Sabres winger Thomas Vanek put together three more points Sunday against Florida and the league's white-hot leading scorer was named the NHL's First Star of the Week today (The other stars were Pittsburgh's Chris Kunitz and Vancouver's Roberto Luongo).
Vanek had five goals and five assists in just four games while compiling a plus-6 rating. For the season, he leads the league with 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) in eight games. Steven Stamkos of Tampa Bay is next with 16.
Asked his thoughts on the honor today, Vanek said, "I don't have too many. Our line is going well but we're not producing wins so that's about it. I think I found two guys I feel real comfortable with. The passes we make and the shots that we take, a lot of them go in. But again, it doesn't matter. You do well and you lose games, it doesn't feel good."
Coach Lindy Ruff is obviously loving the way the line of Vanek, Cody Hodgson and Jason Pominville has combined for 41 points thus far. The problem? No other Sabre has more than two goals or five points.
"We have something special that we have a line that, as they say in Spanish, is 'en fuego,' " said Ruff. "Everybody else would be jealous of that line right now. But now we don't have the secondary so now we're jealous of the secondary around the league when the league is looking and going, 'Holy man, they got a line that's as hot as any line in the league.'
"You love having that. That line has so much confidence and makes so many plays and is playing so well together, now we've got to find the other side
again."
Click below to hear audio from Vanek on the award -- he's not impressed -- and the current sad state of the Sabres.
Thomas Vanek
(Vanek photo: James P. McCoy/Buffalo News)
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Lindy Ruff | Statistics | Thomas Vanek
