J.T. Miller named NHL’s second star of the week

The Vancouver Canucks have always known that they have a star forward on their roster, but now the entire league knows it as well.

On Monday morning, the NHL PR department announced that J.T. Miller had been named the league’s second star for the week ending February 27th.

Miller has been on an offensive tear as of late, recording points in seven out of his last eight games, but most of his damage has taken place in the past three contests.

Miller kicked off the week with two assists in a 5-2 win against the basement-dwelling Seattle Kraken on February 21st, the first meeting of the season between the geographical rivals at Rogers Arena.

Miller doubled up his point production just a few days later, notching two goals and two assists en route to Vancouver’s 7-1 beatdown on the Calgary Flames to snap their 10-game winning streak. Miller was all over the ice that evening, registering the primary assist on Bo Horvat’s powerplay goal, while also undressing Dan Vladar on a penalty shot with just seconds left in the middle frame.

Miller also added a powerplay tally of his own, which held up as the game-winning goal, his fifth of the season.

Miller capped off his already impressive week with two more primary helpers during Sunday’s 5-2 win against the New York Rangers, the team that drafted him 15th overall back in 2011.

With the victory on Sunday night, Vancouver was able to establish a perfect week, bringing the club to within three points of the second and final wild card spot in the Western Conference.

The 29-year-old forward was also able to record his third straight multi-assist outing, bringing him halfway to the franchise record help by Henrik Sedin, in addition to extending his personal point streak (four goals, nine assists) to six games dating back to February 12th.

Miller, who still has one year remaining on his five-year, $26.25 million deal that he signed back in June 2018, has easily been one of Vancouver’s best players all season. The former Tampa Bay Lightning forward has amassed a team-high 59 points in 52 games, and currently leads the club in goals (20) and assists (39) and powerplay points (26).

Since being acquired by the Canucks prior to the 2019-20 season, Miller has notched 177 points in 174 games, good for 15th in the entire league during that span. He has also managed to record 69 powerplay points, good for sixth in the entire league over the past three years, putting him ahead of star players such as Patrick Kane, Sidney Crosby and Auston Matthews.

Miller will be looking to keep his point streak alive on Monday night when his team takes on the New Jersey Devils in the second half of their back-to-back. Puck drop is set for 4:30pm PST.

What are your thoughts on Miller’s performance this past week? Make sure to drop a comment below!