The Montreal Canadiens overwhelmed the reeling Ottawa Senators with a 4-1 victory on Saturday night. Alex Galchenyuk managed a couple of points as the Canadiens’ new-look top-line, which features him in the middle of Brendan Gallagher and Max Pacioretty looked nothing short of dominant. 

This Canadiens team is well built to have a good deal of success in the near future, but ultimately I’m convinced that their ceiling will be determined by how well Galchenyuk develops as a top-of-the-lineup two-way pivot. If he becomes the type of centermen we all sort of suspect he can be, then this team will contend in the very near future. He’s seemed well on his way since being moved to pivot full-time. 

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Alex Ovechkin was dominant on Saturday as the hapless New Jersey Devils were defeated by Ovy’s Capitals 4-1. John Carlson managed a pair of assists, Nicklas Backstrom stayed hot with another two goal performance, and Ovechkin scored a vintage goal.

The Devils meanwhile are really, really bad, and seemed to miss injured rookie Damon Severson enormously on Saturday. In his absence, Eric Gelinas played over 20 minutes on Saturday, which might tempt some active waiver wire watchers to claim fantasy hockey’s most infuriating defenseman. It could be worthwhile, but it always could when a guy like Gelinas – who posts excellent rate stats, but can’t seem to stay in Peter De Boer’s lineup with any consistency – sees his minutes spike.

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The New York Islanders showed they’re for real – especially when their defense is healthy – in a mauling performance on Saturday night. That the Islanders needed a come from behind victory to put away a Tampa Bay Lightning team that has struggled by the results of late, but in truth is a credible Stanley Cup contender this season, is really a credit to the stellar play of Andrei Vasilevskiy. In Bishop’s absence Vasilevskiy has shown that he’s ready for prime time, and he was stellar in withstanding the never ending Islanders barrage for nearly the full 60 minutes. Ultimately the damn broke late in the third period, but that was still an encouraging showing from the young Russian-born netminder.

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John Tavares was struck in the ear by a Radko Gudas shot late in the game. Luckily Islanders coach Jack Capuano told reporters after the contest that Tavares is okay, and just required stitches. 

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The game between the Florida Panthers and the Pittsburgh Penguins became something of a sideshow, with Roberto Luongo nearly getting into it with Patric Hornqvist, Evgeni Malkin being called for diving on multiple occassions and Willie Mitchell hitting Kris Letang in the head with Letang’s own helmet. That nonsense served to overshadow a rough hockey game that was actually kind of rivetting (though maybe it was rivetting because of the sideshow element. 

Anyway Steve Downie managed a pair of assists to go along with 17 PIMs, while Aaron Ekblad picked up another point (an assist) in the loss.

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Sergei Bobrovsky stole another one for the Columbus Blue Jackets, who managed a 3-2 victory over Chicago on Saturday despite being outshot by a margin greater than 2:1. Bobrovsky has been unconscious in December, managing an even-strength save percetnage north of .960 in the month, and a .942 overall save percentage. 

The Blue Jackets fell too far behind to early and haven’t been playing well enough aside from Bobrovsky to realistically claw back into the playoff picture, but he’s on a pretty exceptional run of success. 

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The Nashville Predators hung on to win an overtime thriller against the Minnesota Wild. Matthias Ekholm scored the winner on a marvelous individual effort. 

Realistically the Predators were the much better team from beginning to end, particularly because they won the top-of-the-lineup battle. In a game in which former partners Shea Weber and Ryan Suter logged enormous minutes (over 26 minutes for Weber, over 30 for Suter) – the Predators controlled 68 percent of Corsi events with Weber on the ice, while the Wild were in the 30s with Suter on the ice. Essentially the Wild couldn’t handle Nashville’s best shot, and though their depth players fared well, they couldn’t make up the difference.

The Wild are way better then their results so far this season, but putrid goaltending has betrayed them in the early going. That the Predators crushed them in this manner, with their top-line and top-pair showing so well in the game, is a very good sign for Nashville. Though I remain concerned about the quality of their centermen, the Predators are looking more and more legitimate by the day.

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The Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks – two teams mired in an extended losing streak – each got a point on Saturday night, with the Canucks taking the extra one early in overtime on a Chris Tanev goal. 

The Flames are bound for the bottom of the table, and a probable high draft pick, where the Canucks are bound for the playoff bubble. Neither team is as good as their early season record suggested, and now it’s just about how far they’ll regress. 

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Finally the San Jose Sharks defeated the St. Louis Blues in overtime, and having watched the game closely last night, I have no idea how Patrick Marleau didn’t have several points. He was flying all game, but didn’t end up on the scoresheet. Still, five shots on goal and four hits is an outing Marleau’s fantasy owners will surely take.