Josi Named NHL’s First Star Of The Week: ‘He’s Taken It To Another Level’

Those who said Nashville Predators captain Roman Josi was not pulling his own weight just a few shorts weeks ago sure look foolish now.

The 33-year-old defenseman has been playing at a Norris Trophy-level since the new year, and he was just named the NHL First Star of the Week for the dominant four-game run he had over the last seven days in which he notched three goals and seven points in four games.

“He’s taken [his game] to another level,” Predators head coach Andrew Brunette said. “He’s found another gear. He’s been great all year, but to see him rise up this time of year is pretty special. … He’s been in big games, he’s been in finals — he knows when to turn it up a notch. He’s obviously our captain for a reason. He understands the magnitude of the situation right now and he’s been great.”

Josi scored goals in three straight wins over Anaheim, Ottawa and Minnesota, including a two-goal outing against the Senators, and he added an assist in a 5-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche Saturday at Bridgestone Arena.

His two-goal performance against Ottawa was the 18th multi-goal game of Josi’s career, tying him with Viktor Arvidsson for the fourth-most in franchise history behind Filip Forsberg (39), David Legwand (24) and Craig Smith (20).

Josi now has 15 multi-point games this season and 158 for his career. Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang (164) and Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman (163) are the only active defensemen with more while playing for one franchise.

Among all NHL defensemen, Josi leads the league in goals (15), power-play goals (7) and shots (198), and he ranks third in game-winning goals (3), fourth in points (61) and fifth in both assists (46) and power-play points (24).

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