December 21, 2013

Dobber Sports

2013-12-21

Cam Fowler has been very impressive this season logging over 24 minutes of ice per game. He was at it again on Friday playing 25:32 and picking up a goal and an assist against the New Jersey Devils. Included in that ice-time is evidence of his versatility as he skated nearly four minutes on the power play and almost three minutes shorthanded. Fowler also led the Ducks with four shots and he hadn't had that many shots in a contest since the second game of the season.

 

Teemu Selanne appears to have put a lengthy slump behind him. He had two helpers against the Devils and now has a three-game point streak.

 

Kyle Palmieri and Mathieu Perreault each had a goal and an assist and they both finished at plus-3 for the evening. They also saw some significant power play time as Palmieri got just under four minutes while Perreault got over three.

 

Dustin Penner's play has been concerning of late. After a solid month of November he now has just a single point in six games.

 

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Cory Schneider took the loss for the Devils and he can't buy a win right now. He hasn't picked up a victory in four straight starts.

 

Andy Greene is getting some serious minutes on the Devils blueline. He played over 28 against the Ducks and now has points in two straight. He also added two hits and four shots. Greene would be a good guy to look at if you need defensive depth.

 

Damien Brunner left this one with what looked to be a knee injury and did not return.

 

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The Islanders beat the Rangers 5-3 thanks to two shorthanded goals. Cal Clutterbuck's came on a penalty shot which is a nice bonus if you have shorthanded points as a category in your league.

 

Michael Grabner notched two goals and it was the first time he had scored since opening night. Grabner has so much skill but just can't seem to put up offensive numbers with any consistency whatsoever.

 

Kyle Okposo had an assist to give him five points in his last five outings. Okposo now has 31 points and as long as he's playing with John Tavares and Thomas Vanek he's worth keeping around.

 

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Rough night for Henrik Lundqvist. He couldn't be faulted for some of the goals, like the aforementioned penalty shot, but finishing the game with a .789 save percentage is a nightmare for fantasy owners.

 

Benoit Pouliot had a goal and now has a three-game point streak going. He could be worthy of a short-term pickup.

 

Michael Del Zotto went pointless for the third straight game, but that didn't stop him from playing a whopping 6:23 with the man advantage.

 

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Alex Ovechkin scored his 400th career goal already against Carolina and became the sixth fastest player to do so.

 

This just in: Nicklas Backstrom is unreal. He assisted on all four Capitals goals and now has 14 points in his last five games.

 

Marcus Johansson got in on the fun as well and with a goal that extended his point streak to five games.

 

It wasn't all good for Washington though as Mikhail Grabovski saw his four-game point-streak end.

 

Don't look now but Philipp Grubauer is 4-0-1 on the year. He stopped 39 of 41 shots against Carolina.

 

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Jeff Skinner failed to record a point for the first time in four games but there were good signs though from an owner's perspective. He still finished with six shots and played 22:43, his second highest total on the season.

 

Justin Faulk picked up an assist after going five games without a point.

 

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Winnipeg put a stop to Florida's winning streak with a 5-2 win. Florida and winning streak still sounds funny in the same sentence.

 

Zach Bogosian returned to the Jets' lineup and had an assist in just under 18 minutes of action. It looks like it's going to take him a few games to get his legs back, as is to be expected when you miss over a month.

 

Michael Frolik had a goal and an assist to give him five points in five games.

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Evander Kane had himself another stellar night with two points, eight PIM, four shots, and six hits. If there's a more versatile fantasy option out there right now I'd like to know who it is.

 

I'm still not quite sure what to make of Jacob Trouba. His goal and assist against Florida gave him his third multi-point game of the year, but they have been sandwiched around some stretches of dormancy. Trouba has been getting quality minutes lately but you can likely chalk up the inconsistency to his inexperience at this point. He's worth holding onto if you're in a keeper league as he looks like he's going to be an asset when he figures it all out.

 

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Dylan Olsen seems to be coming back down to earth somewhat after going off for six points in five games earlier in the month. He now has just one point in his last four contests.

 

Brian Campbell is struggling with one assist in his last nine games. He's playing major minutes for the Panthers so that type of drought is troubling.

 

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Eddie Lack picked up the win in a shootout for the Canucks over the Blackhawks on Friday. He's been excellent this year backing up Roberto Luongo and Vancouver couldn't have asked for anything more. Saves like this kept the Canucks in the game against Chicago.

 

 

Jannik Hansen didn't find the score sheet but led the team with six hits. He's someone to watch while Alex Burrows is on the shelf.

 

Daniel Sedin scored and fired seven shots on net. He's only had more than seven shots one other time this season.

 

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Patrick Kane had two points to give him 48 on the campaign. He's just three back of Sidney Crosby for the league lead now.

 

Kris Versteeg scored for the third time in five games. He's starting to provide some nice depth scoring for Chicago.

 

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Jonathan Bernier was supposed to get the start on Thursday for the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Phoenix Coyotes but wasn't able to go because of an undisclosed lower-body injury. With that being said, it doesn't look to be anything major and he does have a shot to play Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings. However, if he does miss a few starts in a row it could allow James Reimer to go on a run, which he is notorious for. Toronto has favored Bernier so far but if Reimer can string together a few more outings like he had against Phoenix, it could earn him some extra starts down the road.

 

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Bad news for the San Jose Sharks and Tomas Hertl owners. The rookie forward will reportedly miss at least a month and potentially more after colliding knee-on-knee with Dustin Brown Thursday night. Hertl has cooled considerably from his strong start but he is still averaging over 15 minutes a game and 25 points in 35 contests is impressive. Perhaps someone like Martin Havlat will benefit from Hertl's absence, if he can stay healthy of course. Havlat had been skating with Joe Pavelski and Tyler Kennedy for the majority of the year but maybe he gets a shot to play with Joe Thornton and Brent Burns more regularly now.

 

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Danny DeKeyser is likely to return to the Red Wings lineup Saturday after missing 15 games with a shoulder injury. DeKeyser had been making some strides this year posting nine points and a plus-5 rating before he went down. Hopefully this injury doesn't destroy the makings of a decent campaign.

 

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Marian Gaborik and James Wisniewski are expected to return to the Columbus Blue Jackets lineup on Saturday. Gaborik has been out for 17 games with a knee injury and Wisniewski has missed six games because of an upper-body issue.

 

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Shane Doan may have a diagnosis for the mysterious illness that has kept him out of action since Dec. 4. Apparently it could be 'Rocky Mountain fever disease' according to general manager Don Maloney. This sounds scary, but Maloney told the Arizona Republic it should be treatable by medication. Just don't expect him back in the immediate future.

 

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Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne still has a ways to go before returning to the ice. The team announced Friday his rehab has been pushed back a couple of weeks. Marek Mazanec and Carter Hutton haven't been terrible filling in for the Preds, but if you're a Rinne owner it's looking more and more like he won't be able to make a significant contribution to your squad this season.

 

Michael Amato is an Associate Editor for DobberHockey and a News Editor for theScore. You can follow him on Twitter at @amato_mike

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