Brandon Montour is starting his week with some well-deserved recognition.
After helping lead the Florida Panthers to a perfect 3-0-0 week, the smooth-skating defenseman was named the NHL’s Second Star of the Week for the week ending March 3, the NHL announced on Monday.
The other stars were Nashville's Roman Josi (First Star) and Winnipeg's Josh Morrissey (Third Star).
“It’s nice to be recognized like that,” Montour said after Monday's morning skate at Madison Square Garden. “Again, my mindset is to play the best hockey I can come the end of the year here. We have 21 games left and I’m striving to be better than I was last week, better than I was yesterday and just continue to do that all the way into the playoffs."
Joining Sam Reinhart, Sergei Bobrovsky and Matthew Tkachuk as Panthers that have earned Star of the Week honors from the NHL this season, Montour racked up six points (two goals, four assists) in three games last week, both goals being game-winners.
After posting a one goal and two assists in a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday -- including netting the game-winning goal on the power play in the third period -- Montour saw a team-high 26:35 of ice time in a 4-3 shootout win over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Putting a bow on a productive week, Montour opened the scoring and later added two assists to help the Panthers kick off their three-game road trip with a 4-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
