Last season, there was a lot of attention paid to Philadelphia Flyers captain Claude Giroux, and for good reason.

At first, there were his conspicuous struggles, with the elite, young center beginning the season mired in a 15-game goalless drought after suffering an offseason injury to his wrist.

And then it was accolades, as Giroux's stunning second half helped propel his team to the postseason and secure himself a nomination for the Hart Trophy.

This season, could it be another Flyers player who earns the spotlight?

With a two-goal performance in the Flyers' 4-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night, Jakub Voracek is not only pacing his team but is among the league's offensive leaders.

The dynamic, 25-year-old right winger leads the league with 13 assists and is just one point behind Sidney Crosby in the scoring race with 18 points to Crosby's 19. He has recorded 11 of those points in the past six games and has posted six multipoint performances through the first 12 games this season. He is second in the NHL in points per 60 minutes with 4.80, according to hockeyanalysis.com, and he leads the Flyers with a 52.8 percent Corsi rating. His shooting percentage is at 11.9 percent through 12 games.

He dropped 10 pounds before the season began by cutting carbs as part of a painstaking diet ("I love pasta. I love bread") made bearable only by the superb cooking of his offseason training partner, Calgary Flames forward Jiri Hudler's girlfriend.

But, according to Voracek, the key to his recent success is quite simple.

"To be honest, I feel really confident with the puck on my stick," Voracek told ESPN.com in a telephone conversation Wednesday. "I'm a year more experienced, so I'm kind of picking my spots on the ice, but it's only 12 games. I'll be happy if it lasts the whole season, but I don't want to get too carried away."

Modesty seems more appealing to Voracek than star status, which is fitting considering he might be one of the league's most consistently underrated players. The seventh overall pick in 2007 -- by the Columbus Blue Jackets, who traded him to the Flyers as part of the Jeff Carter deal in 2011 -- has posted back-to-back seasons of 20 goals or more. He has finished second in team scoring both seasons. He has been an integral piece to the club's power play.

One Eastern Conference executive who saw Voracek play recently noticed one stark improvement.

"His play away from the puck was way better than I had seen before," he said.

Yet he doesn't receive the same sort of recognition as other players with his production often garner. That might be in part because he plays primarily alongside one of the game's most exciting talents. Voracek and Giroux have forged chemistry through playing together the past three seasons, and Voracek said each member of the duo is becoming more and more adept at anticipating the other's moves.

"Claude's been a top player for the past four years," said Voracek, who was born in Kladno, Czechoslovakia. "He's so good and so strong on the puck and so competitive. Obviously, he's smart with the puck and he draws attention with the puck so that opens up space for [me]."

"Jake is a big body that moves well and protects the puck so well down low he's hard to get it from and when he's able to buy himself sometime like that, he's able to make some great plays with the puck," Flyers defenseman Andrew MacDonald told ESPN.com via text message. "Obviously G [Giroux] gets a lot of attention and well deserved, but we certainly know what Jake brings to our team and he's a huge part of our team."

One NHL coach likened Voracek to a Marian Hossa-type player: "Now Hossa is a more complete 200-foot player, but Voracek is not far behind. [He] has size, speed, strength and is a threat to score all the time, especially with No. 28 feeding him the puck. [Voracek is] also, really good on the power-play. "

Voracek and Giroux have been flanked by Michael Raffl on the left wing for most of this season, though Flyers general manager Ron Hextall announced Tuesday that the young forward is out six weeks with a lower-body injury. That will be a tough blow for both Voracek and Giroux.

"That's a huge loss because [Raffl] was a really important part of our line and our team," Voracek said.

Of course, the Flyers already know plenty about costly losses, considering the repeated hits they have taken to their blue line just one month into the season. Both MacDonald and Braydon Coburn are sidelined with injury -- Hextall was forced to sign unrestricted free agent defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo, who came back from a trial in the KHL -- and this is after the Flyers entered the season with doubts about the depth of their defensive corps.

Still, Voracek feels the team's middling 5-5-2 start is not cause for panic. And when he has to field questions about the perceived parallels with last season, he laughs about how sharp the contrast is between the two situations.

"It's completely different from last year," Voracek said. "Last year, we couldn't do anything offensively. It was a struggle from the first line to the fourth line."

#93 RW

Philadelphia Flyers

2014-15 STATS

GM 12

G5

A13

PTS18

+/-3

PIM 4

This season, the Flyers had a tough start with the 2014-15 schedule. Among their opponents in the first few weeks: the Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, Anaheim Ducks, Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings. Of the first 10 games, the only nonplayoff team the Flyers faced was the notoriously stingy New Jersey Devils, who beat the Flyers 6-4.

The Flyers now enter a bit less rugged terrain. They started their November schedule with the Florida Panthers (though they lost 2-1) and began a four-game homestand against the Oilers. They'll host the Panthers, Colorado Avalanche and banged-up Blue Jackets at Wells Fargo Center before they hit the road again.

Granted, hovering at the .500 mark is "not where we want to be," Voracek explained. However, confusing this with last season's debacle would be a mistake.

"We're playing much better than we were at this time last season," he said.

Different season, different challenges, and the Flyers, who made an early, first-round playoff exit last spring, are looking for different results.

Who knows, maybe even a different player will emerge to steal the spotlight.

No, no, Voracek insists. That still belongs to Giroux.

"He's the captain. He's the team hero. He's going to be here for a long time, and he has been a good player for [a] long time," Voracek said. "Me and him, we're just having fun and trying to win some games."