Martin St. Louis (1 A, 2 PIM, +3) was supposed to help continued to struggle for the blue shirts, but managed to tally his third point in nine games as a Ranger. This is not the scoring boost that Rangers GM Glen Sather was hoping for when he moved Ryan Callahan to the Bolts for the veteran scoring monster. Cally, on the other hand, has four points in six games for Tampa.
Anton Khudobin (1 GA, 46 SV, W) was put right back in net after taking a 2-1 loss and did not disappoint pushing 46 of 47 shots away for a 3-1 victory. Is there any doubt that Khudobin is the guy for the Canes? The only place there might be doubt is the Canes’ front office, but judging by the two-year deal they inked Khudobin to recently, I’d say that concept is fading fast. Cam Ward had an opportunity to take his starting job back, but he failed to do that like he has doing, well, mostly anything this season, and after this game the starters gig should be his and his alone for the next 12 games.
Gustav Nyquist (2 G, 6 SOG, +1) is really the only thing keeping the Wings from tipping completely over and missing the playoffs for the first time in 22 years. He has three goals in his last two games and that gives in 35 points in 43 games since his call up earlier this year. Can Nyquist really be the only thing keeping the Wings afloat, you might be wondering. Well, have a look at the list of guys Babs had to scratch last night: Pavel Datsyuk, Justin Abdelkader, Jonathan Ericsson, Dan Cleary, Tomas Jurco, Darren Helm, Joakim Andersson and Teemu Pulkkinen. Those are the scratches, how about guys on IR? Henrik Zetterberg, Mikael Samuelsson and Stephen Weiss. So, if by some insane happenstance he’s still available in one of your leagues I think you know what to do.
Mikael Granlund (1 G, 2 PIM, 2 SOG, +1) continues to score point after point and extends his current streak to five games with this goal. He’s going to stick with the top line for the Wild for the remainder of the season and is definitely their first-line center of the future. Or is it right now? Because it sure feels like that right now.
Anders Lee (8 SOG, 2 PIM, -2) might not have scored but he’s about the only Isle that looked like he could do much of anything last night. He poured eight shots on goal and only Breezy’s shutout could keep him off the board. He should get back to scoring in his next game.
Sidney Crosby (2 G, 1 A, 7 SOG, +3) is on his way to playing his first complete season since 2009-10 and he’s on track to post 110 points this season, his highest total since his insane 120 points sophomore season back in 2006.
Jordan Eberle (2 G, 1 A, 5 SOG, +2) might end up being more of a 65-70 point guy rather than a point-per-game guy, but he’s still going to have solid value. That value is mitigated a bit by that Oiler plus/minus he’s sporting at a lowly minus-13, but he can probably give you another 10 points this season.
Matt Moulson (2 G, 1 A, 2 SOG, +2) snapped a four game scoreless streak with this outburst and he was nice enough to spot us points for at least three of those scoreless contests! Moulson has been thriving for the Wild since his trade and spent 4:06 on the man advantage, by far the most of any Wild player.
Thomas Vanek (3 G, 5 SOG, even, 2 PIM) finally had a good games since joining the Habs and put up a hatty on five shots. Fantasy owners and Canadiens fans are collectively hoping this is the start of something for Vanek, but I’m not so sure. He doesn’t look nearly as comfortable in the Montreal system as he did in New York and frankly; it’s never going to be better for him than it was when he played with Kyle Okposo and John Tavares.
Roberto Luongo (2 GA, 52 SV, W) must really, really love living in Florida because it’s just like the good old days for Lu again! 54 shots and he was able to stop 52 of them for the W, but that isn’t going to happen very often. The win, that is, those 54 shots are going to be something of a regular occurance for Lu and the Cats. You know, I could have sworn their defense was a little better than this before the Lu trade, have they relaxed a bit knowing it’s Lu back there now, and not Tim Thomas?
