Ryan Callahan has eight points in his last five games. He’s habitually playing over 20 minutes a contest, thanks to his hustle and two-way skills. His 121 hits place him third in the NHL behind Clutterbuck and Robidas. He played with Higgins and Christensen the game before last night (not sure who he played with last night, as Frozen Pool had not updated as I wrote this).

Dubinsky was still playing with Gaborik and Prospal was on the other wing. Kotalik and Redden were scratches again.

Some droughts were broken last night. Just from what I noticed – Cogliano snapped a 14-game pointless drought, O’Sullivan had his first point in seven games, and Shane Doan his first in six. Huselius had his first point in five games. Often, that first point kicks things back into gear and for every one of those players – the talent is there to get very hot. We’ll know after their next game if they’ve kicked the drought.

Those of you who own a lot of Preds, like I do in one of my three keeper leagues, are really seeing monster dividends. They have scored 23 goals in their last four games – Sullivan (4), Dumont (3), Ward (6), Legwand (5), Erat (6), Hornqvist (7 points) have been the key guys. The team has a hot player on each of three lines (Erat, Legwand, Hornqvist), so with three lines scoring they have been hard to contain.

Loui Eriksson has 11 points in his last eight contests. He should reach the 70-point mark this year.

Pavel Datsyuk has seven points in his last five. The time for “buying low” on this guy has passed. His owners won’t sell him cheap now.

Todd Bertuzzi has eight in his last five. Any acquisition of him should be a temporary one, as his hot streak is just that – a streak. But ride him for a couple of weeks.

For the first time since October 24th, Dion Phaneuf has points in three straight games.

For the third straight game, Peter Mueller was a healthy scratch. It’s too bad he can’t go to the AHL without clearing waivers, he really needs some ice time and a confidence boost.

The streaky Radim Vrbata has eight points in his last nine games. He’s on pace for about 45, but I would think he’ll come in at around 55. Under Dave Tippett, that could very well lead the team in scoring.

He’s back about…ohhh six weeks early. Andrei Markov returned to the MTL lineup. What a huge boost. Two goals and 20 minutes of ice time.

Roman Hamrlik missed the game with a knee injury – no word on the severity. Bergeron played just 10 minutes, and I wonder if he would have been scratched had Hamrlik been healthy. Bergeron got an assist, but be wary – healthy scratches have dogged him everywhere he’s been.

Anton Stralman did not dress for CBJ because he was ill, according to the Dispatch.

Speaking of the Dispatch, here is an interesting article on some of the fallout (Nikita Filatov) in the dressing room, etc.

Florida rearguard – 18-year-old rookie Dmitri Kulikov – suffered a devestating knee injury and will be out for at least a few weeks. The results of the MRI have not been released. Kulikov is going to be a great, high-scoring defenseman in a few years.

Simon Gagne was back in the Philly lineup, but the team still lost (again). They are 2-6-1 under Laviollette. Gagne played 20 minutes and notched an assist. His return did not hurt Claude Giroux’s ice time any, but JVR was still hovering around 11 minutes.

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