Price, Vlasic and Read win weekly NHL honors

NEW YORK – Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price, San Jose Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Philadelphia Flyers right wing Matt Read have been named the NHL’s ‘Three Stars’ for the week ending November 20.
 
FIRST STAR — CAREY PRICE, G, MONTREAL CANADIENS
Price captured NHL First Star honors for the second time this season, posting a 2-0-1 record with a 0.65 goals-against average, .973 save percentage and two shutouts. Price began the week by stopping 29 of 32 shots in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres on November 14. He stopped 25 shots for his first shutout of the season and picked up an assist in a 4-0 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes November 16 and posted his second consecutive shutout with 17 saves in a 4-0 win over the New York Rangers November 19. Price blanked a Rangers club that had won seven consecutive games and outscored the opposition 27-11 in that span. Playing in his fifth NHL season, the fifth overall selection in the 2005 NHL Draft improved his career record to 106-82-7, 12th on the Canadiens’ all-time list for goaltender victories. He needs four wins to tie Rogie Vachon for 11th place all-time and 11 wins to tie Charlie Hodge for 10th place.
 
SECOND STAR — MARC-EDOUARD VLASIC, D, SAN JOSE SHARKS
Vlasic tied for the League scoring lead last week with seven points (one goal, six assists) and posted a +7 rating as the Sharks (12-5-1) won three consecutive games and took the Pacific Division lead. Vlasic recorded the first four-point game in his six-year NHL career, tallying the game-winning goal, three assists and a career-high +5 rating in a 5-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings November 17. He closed the week with three assists and a +2 rating in a 4-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche November 20. The 24-year-old Montreal native improved his team-leading plus-minus rating to +11 and increased his season points total to 11 (two goals, nine assists), on pace to easily surpass his career high of 36 points set in 2008-09.
 
THIRD STAR — MATT READ, RW, PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
Read shared the League goal-scoring lead last week, tallying four times as the Flyers (11-5-3) won two of three starts. Read scored in each game, beginning with a goal and an assist in a 5-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes November 14. He notched the game-winning goal with 18.6 seconds remaining in

regulation time in the Flyers’ 2-1 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes November 17 and closed the week by tallying two goals in a career-high 21:37 of ice time in a 6-4 loss to the Winnipeg Jets November 19. Signed as a free agent by Philadelphia on March 24, 2011 following four standout seasons at Bemidji State, Read tops all NHL rookies in goals (eight) and ranks fourth in points (13).
  Contact Lewis.Bleiman@prohockeynews.com