The Buffalo Sabres began life without Ryan Miller and Steve Ott on a positive note Friday night, picking up a 4-2 win over the San Jose Sharks. 

Jhonas Enroth got the start and looked strong in a 36-save effort. I grabbed Enroth earlier in the night once I heard the Miller trade was imminent, as I think he’s going to get a string of starts down the stretch. Jaroslav Halak is of course coming back the other way, but he is a UFA at season’s end, and it would make little sense for Buffalo to rely on him heavily for starts with no shot at the playoffs. The logical thing to do is see what they have in Enroth by giving him a real run. That’s what I’m banking on at least.

Tyler Myers’ name also came up in trade rumors as of late and his effort on Friday proved just how valuable he can be. Myers had a goal and two assists, while finishing as a plus-3. It’s been a long time since he showed the ability he had in his rookie campaign, but Myers had glimpses of it against the Sharks. 

Cody Hodgson scored his first goal in eight games. He’s one that figures to be in the Sabres’ future plans.

Someone to watch now that Ott has been dealt is Zemgus Girgensons. He has three points in his last two and may be in for a bump in minutes with Ott out of town. 

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The Sharks should have saved some of their goals from Thursday night for the matchup against the Sabres.

At least Dan Boyle added a pair of assists to give him three points since the return of the NHL. He had gone 10 straight without a point leading up to Sochi. It’s been a rough season for Boyle, so anything is an improvement at this point. 

Antti Niemi’s numbers have taken a hit this year and it wasn’t his best night on Friday, making just 16 stops. Niemi has played a ton of minutes over the last few seasons and it might be time to give Alex Stalock a few extra starts, so he’s well rested for a Sharks playoff run. 

It was good to see Tommy Wingels still getting second power play minutes, even if he was minus-2 against Buffalo. I was worried his time with the man advantage might be cut with the return of Logan Couture, but so far that doesn’t look to be the case. 

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Colorado is quickly becoming my favorite team to watch and they handled the Coyotes 4-2 on Friday night. Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog led the way with a combined five points on the night. I thought Landeskog quietly had a great Olympics and he is blossoming into a great two-way player.

Tyson Barrie grabbed another point on Friday and he continues to receive solid power play time. He's a great depth option on the blue line if you're in need. Barrie has similar production to Erik Johnson, but a far better plus/minus. The only advantage Johnson has is when it comes to shots on goal, so if you're okay in that area Barrie is the better value on the Avs back end.

P.A. Parenteau scored to give him points in three straight outings. He said recently that he hopes to stay in Colorado beyond the deadline and with runs like this, the Avs just may keep him around.

Paul Stastny has been someone who's really clicked with Parenteau. He notched a goal and an assist on Friday and if Colorado hopes to make any noise in the playoffs this year, they'll need that secondary scoring.

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Shane Doan had a pair of goals for the Coyotes, his first since January 26^th. Doan battled that illness that kept him out of action for a significant amount of time earlier in the season, so hopefully the Olympic break gave him some time to rest and recharge the batteries.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson is playing so many significant fantasy minutes right now for Phoenix. He played over seven minutes on the power play on Friday and ranks in the top 10 in ice-time with the man advantage in the entire NHL. He also sits seventh in the league in overall ice-time and 15^th in shorthanded minutes per game. I'm always a fan of defensemen who play heavy shorthanded minutes for a couple of reasons. The first being it's obviously a great opportunity for cheap second assists if you have shorthanded points as a category in your league, and second is the fact that if you give up a goal it doesn't hurt the player's plus/minus in that situation.

Mikkel Boedker grabbed an assist but the most encouraging part of his game was the six shots. That's the second most he's had all season and a good sign that he is playing with some confidence.

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Eddie Lack got his second straight start in Friday's 2-1 shootout loss to the Wild, which is concerning to a Roberto Luongo owner like myself. On Wednesday it was understandable as the Canucks were perhaps trying to ease Luongo back in after Sochi, but not giving him the start last night was curious to say the least. The only other reasonable explanation is that Lack played so well on Wednesday they wanted to reward him and rest Luongo for Sunday's Heritage Classic. All I know is I'm in a league with a minimum of two goalie starts a week and Vancouver had three games, yet somehow I'm still going to struggle to meet the quota. Didn't the Canucks trade Cory Schneider to avoid this problem? Of course Lack has played very well this season, further complicating matters.

