Johnny Gaudreau named NHL’s first star of the week

Johnny Gaudreau is the greatest. Of course, we all know that, but now it’s the NHL’s turn to recognize him.

Nobody was better than Johnny at the game of hockey this past week. He did score five goals in the two games he played, after all, so… duh?

It should go without saying nobody scored more than Johnny Gaudreau this past week. Actually, this is something that happened exactly one year ago as well, almost right down to the letter.

On Dec. 22, 2014, Gaudreau scored the first hat trick of his career. On Dec. 22, 2015, he scored the third hat trick of his career.

On Dec. 27, 2014, Gaudreau scored two goals against the Oilers. On Dec. 27, 2015, Gaudreau scored two goals against the Oilers.

Spooky, right? Hopefully that’s where the similarities stop, because on Dec. 29, 2014, Gaudreau only registered a single assist. And, well, we simply expect more of him now. That’s what comes with the territory when you have the six most points in the entire NHL, and are leading your own team in scoring by five goals (good week, Johnny) and 13 points.

There were a couple of notable differences between the years, though. This year, Gaudreau’s hat trick included an empty net goal, the first of his three hat tricks (all of which have come in a December thus far) to have one of those. 

As for the goals against the Oilers, last year, Gaudreau scored two goals in 16 seconds. This year, his goals came 16 minutes apart, so it wasn’t as impressive in that sense; however, they were crucial to the Flames’ coming back from two-goal deficits, so they were still pretty exciting.

At least now we know what to expect of Gaudreau next Christmas: a new, yearly tradition of five goals come the holidays. Hopefully it’s one he can keep building on.