Decisive 3-0 victory for Boston against the visiting Blackhawks.

 

Tuukka Rask got the shutout, his league-leading seventh of the season. Once upon a time there was an argument to be made that Ben Bishop was the Vezina frontrunner but Rask has run away with it since the Olympics.

 

Patrice Bergeron is sizzling right now with goals in five straight games. He got two last night. 

 

What's interesting is that while Brad Marchand and Reilly Smith are still skating alongside Bergeron, they've managed just a combined three points over this stretch. Regression in action I suppose.

 

Smith has been particularly quiet of late with just five points in 16 post-Olympic games.

 

David Krejci has also slumped a bit going scoreless in his last four games. But it's pretty rare for both Krejci and Bergeron to be rolling at once. These guys basically teeter-totter all year.

 

*

 

Corey Crawford suffered the loss but he is providing some very consistent goaltending. He hasn't allowed more than three goals in a game since January. I don't think a whole lot of Crawford's game but he is a solid one in fantasy. It's nice to have a goalie you know won't blow it for you.

 

The Blackhawks have now been shutout in two of their last three games. Are they missing Patrick Kane?

 

Teuvo Teravainen has been lapping up some of Kane's minutes, particularly those on the top power play. He's scoreless in two games. Not a large enough sample size to draw any conclusions but I'm not optimistic that he'll produce this season or next. I just can't recall the last the last non-goaltender to jump straight from the Finnish league into the NHL and have a lot of success.

 

Stick him on the Mikael Granlund plan and we see Teravainen producing in a couple of years. Just need to be patient.

 

*

 

Huge shootout win for the Coyotes in New Jersey. They boosted their playoff odds by 8.8% with the two points. I want to get snarky and accuse them of playing for overtime after they blew an early two-goal lead but I didn't see the game so I can't for certain.

 

Thomas Greiss has notably won two in a row for the Coyotes since Mike Smith went down with injury.

 

Impressive stat for the Coyotes:

 

 

STAT to retweet: The #Coyotes lead the @NHL with 8 players with 40+ points (Yandle, Vrbata, Boedker, Ribeiro, Vermette, Doan, Hanzal, OEL)

— Phoenix Coyotes (@phoenixcoyotes) March 27, 2014

 

 

 

They didn't get much from anyone off that list last night though. Hell, Mike Ribeiro was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. That's disconcerting.

 

With the big guns not producing it was some unheralded performers scoring in this one. Chris Summers scored a goal and an assist in just 12 minutes of play. Kyle Chipchura matched that in even less time. For Chipchura that makes his second two-point performance in the last three games. Good on Phoenix for finally extracting some value out of these former first rounders but no, there's no fantasy value to be had here.

 

*

 

Speaking of former first round picks, Jacob Josefson made an appearance on the scoresheet. I love looking back on these draft busts.

 

Unlike the Coyotes, we know for certain that the Devils weren't playing for the shootout. They are now 0/9 in the skills competition.

Jaromir Jagr hasn't scored in three straight game but he has 14 SOG in that span though.

 

Jon Merril saw a huge spike in minutes last night skating over 24 with over four on the top power play unit. He notched an assist and has three points in the last two games. I wish we could count on these minutes continuing but you just never know when they are going to turn back to Eric Gelinas.

 

Martin Brodeur got the start in this one and put up some very solid numbers. The Devils are only four points back of a wild card spot but it's pretty unrealistic that they'll get in. Do they ride Brodeur down the stretch as a sort of olive branch?

 

*

 

It was a backup battle in Pittsburgh with the Kings in town.

 

How kind of the Penguins to save as Marc-Andre Fleury owners from ourselves. But it's really the least they could do since they've made the decision to stop playing defense in front of him. Seriously, Fleury has been hot garbage since the Olympics and it's led to a bunch of starts for Jeff Zatkoff who has started six of 15.

 

And look, I get that the Penguins are seriously banged up right now – they lost Marcel Goc last night – but they've been banged up all season. It wasn't until recently that they had turned Fleury back into a sieve. But hey, you know the old saying, "we want to valley in time for playoffs."

 

You've got to figure the Penguins are missing Evgeni Malkin. They spent a quarter of the game on the power play and went 0/7, though they did have a goal by Brandon Sutter called back. The Penguins are just 1/13 with the man advantage over three games with Malkin out, which is no sample size to draw conclusions from but it's helped drop the Penguins to second in power play efficiency.

 

Olli Maatta has grabbed some of the top power play unit minutes with Malkin out but it has yet to bear fruit.

 

Jussi Jokinen got some run there as well but he was held off the scoresheet likewise.

Jokinen, by the way, is the last guy to jump straight from Finland to the NHL and have success, by the way. He scored 55 points for the Stars as a rookie back in 2005-06. Although it's probably worth mentioning that scoring 55 points that season was like scoring 40 now that they aren't calling penalties with anywhere near the same frequency.

 

Matt Niskanen is slumping at the worst time for poolies. He has scored seven points in 15 games post-Olympics, which is still good but a far cry from what he was doing pre-Olympics. And the fear is that he falls even further if Kris Letang decides he's ready to go again, which could happen at any time now.

 

*

 

Let's shoot some credit to Martin Jones though. He stopped 35 of 37 shots for the win.

 

Dustin Brown is having a pretty productive post-Olympic run despite skating on the third line. He's scored 10 points in his last 13 games.

 

Speaking of which, Alec Martinez is enjoying an unholy run right now with six goals and 11 points in 14 games post-Olympics. I don't get it. He hasn't once skated more than 20 minutes in a game and is only receiving second unit PP time, yet six of his 11 points have come with the man advantage. Don't question it, just get in on it if you can.

 

*

 

What a doozy in Detroit. It was a pretty tight contest throughout but the floodgates were wide open.

 

Tomas Plekanec scored the game's first two goals including this tic-tac-toe action with PK Subban.

 

Then it was the top line of David Desharnais, Max Pacioretty and Thomas Vanek who took over combining for three goals and six points. Those three are really clicking.

 

*

 

The Red Wings had to mount a few comebacks in this one falling behind by two goals on three separate occasions but they kept the game within reach.

 

Credit the kid line with Tomas Tatar, Riley Sheahan and Tomas Jurco.

 

Tatar was flying with two goals and a number of other chances.

 

Jurco, who was making his return to the lineup after two weeks on the shelf, managed just one assist but had five SOG, a number of which could have been goals.

 

Sheahan had a goal and an assist but wasn't quite as noticeable. It's possible I just wasn't looking though. I have much higher expectations of the other two.

 

Gustav Nyquist managed just one assist (the nerve!) ending his six-game goal streak but extending his point streak to seven.

 

David Legwand has seven points in 11 contests since joining the Red Wings but he's slowed down of late and has fallen to minus-eight over that stretch. I'm not sure they were looking for such a spot-on replacement for Stephen Weiss.

 

Brendan Smith was back on defense in this one after a brief stint as a forward. He didn't look so hot. Definitely still learning. He made a brutal turnover on that goal above.

 

I remember back before Smith went pro he was part of a much vaunted group of defensemen at the University of Wisconsin that was supposed to be a great NHL pipeline. I won't deny that Wisconsin had an inordinate number of NHL defensemen on their roster during Smith's time in there but now that they've all graduated that group suddenly isn't looking so hot. I dunno, you be the judge:

 

Smith, Ryan McDonagh, Jamie McBain, Davis Drewiske, Cody Goloubef, Jake Gardiner and Justin Schultz.

 

Most of these guys are all still 25 or under so there's a lot of development to be done but I've got to say, outside of McDonagh this group has disappointed to date.

 

*

 

The Tampa Bay Lightning scraped out a win from the Islanders going about 1000 rounds in the skills competition.

 

Bishop allowed less than three goals for just the third time since the Olympics. He has kept on winning but Rask has ripped the Vezina away from him.

 

Ryan Callahan scored both goals for the Lightning. His fantasy value has received a nice kick with eight points in 11 games in Tampa.

 

*

 

Kyle Okposo missed last night's contest with a LBI. He's been nursing that for about a week now without missing time but he'd gone scoreless in three straight probably best that he sit out.

 

John Persson was called up in his stead. Persson went scoreless in his NHL debut. Persson made nine rookies in the Islander lineup last night.

