Former Flames sniper Toffoli named NHL's first star of the week

Tyler Toffoli scored six goals in his last four games and was named the NHL’s first star of the week.

The Calgary Flames have scored six goals in their last five games, all regulation-time losses.

Talk about kicking a franchise and its fan base when they are down.

Toffoli — who the Flames traded to the New Jersey Devils last summer, for which they received Yegor Sharangovich and a third-round draft pick used to select Aydar Suniev — posted consecutive three-point games on back-to-back nights for the Devils, including his fifth career hat trick.

The seven goals he has scored in New Jersey’s first eight games of the season is the most in that time frame for any new player in franchise history, topping the old mark set by a few players, among them Flames Hall-of-Fame star Lanny McDonald (who scored six goals in his first eight games for the Colorado Rockies).

In the long term, the trade may work out just fine for the Flames, but it has been a rough start for Sharangovich, who has one goal and one assist in nine games while trying to find his place in the lineup and mainly been on the fourth line.

As for Suniev, the 18-year-old left wing has scored three goals and added an assist in six games for the University of Massachusetts Amherst in his freshman season.

Suniev did score a heck of a goal on Saturday.