They lose a little bit of cred for padding the stats with an empty-netter but the Patrick Kane–Brad Richards–Bryan Bickell line clicked for three goals and eight points last night, which is a great sign. I was going to mention how Bickell has been heating up of late but I don't trust that dude enough to consider this anything more than coincidence.

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I mentioned Varlamov and the Avalanche above. They did it again last night blowing the doors off Craig Anderson and the Senators despite getting outshot 38-21. One more and it’s a streak!

Jarome Iginla led the offense with two goals, giving him 10 in his last 21 games, a far cry from the mere two he scored over the first 20 games of the season. Is he getting more comfortable, fulfilling his promise as a slow starter or simply having greater fortune? How about this – who cares? Iginla is fun to own again.

More misery for Nathan MacKinnon owners as he saw just 13 seconds of power play time last night.

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I don't know how Mike Smith got the next start for the Coyotes after the Blues dumped gasoline all over him and David Backes lit the match but full credit to Smith, he came out and stopped 34 of 35 for the win over the Jets. Maybe this is politics because Smith has the big contract or maybe they wanted to give him another go after having gotten some practice in with goalie coach Sean Burke having returned from the World Juniors. Who knows?

What we do know is that we haven't seen Devan Dubnyk since he was similarly burned alive at the hands of the Dallas Stars on New Year's Eve.

Martin Hanzal sat out his second straight. No surprise we didn't see much from Sam Gagner or Martin Erat these past couple of games.

We did get a big showing from the Shane Doan–Antoine Vermette–Mikkel Boedker line that we haven't heard a lot from in about a month. That trio got in on a piece of all four Coyote goals. I do wonder if those three don't perform better when Hanzal is out.

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Ondrej Pavelec made his first start since New Year's Eve and got dumped on for four goals once again. That's his third straight start with such a fate. Safe to say Michael Hutchinson will get the next one since they are basically on the "win and you're in formula" in Winnipeg. Can't knock it if it works.

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That 70's Line has been back together for a little while now but I think that Tanner Pearson's goal last night (his first since December 11^th) was the first time that they got all three points on a goal since like mid-November. It's been rough, particularly for Pearson.

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Well, well. The Panthers split up the dynamic duo of Jonathan Huberdeau and Nick Bjugstad only for Huberdeau to go off for two goals alongside Aleksander Barkov. Huberdeau also assisted on Barkov's first goal since Remembrance Day. Is this where Barkov flips the tides back to top dog among Panther centermen? I'm going to go with no but it would be interesting were that the case considering Huberdeau has not exactly been a game changer the past couple of years.

Huge win for Roberto Luongo in his return to Vancouver. Luongo > Ryan Miller. 

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Very excited to have the IR Report back in 2015. The latest article was yesterday so much of the information should still be good. Welcome back, Aaron Brouwer!

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Check out these brief origin stories for all 30 NHL Team Names:

30. San Jose Sharks

Sharks was chosen from 2,300 entries in San Jose’s name-the-team contest. The other finalists included Rubber Puckies, Screaming Squids, Salty Dogs, and Blades. Blades was the most popular entry, but ultimately rejected because of its gang implications. When the nickname was chosen, seven shark species made their home in a stretch of the Pacific Ocean off the California coast called The Red Triangle.

I'm not sure we ever would have gotten Americans into hockey if we had a league with the Mighty Ducks and Rubber Puckies but my goodness would that ever have been hilarious.

Can we all agree to call the Sharks the Rubber Puckies any time they play like they did last night… or reach the playoffs?

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Boedker!

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You can follow me @SteveLaidlaw.