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While Cam Ward and Anton Khudobin move closer to a return, Justin Peters continues to start and he’s playing great. In his last four starts, he’s 3-0-1, giving up just four goals on 114 shots. He needed this, as he had a rough start to his season and hasn’t exactly impressed over the last two years either. This was a much needed boost. Ward is expected to possibly backup this weekend and start next week. So Peters may be looking at just two or three more starts. Then his trial is over, so best to make the most of it. Khudobin is probably another two to three weeks.

Avs’ rookie Nathan MacKinnon had a career-high nine shots on goal.

The streaky Nathan Gerbe picked up two assists, was plus-2 and had five shots on goal. That could signify another little run. His linemate Jordan Staal also tends to be streaky, so together I like their chances.

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Tampa Bay recalled J.T. Brown and he played 14:37 and saw lots of ice time. He replaced Stamkos in the lineup. But it was Brett Connolly who replaced Stamkos on the St. Louis line. Here is how the lines shook out last night, you can get line combos free right here at Frozen Pool:

Connolly and Brown came up empty. If they do that again, I think you see Filppula with St. Louis. Eventually, maybe in two or three weeks, you will see Johnson there.

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Craig Anderson is a great goaltender. Robin Lehner is as good or better. And he’ll certainly be better in his prime, no question. But Anderson is the man for Ottawa for this year. Unless Lehner can score, he’s not stealing the top job. This year. Next year all bets are off.

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Andrew Ladd is quietly putting up big numbers. He has 13 points in his last 11 games, plus-5 with 37 SOG. Proving last year was no fluke.

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Martin Brodeur stopped 33 of 35 shots, ending his shutout streak at two games. In those two games he faced a total of 37 shots, so having them all at once last night and he still came out ahead is a good sign. That being said, sell high on Brodeur if you own him. Schneider will have his day soon.

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Chris Kreider continues to roll with another two points. This is the Kreider we were all hyped up to own last year. Weird how he pretty much took a year off… there has to be some explanation for his horrible 2012-13. But he’s logging a ton of ice time and should be owned in all leagues…so why is he only owned in 10%? And he’s C/LW eligible!

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The GM’s discussed OT modifications yesterday, including expanding it and adding a three-on-three component, or even just making it 10 minutes of four-on-four. Here is Steve Yzerman:

My two cents – the shootout is saturated. Make it so that you see on average one or two shootouts per year if you follow a team. Assuming the NHL never goes to a “play until you score” format, which is the best one, then at least make the OT as long as possible and make the shootout difficult to get to.

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Dustin Penner is impotent without Ryan Getzlaf. Two games with Getzlaf sidelined and Penner is pointless in both. Just when he was getting on a roll playing on the big line. Getzlaf is expected back soon.

Frederik Andersen suffered his first career NHL loss. Viktor Fasth was sent to the AHL for conditioning and when he comes back up, Andersen will be sent down. No other choice. I don’t see the Ducks making a move (i.e. trade Hiller) this season, but perhaps next summer.

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Craig Smith is down to 11 minutes of ice time per game thanks to his minus-7 rating over the four games prior to last night. He’s still shooting the puck, but that’s about the only bright side right now. If Barry Trotz wants offense, he’ll need to lean on Smith more. The Preds have scored just one goal in the last three games. They won’t fire Barry Trotz as long as Pekka Rinne is sidelined. But if this lack of scoring continues when Rinne returns, the long  (painful) Trotz era may finally come to an end.

Marek Mazanec lost his first career start for Nashville. Not his fault. Again – the team needs to score. But I would expect he starts to become the go-to guy over Hutton for the foreseeable future.

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Speaking of “go to” guys. Kevin Poulin is one for the Islanders. He’s started two straight and four of the last six. He’s 2-2-0, 1.76 and 0.939 in that span.

John Tavares has points in 16 of 19 games this year. His current pace is 95 points. Think he gets there? I think it will be close.

Hey, look who’s playing with Tavares while Tomas Vanek is sidelined:

Brock Nelson is worth grabbing in semi-deep one-year leagues.

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Mikhail Grabovski‘s two points last night includes his 100th career goal. As expected, he’s having a big year with the Caps with 17 points in 19 games. Not quite Ribeiro numbers, but he lacks Ribeiro’s upside. His pace will slow a little, but if he takes a run at 65 points I wouldn’t be surprised.

John Carlson had two points in 13 games to start the year, but he has five in his last six.

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Brandon Dubinsky has seven points in his last four games, including an assist on this breakaway goal by Atkinson:

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Daniel Briere (concussion) returned to the Montreal lineup and do you know what that means? I didn’t even have to check with the beatwriters or even the official lineups. As soon as I saw that Briere was eligible to return, I thought “Desharnais is scratched”. And sure enough…

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Matt Moulson, Tyler Ennis and Cody Hodgson were benched late in the game Friday for a perceived lack of effort and definite lack of results. They got the message. They combined for five points on the two Buffalo goals and they went two for three in the shootout for the win. I’m a big believer in benchings (or press box) as a catalyst for hot streaks.

The Kings outshot the Sabres 45-17, but it was all Ryan Miller. Miller has faced 45 or more shots in three of his last four games.

Somebody doesn’t want to go back to the minors. Tyler Toffoli has points in all four games that he’s played this year and has six points in all.

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Jonathan Quick left last night’s game in overtime with what is probably a LBI. Here is the footage:

Looks like Ben Scrivens could be the guy for the next couple of games (though no official word on Quick). But also watch for Martin Jones, who is champing at the bit.

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Steve Mason‘s shutout makes him 2-0-1 in his last three games, with four goals allowed on 88 shots. If Giroux, Lecavalier and Voracek (two points each) have found their scoring touch, then Mason can soon have a nice number under the “W” column and not just under the GAA and SV% columns. I bought low on him yesterday in one league, and he will be my No. 3 goalie (for now).

Scott Hartnell was pointless after nine games but has three in his last four to go with 17 shots and four PIM in that span.