Today the Professional Women’s Hockey League announced their Three Stars of the Week for the week of March 24th through 30th.
First Star – Laura Stacey (F – MON)
Stacey became just the fifth player in PWHL history to record four points in a game when she collected two goals and two assists in Montréal’s 4-1 victory at Minnesota Wednesday. Her first multiple-goal game of the season earns her “3 Stars of the Week” recognition for the third time in five weeks and place her alone in second in the PWHL 3 Stars of the Week standings. The four points marked her best single game of the season, surpassing the 1-2—3 she scored against Toronto Jan. 30. Both of Stacey’s assists set up goals by 3 Stars of the Week standings leader Marie-Philip Poulin; the two have combined on 10 goals this season, the third most by any duo in the PWHL. Stacey had her fourth power-play goal of the season, tied with five others for the league lead, and her third game-winning goal. Each of those scores pushed Stacey past last season’s total in those categories, and the four-point game increased her season’s total to 10-10—20 – surpassing last season’s 10-8–18. With 98 shots on goal, Stacey leads the PWHL and her plus-11 rating is tied for third behind Toronto’s Hannah Miller (+13) and Poulin (+15).
Second Star – Tereza Vanišová (F – OTT)
Vanišová followed last week’s First Star of the Week honors with a history-making performance Saturday in Ottawa’s 2-1 Takeover Tour triumph over Boston at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. Before 8,578 fans, a record crowd for professional women’s hockey in Missouri, Vanišová scored twice in 32 seconds – the fastest two goals by the same player in PWHL history. By scoring at 16:26 and 16:58 of the third period, Vanišová helped the Charge rally for a hugely important victory to remain in the thick of the playoff hunt entering Wednesday’s critical game in Boston. Her performance knocked 17 seconds off the prior mark for the two fastest goals: Boston’s Susanna Tapani scored twice in 49 seconds (at 16:43 and 17:32 of the third period at Minnesota Jan. 2, a game the Frost won, 4-3, in overtime). Vanišová also had an assist in Tuesday’s 6-3 loss to the Sirens: she set up Brianne Jenner for the goal that gave the Charge a 3-0 lead with 4:02 left in the second period before New York roared back with six consecutive scores in the third. With 15-5—20, Vanišová has nearly doubled last season’s point total (2-10—12 with Montréal and Ottawa). She leads Ottawa in goals and points and is tied with Stacey for 10th overall among the PWHL’s scoring leaders.
Third Star – Daryl Watts (F – TOR)
Watts scored half of her team’s six goals last week, collecting two in Toronto’s 4-2 victory at Boston Wednesday and one in Sunday’s 5-2 loss at Minnesota. The Boston contest marked Watts’ third game of two goals this season; only Poulin, with four, has more. One of her goals at Boston was scored on the power play – Watts’ fourth such goal of the season, tied with five others for the PWHL lead. With eight power-play assists, Watts is third in the league, behind teammates Miller (9) and Renata Fast (11), and her 93 shots trails only the 95 by Boston’s Hilary Knight and the 98 by Stacey. On Sunday, Watts pulled the Sceptres within 4-2 with 12:25 remaining in regulation before Minnesota’s Taylor Heise scored her second goal of the game to crush the comeback with 5:44 to play. Watts has points in five of her past six games, collecting 5-3—8 and 20 shots in that span, and a league-leading eight multi-point games for the season.
*All Graphics and Pictures courtesy of the PWHL.
*Player Profiles written by PWHL Staff.
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