Minnesota Wild’s Jason Pominville Named NHL’s 1st Star of the Week

Nov 1, 2013; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Minnesota Wild forward Jason Pominville (29) celebrates his goal during the second period against the Montreal Canadiens at Xcel Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY SportsThe National Hockey League announced their “Three Stars” from last week. In addition to goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (3-0-0 record, 1.67 goals against average and .940 save percentage) and forward Jason Chimera (two goals and four assists for six points in three games), Minnesota Wild right winger Jason Pominville was named to the list, beating them out for No. 1 Star with four goals and two assists for six points.

“Pommer”, last year’s trade deadline acquisition by Minnesota, has scored in four consecutive games–six goals and two assists for eight points over that span–making it his longest goal-scoring streak since November of 2008. He would notch four goals and two assists in four games from November 12th-19th. Pominville is currently tied for third in the league with 10 goals and leads Minnesota with 12 points, three game-winning goals and a plus-6 rating in 15 games. He doesn’t quite do it completely by himself, however.

When problems have arisen in Minnesota–Dany Heatley’s scoring drought and injuries to Charlie Coyle, Jonas Brodin and Keith Ballard–the second line of Pominville, Mikael Granlund and Nino Niederreiter has been white hot, combining for eight goals and 10 assists for 18 points in the past four games. In fact, Minnesota’s tremendous trio (nicknamed the “Graninoville” line) currently occupies three of the top four spots in team scoring. Granlund (one goal and 10 assists) is tied with top line left wing Zach Parise (six goals, five assists) for second in team scoring with 11 points, and Niederreiter (three goals, six assists) is right behind them with nine.

There’s no question the Graninoville line has been among the league’s best highlight-reel lines so far this season.

Whether it’s this:

Or this:

Or even this:

They’re getting the job done, and Wild fans couldn’t be any happier. Could we be catching a glimpse of a new Golden Age in Minnesota Wild hockey history? It’s quite possible. It might be too early to say this, but…Vanek who?