Nik Kronwall has seven points in his last three games.

After 12 points in 11 games, Matt Carle has zero in his last five. The stats are re-setting for a lot of players these days – falling back into line.

Joni Pitkanen still hasn’t recovered from what Angus termed “suckitis”. He is pointless in seven and a MINUS-13 (not a typo – wow) in that span.

Joffrey Lupul has just two points in his last nine contests. He is also 26 and will hit his prime next year and as such is an excellent buy-low player. His upside probably sits around 70. Look for 50 to 55 this campaign and 60 to 65 next.

Elias is pointless in the four games that he has played this season. Conditioning is a factor, but I wonder if he is fully recovered from his groin problems. The Devils don’t care – they have David Clarkson and Niklas Bergfors going all nutty right now.

Jason Spezza enters the first year of his “prime” (27-31) next season. He has already topped 90 points twice and he will certainly do so again. This year he is focused on rounding out his game. He is becoming a more complete player. Vincent Lecavalier did that at 26 and then exploded for 106 points at 27. I see something like that from Spezza. Don’t think for a second that his points are from Heatley. Heatley is a great – he’s a star – but Spezza is every bit as skilled. In keeping with my Vinny comparison, look for Spezza to have 75 points this year and 100-plus next.

Varlamov plays, Caps win… Theodore plays, Caps lose… and so on… when the wins start to really matter, you know where this is going…

In his last four games, Carey Price has given up just eight goals (1.98 GAA) on 139 shots (0.942 SP), but is just 2-2-0. He has started five of the last seven games, reinforcing my stance that the Habs will play him through thick and thin unless Halak can outright steal the job. For now, Price is the No.1 guy, but the team needs to score for him to get the W’s.

Evander Kane is slowly inching his ice time upwards. He’s still seeing around 15 minutes, but his play is padding that with every game. He has five points in two games. As soon as Kovalchuk came back, there is more room for him to work. With the ATL offense spread out on three lines (Kovalchuk on one line, Peverley on the next, Kane on the next), this team is looking very good.

Sheldon Souray is still a handful of games away from returning. Pencil him in for Wednesday at the earliest, or Saturday.

Tomas Fleischmann has seven goals and 10 points in his last eight games. This will probably slow starting when Ovechkin returns, but I still think his breakout year is now and he’ll top 60 points.

Don’t worry about Brooks Laich’s ice time with Flash so hot – he played 20 minutes in four different games prior to Flash’s return, but did it FIVE times in the nine games since. So his ice is pretty steady regardless.

JVR missed last night’s contest with the flu. I can’t dig up anything on H1N1, but there are a couple of sources saying that the flu is “severe”.

I’m still in the camp that prefers weekly roto changes to daily, although daily would be a lot more fun if you have the time to play it properly. I say this even though I was burned in a big way this week in my keeper. This league is with the fellas who write The Score Forecaster, so the competition is stiff. My best player is Kovalchuk and rosters are set Mondays. I think you know where this is going. Last Sunday night, did we think Kovy was going to come back? And if so, would it be for one game – maybe? Of course, he was back for two and ripped seven points in those two games. I got zero out of the deal. Actually, not true, I think Mason Raymond, my waiver replacement, got a point or two this week.

Malkin returns after missing seven games. He had to – the Pens weren’t winning without him. Crosby had just three points in seven games in his absence. If you remember when Crosby was out, Malkin carried the team on his shoulders. Anyway, with 71 in the lineup, 87 had three points – matching his total in the seven preceding games. Malkin also had three points and played 26:37.

With Kunitz out with a lower body injury (about two weeks) and Malkin back, the Pens switched their lines around: Crosby played with Malkin and Fedotenko; Staal played with Bourque and Guerin. The winners here are Fedotenko (cha-ching) and Bourque.

The Sabres recalled Tyler Ennis, who then played his first career game and scored his first goal. He has 13 points in 16 games as an AHL rookie, which tops Nate Gerbe (10 in 11). I wouldn’t give up on Gerbe, but it is clear that Ennis has passed him on the depth chart. He is ranked 146 on my prospects rankings but easily shoots into the Top 60 with this development. Look for it December 10th (next update).

Call it a hunch, but two players picked up multiple points last night for the first time in a month and I have a big feeling that this kicks off a great run for each of them – Boston’s David Krejci and Nashville’s Steve Sullivan. In my ramblings two weeks from now, I could see myself commenting on how Krejci has nine points in his last six games and Sully has eight in six. A hunch.

Denis Grebeshkov is out with a torn MCL. He’ll be gone for about six weeks. This should help Tom Gilbert, who has possibly been dropped in some roto leagues – pick him up.

Feeling (very) under the weather today – I will be chipping away at the ramblings all morning…and then taking a break after each “chip”. So be sure to come back later in the AM

Exciting goal by Guerin with 0.4 seconds left, then the OT winner: