Ward is on a hot streak but it’s not for real, the Devils are overusing Schneider and more…

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Well, well, well. Cam Ward is doing his best to prove that you can in fact unscramble the eggs. He has now won four in a row and has not allowed more than two goals in that stretch. It's somewhat telling that even as he brings his record back to .500 his numbers are still dreadful. He's sitting on an 0.894 save percentage and a 2.72 GAA through eight starts. The smart money is on Ward still being fried.

After all, his little winning streak hasn't exactly come against the best opposition, having beaten the struggling Coyotes, a Kings team playing its third game in four nights on a winless Eastern road trip and now both ends of this back-to-back against a Blue Jackets team so banged up they've had to call in a MASH unit.

But this is a nice reminder of the parity that exists in the NHL. Even the worst teams win 20 or more games so there are going to be stretches where you get good play from starters you wouldn't want to own for a full season.

It should be mentioned that Ward is a notorious slow starter. Here are his career save percentages month-by-month:

October – 0.908

November – 0.900

December – 0.900

January – 0.914

February – 0.907

March – 0.922

April – 0.916

And you can factor in his always impressive playoff numbers if you'd like even if he hasn't played in the playoffs in over five years.

Either way, when Ward's numbers are still awful come New Year's and the Hurricanes are 15 points out of a playoff spot, maybe give him some consideration for a meaningless second half run. That assumes they don't sell off Andrej Sekera and Eric Staal, or course.

Let's not forget about Anton Khudobin, mind you. He was supposed to steal the starter's job from Ward but fell victim to the Hurricanes' horrid start. He hasn't gotten a chance in goal since Staal returned to the lineup so it's hard to totally hold his early performance against him. The problem is that if you write off the early games for Khudobin, you have to do it for Ward as well and I'm pretty sure we just agreed not to do that.

I think it's a long year for Hurricane starters no matter who gets the job but it should be noted I'd rather go with Khudobin over Ward as I think he's a better goalie at this point. That's relative of course, as I'd really prefer to own either in a fantasy league. If you recall, I named Khudobin a Decepticon in my annual grading of the goalies that pop up seemingly from nowhere to gain fantasy prominence. And I'm batting pretty well as far as those columns go.

I'll be curious to see who the Hurricanes trot out there tonight against the Capitals. You figure it'll be Ward, what with the winning streak and all but this being a back-to-back they really ought to give Khudobin a shot.

Were you aware that Staal had a point in all but one game so far this season? He's only made seven appearances for a seemingly lowly six points but he's flashing some of that consistency that he's famous for. See if you can't catch his owner napping with a nice offer.

Elias Lindholm scored the overtime game-winner last night to give him four goals and six points in the last four games. I don't love his situation skating on the second line with Riley Nash and Nathan Gerbe but he's showing results and has upped his shot rate to up over two per game this season. Things are pointing in the right direction, even if his breakout is still a year or two away.

Justin Faulk is riding a top-power-play-unit binge to some exquisite fantasy numbers this week. In the past four games he's fired 19 SOG and has three points to show for it. I think we've deduced that he isn't creative enough to ever bust out as a big-time fantasy defenseman so he'll only ever show flashes like this but I don't want to judge him too quickly. He's still only 22. While I wouldn't necessarily want Faulk in a one-year league, he still has plenty of upside in a keeper. He wouldn't be the first defenseman to take his time before finally "getting it."

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