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We found a new level of ridiculousness on Thursday night.  The Canadiens were in Florida and they managed to tie the record for the most goals in a first period in modern NHL history, and they did it in barely over 13 minutes!  Both Montreal goalies allowed 3+ goals in the first 13 minutes, and Sergei Bobrovsky allowed goals on the first three shots he faced.  My god.  The Panthers ended up winning 9-5 to keep pace in the Eastern playoff race.  The only player who made more than two points was Matthew Tkachuk, who had a goal and three assists to keep up his torrid pace.  Thanks Aleksander Barkov for not getting three points when I pick him in the three point challenge!  Anyways, Florida is battling hard for a Wild Card spot, so expect their studs to get all of the minutes they can handle.  For playing all games against Eastern teams the rest of the way, Florida's schedule is fairly soft, so expect it to come down to the wire.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
The trade deadline has come and gone with teams making their final moves, either to set up their playoff push, or to sell for the future.  I covered all of the trades on this very site over the last week, so if you want to get my previous analysis, go back and take a look.  Today, I'm going to take a look at early returns on all of the trades.  What role are these players getting, how are they doing, etc.  Let's get to it!
Surprisingly, we're having the most action ahead of the trade deadline that I can ever remember.  There were a lot of trades over thee last two days that I'll be sure to cover below, but I have to start off with a four goal game.  Anze Kopitar scored four goals in the 6-5 OT win over the Jets.  I'm shocked that this was actually Kopitar's second four goal game of his career.  Kopitar has a good chance for 30 goals now for the first time in six years.  Kopitar has played his way into being a hold in all formats as he's closing in on a point per game.  With the Kings in the thick of a playoff race, he should continue to get 20+ minutes a night.  Kopitar has shown very few signs of slowing down in his age 35 season.  He's one of the best players of his generation and doesn't get all of the credit that he deserves.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Another star player has made his way to the Eastern Conference well ahead of the trade deadline.  We already had Horvat and Tarasenko move, and now we have a former Conn Smythe winner.  Ryan O'Reilly was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, along with Noel Acciari, for a bevy of draft picks.  The Wild also acquired a pick for retaining salary, and there were prospects involved, but none of them are particularly relevant.  For fantasy, we care about RoR and Acciari.  Let's start with Acciari because it's easier.  Acciari moved right onto Toronto's fourth line.  He scored a goal against the Blackhawks on Sunday, and is piling up hits.  He'll be a deep league value for his hits and decent goal rate.  O'Reilly is an interesting debate.  He's easily having the worst offensive season in the last decade.  On the other hand, RoR has been playing much better lately, and he went right onto the second line with Tavares and Marner.  He dished an assist in his debut on Saturday playing just over 16 minutes in the 5-1 blowout against Montreal.  He also won 12 of 14 draws, which is notable that he bumped Tavares from the faceoff circle most of the time.  I'm not rushing to pick up RoR, mostly because we know that he's not cracking Toronto's first power play unit.  That said, there's upside in Toronto that he couldn't touch in St. Louis again.  If you want to stream him on Tuesday against the Sabres and see where it goes, I can get behind that.  
It wasn't that long ago that Vladimir Tarasenko requested a trade from the Blues. It wasn't that long ago that Tarasenko could have went to Seattle in the expansion draft.  Now, St. Louis has to be thanking their lucky stars that he's still on the roster.  Tarasenko had his biggest game of the season on Thursday, scoring a hat trick on four shots and adding two more assists in the 6-2 win over the Sabres.  Tarasenko now has 31+41 in 67 games, with a great chance of setting a career high in points.  It's a remarkable turnaround for the Russian who is certainly a top 100 player for drafts next season.  I don't see him cracking the top 50, but it's great to see Tarasenko playing great hockey again.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Since Dougie Hamilton went down with a broken jaw, the Devils have been in a massive tailspin.  It got much worse over the last two nights as Toronto beat them 6-4 and 7-1 going into the All-Star Break.  The hope is that Hamilton will be back after the break, and it's obvious that they need him on the blue line.  Toronto was led by Mitch Marner, who had three goals and four assists with nine shots between the top games.  Marner has multiple points in six of his last seven games, including a goal in all seven games.  I wrote a couple weeks ago that Marner was about to get hot and get past the point per game mark, but he did it much faster than I anticipated.  It helps that he moved to the top line again, as Auston Matthews had four goals and two assists between the two games.  When these two are clicking, it's as dangerous of a combo that there is in the league.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
We don't know what's going to happen come playoff time, but the Florida Panthers have established themselves as a regular season juggernaut.  After destroying the Stars 7-1 on Friday, they came back to score nine goals on Saturday, beating Columbus 9-2.  Among the highlights between the two games were Sam Bennett scoring a hat trick on Friday and totaling six points between the two games, Jonathan Huberdeau having six points, and MacKenzie Weegar having a rare four point game from a defenseman on Saturday.  They're clicking on all cylinders right now and that means great things in fantasy.  They have ten skaters that I consider locks to be held, and another four that are quality streamers depending on team needs.  Side note, I'm going to do another hold/stream list soon.  Could we see the Panthers win their first playoff series since 1996?  As long as their goaltending is passable, it's firmly in play despite being in a division with three elite teams.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
I'm a big fan of the revenge game and Semyon Varlamov had one on Monday night against his old team in Colorado.  Varlamov had a 32 save shutout to earn the 1-0 victory.  I have a few points on Varly.  One, he's proving to be the #1 goalie we hoped he would be when he went to the Islanders.  Barry Trotz has the best defensive system in the league.  Two, how the hell wasn't he an All-Star?  He's clearly had the best season for goalies in his division.  I get having Korpisalo because the Jackets need a representative, but Holtby?  Come on, Varly has been much better.  Anyways, keep rolling the Isles goalies.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights: