Prospect Leighton named American Hockey League Player of the Week

RALEIGH, NC—The National Hockey League today announced that Hurricanes center Rod Brind’Amour has been named the league’s second star of the week for the week ending Oct. 28.

Brind'Amour, 37, earned his third career hat trick on Oct. 27 against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum and led the NHL with nine points (5g, 4a) for the week as the Hurricanes won three of their four games. The Carolina captain currently ranks second in the NHL in scoring with 18 points (6g, 12a) in 12 games, and is riding a team-high, nine-game point streak (10/9-10/27: 6g, 10a). Brind’Amour has points in 11 of the Hurricanes’ 12 games this season.

In addition to Brind’Amour’s honor, a Hurricanes prospect received recognition today as goaltender Michael Leighton was named the American Hockey League’s Player of the Week. Leighton, 26, completed the week with a 3-0-0 record, a 0.67 goals-against average and a save percentage of .977, including back-to-back road shutouts at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Hershey. During the Hershey game, Leighton set an Albany franchise record for the longest shutout streak (157:23), passing Ari Ahonen’s streak of 148:13 set in the spring of 2005. The Petrolia, Ontario native helped Albany improve to 5-2-0-1 on the season (11 points), good for second place in the East Division. Leighton currently ranks second in the AHL with a .948 save percentage and fifth in the league with a 1.56 goals-against average. Leighton has 24 shutouts in his AHL career, putting him in a four-way tie for eighth place on the AHL’s all-time shutouts list.