NHL's 3 Stars For January

FIRST STAR – CRAIG ANDERSON, G, OTTAWA SENATORS

Anderson finished the month with a 5-0-1 record, ranking first in the League in save percentage (.967) and second in both goals-against average (0.99) and wins. The Park Ridge, Ill., native allowed one goal or fewer in five of his six starts and posted his 20th career shutout in a 4-0 win over the Florida Panthers Jan. 21. Anderson's lone blemish came in a 2-1 shootout defeat against the Pittsburgh Penguins Jan. 27, a game in which he recorded a season-high 33 saves. Now in his 10th NHL season and third with Ottawa, the 31-year-old has a 136-110-31 career record with a 2.75 goals-against average and .914 save percentage in 300 appearances.

SECOND STAR – PATRICK MARLEAU, LW, SAN JOSE SHARKS

Marleau led the NHL with nine goals and ranked second with 14 points as the Sharks completed a perfect 7-0-0 January. The 15-year veteran also led all skaters with five power-play goals and three game-winners. Marleau became the second player in NHL history – and first since Ottawa's Cy Denneny in 1917-18 – to record four consecutive multi-goal games to begin a season, and became the first player in Sharks history to find the back of the net in each of the team's first five games of a season. The 33-year-old Aneroid, Sask., native has 396-448—844 in 1,124 career games, all with San Jose.

THIRD STAR – THOMAS VANEK, LW, BUFFALO SABRES

Vanek led all skaters with 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in six contests, buoyed by a pair of five-point games. The Vienna, Austria, native opened the season with two goals and three assists in a 5-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers Jan. 20 and closed the month with his eighth career hat trick and two helpers in a 7-4 triumph at the Boston Bruins Jan. 31. Vanek is the first NHL player to score five or more points twice in his team's first seven games of a season since Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux in 1992-93. Vanek also is the first Sabre with at least two five-point games in one season since 1992-93, when Pat LaFontaine had six such outings and Alexander Mogilny had three. Now in his eighth NHL season, the 29-year-old has 236-226—462 in 553 career games