Shea Weber: The OTF Hero Of The Week

In a week filled with success for the Nashville Predators, including three wins on home ice, one player stood out from the pack to lead the way to victory. Yes, your captain, Shea Weber, is the latest OTF Hero Of The Week.

Shea Weber

#6 / Defenseman / Nashville Predators

Height: 6-4

Weight: 232

Born: Aug 14, 1985

Follow after the jump as we review just some of the highlights of The Captain's big week...

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On Tuesday night against Calgary, Shea soaked up a typical night's work of 28:20 in ice time, firing four shots on goal and breaking even in a tight 2-1 victory.

It was on Thursday night in a home game vs. Detroit that the Captain really cashed in. After Nicklas Lidstrom, the gold standard of NHL defensemen over the last 20 years, gave the Red Wings a 3-1 lead with a shot from the point, Weber answered back the next period with a power play blast from almost the same spot on the ice, tying the game with just minutes remaining:

Then, less than 3 minutes later, he put the Preds ahead to stay with a fortunate knuckler that found its way home. It was a perfect example of a more mature Shea throwing the puck towards the net, rather than try and wind up for the big blast every time:

Pretty? No, but good things happen when you put the puck on thet net. That's my motto, and I'm sticking to it.

Of course, Weber's work wasn't done, as he helped the Preds withstand a furious assault by the St. Louis Blues Saturday night. After helping the team kill off a penalty in the 3rd period, Shea took a pass from Mike Fisher at the blueline and had all the time in the world to wind up for a real howitzer. Again, however, he passed up the big shot to instead send a pass over to Martin Erat for an easy tap-in to give the Preds a 1-0 lead.

So, during a week in which the Preds won all 3 games and the slimmest of margins and scored only 8 goals, Weber played a huge role in 3 of them. Perhaps most interestingly, all three played out in different manners, showing that The Captain does a lot more than just launch bombs from the point.