Halak named second star of the week

Blues' netminder helped Blues to pair

of wins over last two Stanley Cup champs

By LOUIE KORAC
HAZELWOOD, Mo. -- Jaroslav Halak wasted little time picking up a series of firsts with the Blues.

The Blues' netminder collected his first shutout in a St. Louis sweater during Saturday's 1-0 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, then picked up his first weekly NHL award in a Blues uniform after the league named the Bratislava, Slovakia native the second star of the week.

Halak, who is 4-1-1 on the season with a 1.81 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage, was 2-0-1 last week with back-to-back wins over Chicago and Pittsburgh and an overtime loss to the Blackhawks as well.

Halak, who was acquired over the summer from the Montreal Canadiens via trade for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz, had a 1.61 GAA and .944 save percentage in the three games last week.

"It's a nice award, but I think we did a great job as a team," Halak said, deflecting credit to everyone on the squad. "It's a team effort and it's really nice when I get an honor like that ... but I would say that everybody in this locker room would deserve it."

Halak, who is 4-0-0 at home with a 0.99 goals-against average and .960 save percentage at Scottrade Center this season, continues to get better acclimated with his teammates. But in the meantime, the Blues have established a franchise-best 10-game home winning streak.

"I think everybody is still getting used to me and I'm getting used to the guys," Halak said. "It's going to take a little while before we will know what I'm going to do with the puck or what they want me to do with the puck. We're just trying to find what's best for everybody."

Calgary's Rene Bourque was named the first star and Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos was the third star.