Ilya Bryzgalov (0 GA, 36 SV, W) posted a shutout in just his second start for the Wild since being traded to Minnesota. I doubt he’s going to see more than one or two starts over the next few weeks, but he’s been solid in both the starts he has been given, so it stands to reason he’ll be at least serviceable in the next two or three he gets, if he sees that many.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (1 G, 2 A, 3 SOG, +2) was getting early comparisons to The Great One when he was drafted, but given how he’s been playing so far I think that has more to do with a) being skinny and b) being skinny and drafted to the Oilers than anything else. The Nuge was scoring consistently for the first four months of the season putting up 10, 11, 10, and 11 points per month through January. Since then he’s only been able to muster five points in 14 games, so it’s good to see a game like this from him, but don’t expect much as the season winds down for the Oilers and they have little left to play for.
Mikko Koivu (3 A, 2 SOG, +3) became the Wild’s all-time leading scorer with 438 points in 588 games with the club with this trio of helpers as the Wild downed the Isles 6-0. That’s one hell of a way to break a four game scoreless streak, but hey whatever works! So far this season Mikko’s season line looks more like a defenseman’s line than a center’s with 8 G, 32 A in 52 games played. Granted, that’d be a pretty baller offensive defenseman, but still, that’s pretty lame.
Mats Zuccarello (2 A, 4 SOG, +4) put up half of his points since the Olympic break in just this game, giving him four points over his last eight. He came back from his injury to a team that sported a far superior mini-scoring-machine in Martin St. Louis, so maybe that rattled Zucc’s cage a bit initially. I mean really, how many roster spots are there for guys under 5’7”?
Lee Stempniak (1 G, 2 A, 2 SOG, +2) keep showing up on the score sheet because he plays for the Pens and if you play for the Pens you are automatically going to score. No, seriously, how else can you explain Stempniak’s output since he joined the Pens? Either way, it’s good enough to warrant streaming him in the playoffs!
Scott Hartnell (2 G, 5 SOG, +2) is never, ever going to score 37 goals in a season again. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say he’ll never score 30 again. It’s not really that much of a stretch and his 67 point, 37 goal 2011-12 campaign really sold this guy on a lot of people and I had no idea why then, and I still don’t now. He’s got maybe another 10 points left to give in those curly locks of his, so don’t expect a huge outburst because he beat Antti Raanta with a few.
Jimmy Howard (2 GA, 31 SV, W) seemed like he pulled himself together in Janurary going 4-3-1/2.30/.938 but has since fallen back into mediocrity. To be fair most of the Wings defense has been hurt at some point this season, and hell, most of the Wings team has been hurt at some point this season, so it’s not all Jimmy’s fault. Still, that doesn’t help his fantasy owners (of which I am one, d’oh!) but this game is an encouraging sign, of, uh, what I hope… ah hell, I can’t lie, I have no idea what he’s going to do on a game-by-game basis, so if you start him all you can do is close your eyes, cross your fingers and hope for the best. Hey! That’s just how Jimmy tends net this season, what a coincidence!
Chris Kunitz (1 G, 1 A, 3 SOG, +2, 6 PIM) isn’t going to score 40 goals. I’m sticking to that until the bitter end! He’s currently at 32 and on pace for 39. It might end up being 39, buy by god it’s not going to be 40! Obviously one goal in the grand scheme of the season doesn’t really matter, but this is more about me being technically correct than anything else.
Rick Nash (2 G, 2 SOG, +3) lead an eight goal outburst for the Rangers as he does what he can to salvage an injury plagued season. Despite only being able to play in 53 games so far he has 22 goals and could very easily eclipse the 30 goal mark over the next 12 games.
Jamie McGinn (1 G, 1 A, 4 SOG, +2) has 12 points over his last 16 games and that isn’t too shabby, especially considering his limited TOI on a powerful Avs squad. He’s not going to give you a lot, but if you need streaming help, McGinn is scoring, so what else do you need to know? Points, y’all!