 

Anders Lee put an end to a three-game scoreless drought with an assist. He also landed five SOG. As much as I think he is hitting well above his weight right now I can't help but love the way he is shooting without conscience. It's too small a sample to be conclusive but his current shot rate would see him land 277 SOG over a full season.

 

Matt Donovan might be worth a grab. He notched a goal and an assist last night and has five points in his last six games.

 

*

 

Roberto Luongo left last night's contest in the first period after getting run by Radek Dvorak. He did not return. No word on how much time he'll miss.

 

Dvorak was assessed a match penalty but it didn't look intentional to me. It actually looked like Erik Gudbranson helped him along.

 

The penalty didn't hurt Carolina any as they shutout the Panthers. Anton Khudobin got the win, a rarity for him lately. Not because of poor play but just because the Hurricanes aren't very good. He'd like a few more starts against the Panthers though. Khudobin has beaten them three times this season. This was also his first shutout of the season.

 

Jiri Tlusty scored a couple of goals last night. His second half has been fairly productive with 16 points in 26 games since the start of January. I thought he was basically done with last year simply being a fluke but as always is the case with these extremes things seem to settle in at a happy medium over the long haul.

 

Jeff Skinner has been incredibly streaky this season but with a goal last night he has points in three straight and another hot streak.

 

*

 

On the Florida side the league's most depressing team leading scorer, Scottie Upshall was held off the board but he did fire seven SOG. He's had a very nice season in rotisserie leagues.

 

*

 

The Blues stomped the Wild rather predictably last night winning 5-1. Only a late goal prevented Ryan Miller from recording his first shutout with the Blues.

 

Everyone thought it was hyperbole when I said Miller might have become the best goalie to own in fantasy after he was dealt to the Blues but here we are 12 games in and he's 9-2-1 with a 0.918 save percentage and a 2.05 goals-against average. According to FrozenPool's Goalie Big Board, Miller has been the best goalie in fantasy over the last month.

 

TJ Oshie led the way with his first career hat-trick, which helped him over the 20-goal and 60-point plateaus for the first time in his career. It feels like 80 different Blues have had breakout seasons this year but it's Oshie who has been most special. He has quietly assumed the team lead in scoring.

 

Jay Bouwmeester notched a couple of assists last night. His scoring has between few and far between in the second half with just 10 points in 34 contest since the calendar flipped to 2014.

 

*

 

I touched on Minnesota yesterday and everything I said is still relevant.

 

Darcy Kuemper is slumping in a big way.

 

So is Mikael Granlund now that they've bumped him off the top power play unit. He even suffered the indignity of some shifts alongside Dany Heatley's corpse at even strength last night. They both went minus-two.

 

*

 

Nashville hammered Buffalo last night, which isn't all that surprising. Still, it's impressive to see the Predators put on such an offensive display. They've been scorching hot over the past week scoring 18 goals over four games.

 

Matt Cullen has been one of the main culprits scoring seven points over those four games. Before you get any bright ideas about picking him up, just remember that this is how Nashville does things. One guy will get hot for a week and then disappear for three.

 

Seriously, this is not the first time this season Cullen has scored seven points in a four-game stretch. The last time it happened he followed it up by going scoreless in nine straight games. So who wants to bet he doesn't score another point this season?

 

Patric Hornqvist is another one who has been rolling. He has five points in the last three games. I'm much more confident in his ability to maintain a scoring pace for the rest of the season. Though it's worth mentioning that the Predators have "stacked" their top line with Cullen, Mike Fisher and Hornqvist so maybe this trio just rolls until the end of the season.

 

It's also possible that this whole fire was lit by Calle Jarnkrok getting called up. He's skated in four games now and has a point in every single one, including his first NHL goal last night. It's too early to tell for sure but I am bullish on Jarnkrok. I think that next season he can have at least the impact that someone like Tatar has had in Detroit this year.

 

Colton Sissons also scored his first NHL goal last night.

 

The defensemen in Nashville are much more reliable, however. After all, Shea Weber is their leading scorer. Roman Josi would probably be second if not for his early season struggles caused by an injury.

 

Josi's second half numbers – 22 points in 34 games – are spectacular. Definitely keep him in mind for your draft next season.

