NHL lines, much like modern day relationships, rarely last. With Valentine’s Day nearly upon us, I thought I would dedicate this week’s drivel to my sweethearts of the Eastern Conference:
 

Call Me. Jason Blake and Dominic Moore of the Maple Leafs are two of the hottest players in the entire league at the moment. In their last 11 games, Blake has 18 points and Moore recorded 15 points. There will be no better time to trade Blake than right now. Miss You.

May-December Relationships. Panther fans are loving the new calendar year. When the team turned the page from 2008 to 2009, it was a (gin and) tonic for several Floridians who ply their trade during the winter months.

Odd Couple. Jeff Carter likes it hot with 14 points in his last 11 games and fellow power play point man Kimmo Timonen is ice cold with only a single point over his last nine games.

Captain and Tennille believed that Love Will Keep Us Together. Apparently so does Pens Head Coach Michel Therrien. He loves keeping the NHL’s top two scorers playing on the same line, making beautiful music together. Both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are pointless in their last two games (Detroit and San Jose). In Malkin’s previous 14 games, he had 20 points. Crosby had 18 points during a ten game stretch in January, but has put up points in only two of five February contests.

O Captain, My Captain. Since the middle of November, former team Captain Patrik Elias has scored 53 points in 41 games, while current Captain Jamie LungenlongenlingenLangenbrunner has 19 points in his last 15 games.

Bizarre Love Triangle. The New Order Devils are appropriately the hottest team over their last 15 games, with 12 wins against only three losses. Leading the way are Travis Zajac, with 19 points, Jamie Langenbrunner with 20 points and Zach Parise who had 21 points over that stretch.

Top NHL defensive pairings by team over the last month (not including last night’s games) were Devils Colin White (plus-12) and Mike Mottau (plus-7) and the Caps Jeff Schultz (plus-12) and Milan Jurcina (plus-7).

New Jersey’s Travis Zajac and Jamie Langenbrunner were the NHL’s top plus/minus forward pair over the past month, with a healthy plus-26.

Two North-East Division foes were having problems putting on their happy faces. Buffalo’s Thomas Vanek and the Bruins Michael Ryder will share a seat on the NHL’s injury list for the next few weeks. No word on whether or not they will share a bendy straw at dinner.

Kiss Me, I’m Green. Man Crush Alert – Mike Green is simply amazing. Okay, most of you know that last night he tied an NHL record for defensemen by scoring a goal in his seventh consecutive game, but bear with me here. Over the last calendar month, only Pavel Datsyuk recorded a higher points-per-game ratio than the Green Machine, 1.75 to 1.64. Compare that to Sidney Crosby’s 1.55, the smoking hot Pavol Demitra and Jason Blake 1.50, the two Ryan(e)s, Kesler 1.44, Clowe 1.40 and two uber-talented Russians Alexander Ovechkin 1.36 and Evgeni Malkin 1.25. The closest defenders were Stars Matt Niskanen 1.00 and Red Wings Brian Rafalski 0.92.

Green has scored at a 125 point pace over his last 19 games, recording 29 points. Over those
19 games, he was a minus player only twice, both times a minus-1. Along with the seven consecutive goals, he has a six game multi-point streak currently on the go.