Jaroslav Halak (2 GA, 43 SV, W) has won three straight and is the no-doubt starter for the Caps moving forward. You can safely drop Braden Holtby if you still owned him. You still owned Holtby? Yikes.
Jeff Zatkoff (1 GA, 32 SV, W) is probably going to get a handful of starts as the Pens wind the regular season down and give Marc-Andre Fleury some well deserved rest before the playoffs kick off. He’s been stellar in limited work and given how powerful the Pens are, he’s worth streaming when the time comes.
Viktor Fasth (1 GA, 28 SV, W) looks like he’s going to get his own handful of starts as he fights for a 1A/1B setup with Ben Scrivens. He’s only given up a goal in each of his last two starts and surrendered just 5 goals on 78 shots in three games since being traded to the Oil, so he’s worth taking a flier on if you need emergency goalie help.
Hampus Lindholm (2 A, 5 SOG, +2) is coming alive again in the end of the season and that’s not exactly what I expected. I figured he faded already and that’s typical of youth, he just isn’t used to the rigors of the NHL schedule yet. Welp, guess I was wrong! That’s three straight with points, all assists (4), and puts him at 26 points in 66 games so far this season. He’ll top 30 points and is a no-brainer keeper if you’re lucky enough to have him; I don’t foresee any sophomore slump with Hamper.
Brandon Pirri (1 G, 1 A, 4 SOG, +2) hasn’t done much this season but that has more to do with the ridiculously talented rich roster than Pirri’s inability to succeed in the NHL. Given some room to roam and ice time to work with Pirri has 7 points in 8 February games for the Cats, and while it’s kind of a bummer he shifted from the powerhouse Hawks to the Bleherhouse Panthers, he’s getting ice time and making it count, so grab him while he’s hot!
Sam Gagner (1 G, 1 A, 4 SOG, +1) has five points in his last five games but I mean, do you really want to sink that low? If there’s no one left, it’s Saturday night and you’re down by a few goals and have an empty slot in our starting lineup that needs filling… AND he’s the only guy worth even considering on the wire? Then go ahead and add him, but beware the hit to your plus/minus for the slim possibility of one or two points. It’s a slim possibility, but it remains a possibility nonetheless!
Ryan McDonagh (1 G, 5 SOG, +1) continued his breakout season with another goal, his 12th of the season. He ‘s going to finish with 45 points or so and move up the defensive rankings considerably next season where I think he can potentially top 50 points and play some of the best damn defense you ever did see.
Mike Cammalleri (1 G, 5 SOG, +1) is worth adding right now, so grab him while he’s scoring. Five goals over his last five, seven points over that span, and Cammalleri thinks it’s five years ago all the sudden. He was once a serviceable sniper, so these goals could keep coming for another few games at least.
Mathieu Perreault (1 G, 7 SOG, +1) is another one worth keeping an eye on with points in three straight and goals in two of those games. He has 33 points in 56 games so far, which isn’t great, but his TOI is usually around 10-11 minutes per game so that’ll keep the numbers a bit low. He plays for the Ducks and he’s scoring, so here’s another worthy streaming option for you.
James Reimer (3 GA, 28 SV, L) is doing nothing to convince anyone that he should retain the starter’s job once Jonathan Bernier returns from his LBI. You can start him while JB heals up, but you’ll have to pull a Jimmy Howard and close those eyes, cross those fingers, and hope.
Henrik Lundqvist (4 GA, 35 SV, W) coughed up four goals but hey, the Rangers scored eight so it’s all good! With the W King Henrik surpasses Mike Richter to become the Rangers’ all-time wins leader with 302 wins. A shame 60 of those didn’t come this season for fantasy owners, eh? I kid, Hank has been stellar as usual after that hiccup called October.
Carey Price (3 GA, 25 SV, W) returned after missing a handful of games to a mystery injury that is apparently behind him, or so his owners and the Habs hope.
