Burns on a legendary pace, Wheeler a point-per-game player, some lesser known prospects to watch at the World Juniors and more.

The struggling Lightning did enough to chase Braden Holtby, scoring three goals on just 12 shots to push the elite starter out of the game. They couldn’t get anything past Philipp Grubauer as the Capitals mounted a furious rally led by Alexander Ovechkin.

Not a bad way for Ovechkin to end his little slump. Two goals and four points, with nine shots and four hits. That’s why he’s the best option there is in a rotisserie league.

TJ Oshie matched Ovechkin’s four-point effort with one of his own. It’s been helter skelter for Oshie owners as he has more goose eggs on the season than he has games with points. Fortunately, half of the games in which he has scored have been multi-point efforts. Even after the binge last night Oshie is on pace for just 55 points, which is right up his alley.

Have you heard the rumours that Marcus Johansson may be made available? A lot of it seems to hinge on whether or not Andre Burakovsky proves himself a viable second-line winger. I think he proved himself in that role last season but clearly Barry Trotz hasn’t bought in. Burakovsky has received less than 10 minutes of action in each of the past five games.

Not that Burakovsky not getting much of a chance is a surprise. Trotz isn’t exactly known for giving young guys a chance until they are ready. We can’t say Trotz ruins guys though. Not with how Evgeny Kuznetsov has broken out.

It’s hard to see Burakovsky emerging enough to make Johansson expendable. Johansson is solid and responsible two-way winger.

Johansson couldn’t find a better situation than he is in right now so don’t think a deal would improve his outlook. Skating on the second line with Kuznetsov and top power-play unit with Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom is just about the best situation in the business.

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Steven Stamkos scored his first goal since November 21, a stretch of 10 straight without a goal.

Nikita Kucherov remains hot even with Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson back on the shelf. He has eight points in the last seven games. The window to buy is probably shut for a bit but if he stumbles again I would make your pitch.

Andrej Sustr skated over 20 minutes for the first time all season. I don’t see him becoming fantasy relevant stuck behind Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman but this is a sign the coaching staff is looking at other options to do some heavy lifting on defense behind their top pairing. If Sustr could emerge that would really solve some problems.

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Christmas break cannot come soon enough for the Penguins as they got hammered by the Bruins 6-2 with Jeff Zatkoff on the hook for all six goals. It was already likely that we would see Matt Murray tonight against the Hurricanes but this all but seals it.

It’s a good thing for Murray that Roberto Luongo shutout the Hurricanes to cool off Jeff Skinner ahead of this matchup.

Sidney Crosby did manage a couple of points for Pittsburgh.

The story, if there is one, is of Conor Sheary scoring his first NHL goal and adding an assist in just his second NHL game. Sheary was lined up with Crosby and Chris Kunitz all night, skating 14:46 with 3:14 on the power play. Not bad. I am not buying Sheary stock just yet but know that he is skating with the big guns on the league’s third lowest scoring team.

Trevor Daley scored his first goal of the season and led the Penguins in ice time with 20:56. He also had four shots. Daley still has usurped David Warsofsky for a spot on the Penguins’ top PP unit but maybe tonight.

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What was more impressive; Frank Vatrano’s hat-trick or Ryan Spooner’s four assists?

I’m not sure but I know the guy I would buy is Spooner. While he is only centering the third line, Spooner skates on the top PP unit for league’s most efficient man-advantage. The Bruins have clicked on 29.2% of all PP chances, still a ludicrous success rate.

The four assists caps off quite the hot streak for Spooner as he has scored 10 points in the last six games and is now on pace for 58 points. That total is plausible but it seems high. I like for Spooner for 50, tops.

As for Vatrano, I am really intrigued by his skill set but the situation just isn’t ripe for him. The Bruins have a bunch of talented wingers that he just isn’t likely to surpass for minutes. He actually might have been working his way to a demotion if not for the hat-trick as Vatrano had seen his minutes drop over the course of a nine-game scoring slump.

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Brent Burns is entering some esteemed waters. I’m not talking about the two-point night that pushed him into sole possession of third on the defenseman scoring list. As impressive as that is, there is little chance Burns is catching Erik Karlsson or John Klingberg. It just ain’t happening.

What was impressive was Burns’ continued barrage of shots on opposition goaltenders. He had another seven SOG last night, leaving him second in the league behind only Ovechkin. Burns is on pace for 372 SOG this season. Here is your list of defensemen with over 350 SOG in a season:

Bobby Orr

Ray Bourque

And that’s it.

This might be my new muse, tracking Burns’ shot total. I’d love to see him get to 350 just for the audacity of it. Defensemen should just not be taking, nor landing this many shots on target. I’m loathe to look up how many shots Burns has taken that have missed entirely for fear that such knowledge will melt my brain.

Just when you thought Joe Thornton was completely fading away, three-game scoring streak. Not enough to get him on pace for a respectable point total but enough to let you know he is still alive. I do think a second-half binge should goose Thornton to the 60-point mark once again but this will be close.

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The Rangers’ slide continues and it is dropping Henrik Lundqvist back to the pack. He had to stumble eventually but this is now four straight appearances that would not qualify for quality start status. I’m not worried about Lundqvist but he has likely lost his owners this week’s head-to-head matchup so I wouldn’t be ashamed if you have lost a little confidence.

The Rangers got Derek Stepan back from injury. He skated 18:47 and was a minus-two. Not as bad as Derick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello who were each a minus-four.

Oscar Lindberg was a healthy scratch as the rookie forward has been mired in quite the slump. He and Kevin Hayes were working magic together when they were left with mere third-line duties. Once Stepan went down the offense really dried up for these guys. I’d expect him to start rolling again now that Stepan is back.

