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Before we start, I just wanted to highlight two posts that came out on Monday much later than scheduled because of technical difficulties with the website.  Jules' weekly streaming post can be read here, while I also updated my hold/stream list.  Now back to the scheduled daily notes... It looks worse because of their record, but in reality, Carolina is playing very close to the same level as last season.  The difference is that their goaltending has been dreadful for the better part of three months, and that's from all three goalies.  Thankfully, when they needed it most as Andersen was out with blood clots and Raanta completely lost his game, Pyotr Kochetkov has rounded back into form.  On Tuesday, Kochetkov saved 28 of 29 shots in the Carolina 6-1 win over the Rangers.  Going back to Kochetkov's last ten starts, he's allowed only one goal five times, and has only one game allowing more than three.  Kochetkov has a 2.00 GAA in that stretch so it's no surprise to see Carolina back in second place in the division.  There's a very reasonable chance they finish atop the division again.  Kochetkov is still owned in less than 50% of leagues, and that doesn't make any sense to me.  He's a top five goalie for the last month and should be owned in all leagues.  Let's take a look at what else happened on Tuesday night:
I've been aggressive ranking Matthew Tkachuk for years, but I never expected this type of offense from him.  Tkachuk had a hat trick on Tuesday, bringing his season totals up to 37+55 in 73 games.  He has a chance for 100 points, he's +49, the PIM are strong, and his shot rate is over three per game.  Tkachuk is pretty much having a Marchand-esque season.  That's the Marchand who has been a top five player for the past 4-5 years.  Now, I'm not quite going there with Tkachuk for next season.  Gaudreau could leave and this is an outlier in terms of past performance.  That said, he's firmly in the first round pick discussion because he smashes every category.  I can't wait to see what he does in the playoffs.  Let's take a look at what else happened the last two nights: