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Lehtonen, Nyquist, Sekera named NHL’s three stars of the week

Kari Lehtonen

Kari Lehtonen #32 of the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on October 3, 2013 in Dallas, Texas. (October 2, 2013 - Source: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images North America)

Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen, Detroit forward Gustav Nyquist and Carolina defenseman Andrej Sekera were named the NHL’s three stars of the week on Monday.

Lehtonen, the first star, went 3-1-0 with a 1.25 GAA and .944 save percentage as the Stars rebounded from an awful start in January to move within six points of a playoff spot. The highlights of Lehtonen’s week were two shutouts -- a 4-0 blanking of Minnesota and a 3-0 clean sheet against Pittsburgh -- and his 24 saves in a 7-1 whipping of Toronto. Of note, Lehtonen now has 25 shutouts in a Dallas uniform, moving him into third on the list behind Marty Turco and Ed Belfour, who posted 40 and 27 shutouts respectively since the franchise moved to Texas in 1993.

Nyquist, the second star, scored six points in four games as Detroit picked up five of a possible eight points. Nyquist’s big games came in a 5-4 shootout win over Chicago (one goal, one assist) and a 4-1 win over Montreal (also 1G-1A). He has been solid throughout the season, scoring nine goals and 17 points in 27 games.

Sekera, the third star, scored six points and recorded a plus-8 rating as Carolina won three straight games and got within a point of third place in the Metropolitan Division. The highlight of Sekera’s week came during a 5-3 win over Buffalo, as he scored a career-high three points (1G, 2A) and scored his first game-winning goal in nearly five years. The 27-year-old Slovak -- who was named to his country’s Olympic team for Sochi -- now all Hurricanes blueliners in goals (8), assists (22) and points (30) this year.