The Canucks' goal scoring is drying up in a big way. With that roster full of talent there is no excuse to sit 25^th in the league in goals per game. Daniel Sedin hasn't scored since 2013 and Alex Burrows has failed to find the back of the net so far this year. If Vancouver doesn't turn things around quickly there could be some big organizational changes at season's end.

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Darcy Kuemper was excellent in net for the Wild making 30 stops, and he would be a good guy to jump on while you can. With Niklas Backstrom's age and the unfortunate health situation of Josh Harding, Minnesota's future in goal looks to be with Kuemper. The win on Friday now gives him an impressive 10-3-2 record in 2013-14.

Many people felt Mikael Granlund might be in for a strong final six weeks of the season after the Olympic break, and with points in his first two games since then, he looks to be backing it up. Granlund seems to be clicking quite well with Jason Pominville this season.

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The Ducks beat the Blues 1-0 in a low scoring affair. Brian Elliott turned in a strong performance, but that may have to sustain his owners for a while. It doesn't seem likely that Ken Hitchcock would rotate Ryan Miller with Elliott as frequently as he did Halak.

It will be interesting to see if the arrival of Steve Ott hurts the value of some St. Louis depth players like Patrik Berglund and Derek Roy. Ott doesn't have as much offensive talent as those two, but he brings intangibles that are going to earn him minutes. At the very least it should put some pressure on Roy and Berglund to pick it up.

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Jonas Hiller with another shutout. I thought for sure with an expiring deal and the Ducks' depth in the crease he would definitely get dealt at some point this year, but with the way the team and Hiller have been playing, there's no shot now.

Mathieu Perreault left this one with an upper-body injury. No word on how serious it is yet, but certainly something to monitor if you own him.  

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Pekka Rinne's first game of his conditioning stint went well in Milwaukee as the Admirals won 9-1. With that kind of goal support there is a good chance Rinne may refuse to be recalled to Nashville.

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The Rangers signed defenseman Dan Girardi to a six-year, $33M extension on Friday. Girardi’s a decent guy to have if your league has hits and blocks as categories. It remains to be seen what this signing means for Ryan Callahan’s future on Broadway. 

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Michael Grabner was the recipient of a couple of fortunate bounces en route to his two-goal shorthanded effort on Thursday night, but even still, he's someone worth looking at closely. You could have made an argument he was one of the most impressive players at the Olympics and maybe some of that will carry over to the Isles. Grabner played over 18 minutes Thursday versus Toronto and it was the most ice he's seen in a game since mid-December. He usually hovers around the 11-12 minute mark. With John Tavares and Frans Nielsen out, as well as the likely impending trade of Thomas Vanek, Grabner should get a huge bump in ice-time. The best part of his game is speed, as he showed on that Jonathan Bernier mistake. He came barrelling in and forced the Leaf netminder to play the puck hastily, leading to the goal. That's the type of ability he has.

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Mikhail Grabovski has been sent home to Washington to get evaluated for a lower-body injury he suffered on Thursday. He missed some time before the Olympics with an ankle issue, so this newest injury could be related to that. Don't expect him in the lineup for Saturday.

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Carey Price still isn't feeling 100% and won't play on Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs, said Michel Therrien. He will, however, travel with the team on their upcoming four-game western road trip. So that's a good indication he's not far off.

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Great news on Kris Letang and that his chance at a full recovery is 'really high.'

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The Boston Bruins are reportedly interested in acquiring defenseman Chris Phillips at the deadline if the Senators make him available. If you're like me and wondering why in the world they would want to do such a thing, just remember if you're a defenseman who can hold a stick, there will always be some interest come deadline time. Even for a guy who is a combined minus-36 over the last four campaigns.

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The Plain White T's and a Blues Brothers cover band will be performing at the outdoor game between Chicago and Pittsburgh on Saturday, while Sarah McLachlan and Tegan and Sara will get the duties when Vancouver and Ottawa square off on Sunday. In other words, the NHL pulled out all the stops for the entertainment.

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