Brian Elliott named NHL’s 2nd Star of the Week

Brian Elliott has been named the NHL's 2nd Star of the Week for the week ending April 7th. Elliott joined Alex Ovechkin (1st star) and Henrik Lundqvist (3rd star) as the league's selections for most influential and most valuable players from the previous seven days. 

Elliott earned the honors after posting a 3-0-0 record along with a 1.45 GAA in three appearances last week. He came in to relieve an injured Jaroslav Halak, defeating Minnesota by a score of 4-1. He followed this effort with a 4-3 shootout victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. Finally, his best performance came on Sunday when he blanked the Detroit Red Wings 1-0.

Let's not jinx things, but the Elliott of 2011-12 finally showed up in 2013. Let's recap. Elliott's first three months of 2013 looked as follows. 

January: 3-1-0, 2.25 GAA, .901 SV% (4 appearances).
February: 0-4-1, 4.67 GAA, .810 SV% (5 appearances).
March: 0-1-0, 4.18 GAA, .857 SV% (2 appearances).
April: 3-0-0, 1.45 GAA, .952 SV% (3 appearances).

What's behind Elliott's resurgence? It might have to do with a mostly successful conditioning trip down to Peoria at the end of March. Since then, Elliott has looked like the Elliott we all know and love.