 

Seth Jones missed his second straight game with concussions symptoms. The official word is "concussion-like symptoms" but you know how it is. If it looks like a dog, smells like a dog and barks like a dog, it's definitely suffering from dog-like symptoms.

 

*

 

The duo of Tyler Ennis and Drew Stafford has been pretty much the only thing of note fantasy-wise in Buffalo since Miller left. They each went minus-three last night and may be headed towards a slump with Ennis scoreless in two and Stafford scoreless in three.

 

Injuries forced Rasmus Ristolainen and Johan Larsson to be called up for last night's game. It's a good thing too, otherwise the Sabres probably would have been shutout. The pair combined on Buffalo's lone goal.

 

For those of you still clinging to Cory Conacher dreams, he's gone scoreless in three straight since lighting up the Oilers and sits at five points in 10 games with Buffalo. Fading fast.

 

*

 

Vancouver refuses to lay down and die forcing overtime against the Avalanche last night. They ultimately lost, however and that combined with Phoenix's win, leaves them with increasingly diminished odds of making the playoffs.

 

Zack Kassian continued his late season assault on the score sheet, giving him six points in the last three games. David Booth has four points over the same stretch. Better late than never, right?

 

*

 

Matt Duchene led the way for Colorado with a goal and an assist to reach the 70-point plateau for the first time in his career. It most certainly won't be the last.

 

Gabriel Landeskog reached a milestone of his own hitting the 60-point mark. I haven't heard anyone say boo about Landeskog's season but he has been one of the most remarkable performers, especially in rotisserie leagues but even in points-only, he is sitting just outside of the top-25 scorers.

 

Tyson Barrie scored the overtime winner, his 10^th goal of the season. This guy is going to be something special in fantasy leagues if the Avs can keep their forward group together.

 

*

 

Winnipeg stole victory from San Jose in overtime to keep their slimmest of playoff hopes alive.

 

Tobias Enstrom buried the winner, his ninth goal of the season. He's been so brutal all year I barely noticed he was converging on double-digit goals. He has scored eight points in his last seven games. It's as though he thinks you only have to show up for the first and last couple weeks of the season.

 

Blake Wheeler had a very strong performance in this one with a goal and two assists. He's one of those guys who can be infuriating to own because of how inconsistent his scoring can be. He has nearly as many multi-point efforts this season (17) as single-point efforts (24).

 

Bryan Little has a four-game scoring streak going. He's already set a new career high for points but he's one off the 60-point plateau.

 

Devin Setoguchi was a healthy scratch. Evander Kane "likes" that apparently:

 

Interesting: A tweet from @winnipegsun reporting that Devin Setoguchi was a healthy scratch was favorited by Evander Kane. h/t @RickRalphTSN

— Drew Mindell (@ICdrew) March 28, 2014

Take from that what you will.

 

For all the Ondrej Pavelec haters like myself who called for Al Montoya to get more burn, his run since Pavelec got hurt has not been pretty. He did hang on for the win last night but it's pretty clear to me this team needs to look elsewhere in the off-season. That's if they can stomach an amnesty buyout.

 

*

 

Marty Havlat notched two assists last night and Dan Boyle scored a goal. What is this, Night of the Living Dead?

 

Boyle actually has a three-game scoring streak on the go.

 

James Sheppard got two assists of his own last night. Did you know he has 13 points in his last 17 games? Sometimes I just don't get it.

 

*

 

Steve Downie has missed the last BLANK contests.

 

 

Homer says a concussion has not been ruled out with Downie, but that he is making progress and could skate Thurs.#Flyers

— Sam Carchidi (@BroadStBull) March 26, 2014

 

 

 

If it is a concussion that makes, what, a half-dozen for him? Not good.

 

*

 

Anatolyi Metter gives you the best defensemen under 25% owned. He's also got the best forwards under 25% owned. Some tasty pickups in there for your fantasy playoffs.

 

*

 

Sean McIndoe looks at the miserable state of Canadian NHL teams.

 

*

 

Check out this interesting profile on Mike Keenan, now coaching in the KHL.

 

*

 

This feature on the Finnish goaltending structure and the man who helped create it, Urpo Ylonen, is an absolute must read.

 

*

 

Bloge Salming returns with James Reimer's new single, Number One.

 

*

 

You can follow me on Twitter @SteveLaidlaw.