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Joffrey Lupul #19 of the Toronto Maple Leafs returns to the bench after scoring his third goal of the game at 13:13 of the second period against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on November 2, 2011 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Another day, another big media scrum around Joffrey Lupul as he received a leaguewide award.

This time, Lupul was named the NHL's second star of the week after recording two goals and five assists in the Toronto Maple Leafs three wins to start 2012.

He's now tied for fourth in NHL scoring but continues to answer all the questions by saying all he cares about is that the Leafs have success as a team.

"It's neat to be recognized I guess," Lupul said. "But three wins is the big thing for us this week. Coming off a three game losing streak, to get three wins at home and get us re-energized, that's the big part of the week."

Is he getting tired of talking about all of his success, which is one of the biggest surprises in the NHL this season?

"It's better than one year when I had to talk about how bad my season was," Lupul said, chuckling as he referenced the trying season he spent playing in his hometown of Edmonton. "So it's better than that."

Notebook

- Very quiet day at practice Monday with not a lot of newsworthy updates. Coach Ron Wilson said Tyler Bozak, who skated on his own before practice, remains about a week away from returning from his upper-body injury. Wilson didn't have an update on John-Michael Liles (concussion), which is the usual routine when players have that injury.

- Expect Jonas Gustavson to start on Tuesday against the Buffalo Sabres, as Wilson's "win and you're in" strategy with his goaltenders means The Monster will just keep on playing.

- No other lineup changes are expected, as the lines were identical to Saturday's win over Detroit. It remains to be seen if Jake Gardiner will sit again on the back end.

- Wilson had an interesting quote on having his team look up the standings rather than down: "This isn't about maintaining seventh spot. This is about trying to get home-ice advantage and we're only a couple of wins away from establishing that. Our focus will continue to be on keep climbing the ladder."

- As you can see in this video, captain Dion Phaneuf's puck-shaped facial injury is beginning to go a nice shade of yellow, but the lump is starting to get smaller and he shouldn't have to wear the larger visor for that much longer. "They gave me a pretty hard time about it," Phaneuf said of his teammates cracking various jokes about his face. "They're still giving me a hard time."

- There was a big ping-pong battle just outside the dressing room on Monday as part of a fairly light-hearted day at the rink. Phil Kessel and Phaneuf are the team's top players, with others staying out of the games for now. "I'm not really in the ping-pong right now," Lupul said. "I'm too far behind. Cost me too much money to play with these guys."

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