It is worth mentioning that Lindberg and Hayes both had on-ice shooting percentages in the teens, indicating they were experiencing a good case of puck luck so some of this slump could be simple regression.

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Connor Hellebuyck ends the slide at two games. He is now 5-2 as an NHLer. Here to stay? Too early to say for sure but if this were all based purely on merit Hellebuyck would be the starter for the rest of the season.

Yet another player with a four-point night, Blake Wheeler went off with four assists. The big winger continues to produce at a point-per-game rate and I am absolutely not putting it past him to continue scoring like this all season. He has the talent to score 80 though it is more likely that he finishes with 70.

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That’s four straight games without a point for Dylan Larkin, the longest slump of his young career. It feels like this is where he starts to fall out of the Calder race.

Meanwhile, Pavel Datsyuk is just starting to heat up. Four points in his last four games.

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Henrik Sedin was absent for the Canucks last night due to a lower-body injury. No word on the extent of his injury but it was substantial enough to spook Canucks brass into keeping Jared McCann with the team, in lieu of releasing him to play at the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championships.

Somehow, the Canucks managed to scrape together enough offense to win in the shootout last night. Credit McCann for some of it as he scored a goal, his first in over a month.

Radim Vrbata continued his on-again/off-again relationship with scoring as he added a goal and an assist. Probably only 50 points to be had for Vrbata as the scoring just hasn’t come with enough consistency.

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Since the WJC was mentioned I figure now is as good a time as any to bring up some names that popped out to me as candidates to snap up in your keeper league now and try to cash in on the hype of the big tournament. This is an old Jeff Angus theory but it’s one I firmly believe in. Just last year I turned Gustav Forsling and Oskar Lindblom into Alec Martinez.

If you are asking, “Who?” with regard to those two prospects, my point exactly.

The idea is to snap up guys who aren’t already owned but will excel at the upcoming World Junior tournament and trade up for some established talent once everyone has seen their skills on a big stage. For that reason I will be avoiding obvious names like William Nylander.

By the way, both Forsling and Lindblom will be back at the tournament again this year so they are candidates once again. Other guys I am looking at:

Joe Hicketts – the only returning defenseman for Canada. He is a slick little puck-mover who could fit the mould of Torey Krug or Shayne Gostisbehere for the Red Wings one day.

Colin White – I have to admit that outside of draft highlight clips, I have never seen a second of action from the Senators’ 2015 first rounder. Everything I have heard is amazing. The hype is similar to that of now Calder candidate Dylan Larkin. White is making mincemeat of US college hockey as an 18-year-old freshman with 23 points in 16 games and should stand out at this tournament.

Christian Dvorak – A member of London’s elite top line with top 2016 draft prospect Matthew Tkachuk and Toronto first rounder Mitch Marner, Dvorak is turning the OHL inside out. Now, as a 19-year-old, Dvorak gets a big stage to flash his prodigious skills. He might only be the fourth or fifth best prospect in the Coyotes’ system depending on whether or not you have graduated Max Domi and Anthony Duclair but that just speaks to how deep the prospect pool is in the desert. I have few doubts that Dvorak will shine at this tournament.

Sonny Milano – One of a few prospects already playing pro hockey in North America, Milano nearly made the Blue Jackets out of training camp and has been competing against men ever since. With 11 points in 22 games at the AHL level, Milano probably won’t be sniffing the NHL this season but he should cruise through the immature talent at this tournament.

Brayden Point – It seems like any and every Lightning prospect is worth taking a chance on. The diminutive center scored 91 points in his draft year but still slipped to the third round. Tyler Johnson 2.0?

Vili Saarijarvi – I am hearing comparisons to Finnish countryman Sami Vatanen for Saarijarvi. He should be running the Finns’ top power-play unit and it could be a good one. He has already made the leap to North America as he is competing in the OHL so he may arrive to the NHL sooner than later. Oh yeah, and this is another Red Wings defensive prospect. There is a definite need on this team!

I’ve linked to the Dobber Prospects profiles for all of these guys. You’ll note that there is no link for Saarijarvi. He is so far off the radar that we don’t even have a profile up for him. Not for long!

We are hosting our eighth annual World Junior fantasy pool in the forums. It’s free to enter and a heck of a lot of fun. Click here to find out more.

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Rob Vollman has an excellent piece that chips away at the notion that Erik Karlsson isn’t good defensively.

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It sounds like Martin Hanzal is ready to return to action tonight.

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Kyle Okposo is set to miss the next two games with a lower-body injury. It’s nice to have a specific timeline so kudos to Jack Capuono.

Ryan Strome will bump up the second line with Frans Nielsen and Brock Nelson, while Anders Lee and Josh Bailey will flank John Tavares. Perhaps this shuffling of the deck will spark the dormant Islander offense.

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The word is that Garrett Sparks will be out long term so there goes one waiver wire goalie option.

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The latest on Michael Frolik is that he will be out for a few weeks. No surgery required so that is a positive.

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The Blackhawks will lose Marcus Kruger for four months after surgery to repair a dislocated wrist. That’s a huge loss, one that will certainly affect their goaltending. Kruger is a prized shutdown centerman and penalty killer. There’s no simple replacement for his skills.

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Dobber answers your fantasy hockey questions in his latest Q&A.

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Ian Gooding fills in for Dobber with some studs and duds.

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Pierre LeBrun’s latest rumblings blog focuses on how Stamkos’ no-movement clause has really handcuffed the Lightning.

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Thanks for reading. You can follow me on Twitter @SteveLaidlaw.