Player of the Week - March 15, 2010

The Hockey News player of the week for the period of March 8-14, 2010, is Vancouver Canucks right winger Mikael Samuelsson.

Entering the week on a three-game goal scoring streak, Samuelsson started earning time on the top line with fellow Swedes Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

In the first game, a 6-4 win in Colorado, Samuelsson scored his first hat trick as a Canucks and added an assists in 20:34 of ice time, which was the sixth time he had played 20 minutes this season. Samuelsson was also a plus-3 and recorded six shots on net.

The following night Vancouver played its last game of the 14-game road trip it was on since the end of January. In a 4-3 shootout loss, Samuelsson notched a goal and an assist with five shots in 17:50 of ice time.

Returning home to play Ottawa Saturday night, Samuelsson and the Canucks dominated the Senators 5-1. Samuelsson extended his goal-scoring streak to six games, tickling the twine twice and adding another assist in 19:01 of ice time.

And finally, in a 3-1 win over Calgary on Sunday, Samuelsson saw his streak end, but he still managed to garner a helper and extend his points streak to seven games.

In all, Samuelsson managed 10 points in four games on the week and has 15 points in his past 10 games. The Canucks have won six of eight games this month and have earned at least a point in all but one match.

With 89 points, the Canucks lead the Avalanche for the division lead by five points and sit third in the Conference.

Samuelsson now has 30 goals and 53 points in 69 games this season, already the best season of his career.