in each of the team’s first two games of one season. Shortly after, on October 18th, he collected his 500th NHL assist against the New York Islanders, making him the sixth-fastest player in League history to reach that milestone (554GP.) He found the scoresheet in seven of Pittsburgh’s nine contests, which include five multi-point efforts. Crosby is a winner of the Hart Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award, and Art Ross Trophy, and has 281-506–787 in 560 career regular-season games.
The third star is awarded to center on the Dallas Stars, Tyler Seguin.
A center of the Dallas Stars, Tyler Seguin (7-8–15), shared the League lead with 15 points to power the team to a 4-2-4 record (12 points) in their 10 October games. Though he was held off of the scoresheet in each of the team’s first two games, he went on to collect points in seven consecutive appearances. Seguin’s highlights include his fifth career hat trick on October 14th against the Columbus Blue Jackets, scoring the game-winning goal with 2.9 seconds remaining in regulation on October 16th against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and a career-high four assists on October 18th versus the Philadelphia Flyers. He finished the month with matching 1-1–2 performances on October 25th at the New York Islanders and again October 28th against the St. Louis Blues, including his 100th career goal. He was the second overall selection in the 2010 NHL Draft and has 220 points in 294 career regular-season games, including 44-55–99 in 91 outings since joining the Stars for the 2013-14 season.
