The show must go one and we are here to help you through this trying time. To be honest when I heard about the NHL 'pause' I was selfishly upset for like 30 seconds because hockey is life. I then quickly realized that without life there would be no hockey and that made the picture a lot clearer. So here I am writing this week's 'Lining Up' to hopefully give you the reader a bit of a break from all things covid-19. This week's edition I will look over the top lines for the entire season. I have used Dobber’s line production tool to compile a list of the top lines at even strength for each team. I will say I was surprised to see a couple of lines near the top of the list despite their team being out of a playoff spot.

Rank	Team	Line	Points
1	BOS	BERGERON,PATRICE – MARCHAND,BRAD – PASTRNAK,DAVID	102
2	MTL	DANAULT,PHILLIP – GALLAGHER,BRENDAN – TATAR,TOMAS	78
3	WPG	CONNOR,KYLE – LAINE,PATRIK – SCHEIFELE,MARK	74
4	FLA	BARKOV,ALEKSANDER – DADONOV,EVGENII – HUBERDEAU,JONATHAN	72
5	T.B	KUCHEROV,NIKITA – POINT,BRAYDEN – STAMKOS,STEVEN	70
6	EDM	DRAISAITL,LEON – NUGENT-HOPKINS,RYAN – YAMAMOTO,KAILER	67
7	NYR	FAST,JESPER – PANARIN,ARTEMI – STROME,RYAN	62
8	TOR	HYMAN,ZACH – MARNER,MITCHELL – MATTHEWS,AUSTON	61
9	NSH	BONINO,NICK – GRIMALDI,ROCCO – SMITH,CRAIG	59
10	L.A	BROWN,DUSTIN – IAFALLO,ALEX – KOPITAR,ANZE	58
11	BUF	EICHEL,JACK – OLOFSSON,VICTOR – REINHART,SAM	54
12	VAN	BOESER,BROCK – MILLER,J.T. – PETTERSSON,ELIAS	53
13	NYI	BARZAL,MATHEW – EBERLE,JORDAN – LEE,ANDERS	51
14	VGK	KARLSSON,WILLIAM – MARCHESSAULT,JONATHAN – SMITH,REILLY	48
15	COL	LANDESKOG,GABRIEL – MACKINNON,NATHAN – RANTANEN,MIKKO	45
16	PIT	GUENTZEL,JAKE – MALKIN,EVGENI – RUST,BRYAN	45
17	CAR	AHO,SEBASTIAN – SVECHNIKOV,ANDREI – TERAVAINEN,TEUVO	44
18	CGY	BACKLUND,MIKAEL – MANGIAPANE,ANDREW – TKACHUK,MATTHEW	43
19	DET	BERTUZZI,TYLER – LARKIN,DYLAN – MANTHA,ANTHONY	41
20	N.J	COLEMAN,BLAKE – GUSEV,NIKITA – ZAJAC,TRAVIS	41
21	WSH	BACKSTROM,NICKLAS – OVECHKIN,ALEX – WILSON,TOM	41
22	MIN	STAAL,ERIC – ZUCCARELLO,MATS – ZUCKER,JASON	39
23	ARI	DVORAK,CHRISTIAN – GARLAND,CONOR – HALL,TAYLOR	36
24	CHI	KANE,PATRICK – KUBALIK,DOMINIK – TOEWS,JONATHAN	34
25	PHI	COUTURIER,SEAN – GIROUX,CLAUDE – VORACEK,JAKUB	33
26	ANA	HENRIQUE,ADAM – RAKELL,RICKARD – SILFVERBERG,JAKOB	30
27	STL	O’REILLY,RYAN – PERRON,DAVID – SANFORD,ZACH	25
28	S.J	GOODROW,BARCLAY – HERTL,TOMAS – MEIER,TIMO	20
29	CBJ	BJORKSTRAND,OLIVER – JENNER,BOONE – NYQUIST,GUSTAV	19
30	OTT	BROWN,CONNOR – PAGEAU,JEAN-GABRIEL – TKACHUK,BRADY	18
31	DAL	BENN,JAMIE – RADULOV,ALEXANDER – SEGUIN,TYLER	13

Boston Bruins

Patrice Bergeron – David Pastrnak – Brad Marchand

If you were able to snag a piece of this line at any point this season than you were able to reap the benefits. Being an owner of Pastrnak for the last couple of seasons I have grown to love this line even if they are a Maple Leafs killer. Together this season they have combined for a dominant 102 points which is 30 more points than they had all of last season. If the season resumes play, they will come back rested and ready to add to this total. David Pastrnak is currently tied for the lead in the Rocket Richard race with 48 goals which bests his previous high of 38 from last season. Let's hope the season starts where they left off so we can see how many goals he finishes with.

Montreal Canadiens

Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher – Tomas Tatar

If there was an award for a line that surprised me the most, I would have to give it to these guys right here. Keeping these players together for most of the season gave the Canadiens at least one scoring line. One that stayed consistent while they had a few different players miss time due to injury. Tomas Tatar is having a career year posting highs in assists and points. His goal totals are down a little, but he is turning into more than just a goal-scorer. His chances-for is over 60 percent. If the season comes back and doesn't jump straight into the playoff, I would look for Tatar to stay hot and break the 70-point mark.

Winnipeg Jets

Kyle Connor – Patrik Laine – Mark Scheifele

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If the playoffs start soon without finishing the season, then the Jets will be on as they own the first wild card slot in the west. Kyle Connor has been everything you would hope he would become scoring 38 goals and adding 35 assists to put him over a point per game for the first time in his brief career. Patrik Laine has become more of a team player this year as he tried to redevelop himself into a 200-foot player and a better teammate. Mark Scheifele could be known as Mr. Consistent. Over the last four seasons, he has hovered around the one-point per game mark. His goal numbers are down this year but if the season does start again, he will certainly get over the 30-goal mark.

Florida Panthers

Aleksander Barkov – Evgenii Dadonov – Jonathan Huberdeau

The Florida Panthers are currently out of the playoffs despite this first line's efforts. Recently this line has been separated as to generate more offence but all it really did was put the team into an offensive hole. They have been struggling recently. Aleksander Barkov has had zero points over the last six games. Evgenii Dadonov has just one assist over that timeframe and Jonathan Huberdeau also has just one point scoring a goal two games ago. If the regular season does resume this line will need to step up their game if the Panthers want to make the playoffs.

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On a different note, I just want to mention that we are all here for you. If you need someone to talk too please don't hesitate to hit me up on twitter even if it's just to chat about life. Everyone's mental health is the most important thing right now and we need to be there for each other.

Thanks for reading and stay safe out there.

Aaron

UPCOMING GAMES

Mar 16 - 13:03	DET	vs	VGK
Mar 16 - 15:03	COL	vs	DAL
Mar 16 - 18:03	STL	vs	ANA
Mar 16 - 19:03	NYR	vs	EDM
Mar 16 - 19:03	NYI	vs	FLA
Mar 16 - 20:03	VAN	vs	UTA
Mar 16 - 21:03	SEA	vs	WPG