Because of his prior praise for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Alex Ovechkin has seen his reputation take a major blow recently. With everything going on in the motherland, it will be interesting to see if Ovie's on-ice results are affected. Does he bury himself in his play and even become extra fired up, or does this situation start to get into his head and he becomes rattled? Obviously, he's a competitor and you don't want to bet against him. It is worth mentioning that the Capitals have a higher concentration of core Russian players than the average NHL team, which could also be something to watch.

If Thursday was any indication, Ovechkin should be fine. He scored his 33^rd goal of the season in Thursday's win over Carolina to put him within three goals of Jaromir Jagr for third on the all-time list. Will fans be excited if (when?) Ovie breaks Wayne Gretzky's goal record? Or will it generate the same "meh" reaction that happened when Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's all-time home run record?

Anthony Mantha returned to the lineup for his first game since early November. Mantha played 16:13 on a line with Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie along with second-unit power-play time, but he did not record any points. Mantha is rostered in just under one-third of Yahoo leagues, so he's worth searching for in case he was dropped earlier this season.  

Vitek Vanecek earned a 36-save shutout against the Hurricanes, which was his second shutout in his last four games. That dates all the way back to late January, though. Ilya Samsonov was hurt in practice on Wednesday, so Vanecek could see plenty of work if Samsonov is out for any length of time.

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Since December 1, no defenseman has more goals than Noah Dobson (10). Strangely enough, those are his only 10 goals of the season, so he's not even in the top 5 in that category among all defensemen this season. Regardless, he's emerged as the clear PP1 option on the Islanders blueline and is at the point where he should be rostered in just about every league. Dobson scored one of those goals on Thursday while taking five shots.

Anthony Beauvillier ended a nine-game goal drought by scoring on Thursday. I often come away impressed when I watch him play, so I'm a bit surprised the results haven't been there this season.  Beauvillier made the most recent Top 10 list – this one for players to trade for in keeper leagues. Based on that advice and my own observations and the Isles' high volume of remaining games, I'll hang onto my Beauvillier shares.

Nils Hoglander scored his first goal since New Year's Day, which was also his first point in nine games. His value has declined since the Boudreau hiring, as Bruce has gone on the record stating that he thinks Hoglander needs to improve his overall game. He was placed on the Elias Pettersson line in this game, which might help. Overall, Hoglander is experiencing a sophomore slump, as his icetime is down about two minutes per game as well as his overall point pace. It wouldn't be out of the question for him to spend some time in the AHL if he can't build on Thursday's performance, where he generated three shots as well as three hits.

With a goal on Thursday, J.T. Miller extended his point streak to eight games. Over that span he has 15 points (5 G – 10 A). He's far and away the Canucks' leading scorer this season with 61 points, with no other Canuck forward having even reached the 40-point mark (Quinn Hughes has 43 points). If the Canucks are going to trade him before the deadline, it better be an offer that they can't refuse – whether they are still in the playoff race at that point or not. Aside from maybe Thatcher Demko and his game-saving heroics, Miller is the team's MVP.

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Ryan Hartman scored a pair of goals while taking six shots in the Wild's win over Philly. Hartman broke his recent cold stretch, where he had not scored a goal in his previous seven games and had scored just once in his previous 15 games. All the while, he has remained on the high-performing line with Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello. He was bound to score eventually, even if his goal-scoring earlier this season was unsustainable. Hartman has already reached 20 goals for the first time in his career.

Playing on the other Wild scoring line with Kevin Fiala and Matt Boldy, Frederick Gaudreau has 12 points (6 G – 6 A) in his last 15 games. That includes the goal he scored on Thursday. The "other" Gaudreau is just 3 percent rostered in Yahoo and 14 percent in Fantrax, so he's at least worth a look in deeper leagues.

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Evgeni Malkin has 13 power-play points in 20 games, including a power-play assist to go with an even-strength goal and assist. No one with at least as many power-play points has played in fewer games than Malkin. His goal on Thursday also extended his goal-scoring streak to four games. He's had absolutely no issues since his return.

This seems to happen a lot more to managers in baseball than coaches in hockey. In fact, the last time an NHL coach was ejected from a game was in 2018. So this is sort of entertaining when it happens to an NHL coach.

Jon Cooper gets ejected from Penguins/Lightning pic.twitter.com/e6fGEJqhBU

— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) March 4, 2022

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Anton Forsberg earned his paycheck on Thursday, stopping 45 of 48 shots he faced against Florida, including 25 shots in the first period alone. Meanwhile, Sergei Bobrovsky cruised to an 18-save shutout. Doesn't seem fair, but that's why the team matters a lot when drafting a goalie. Pretty simple.  

Forsberg was at least the goalie that ended Jonathan Huberdeau's point streak at 10 games. Over that span, Huberdeau recorded 17 points, all but two of which were assists.

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Since both James Reimer (now week-to-week) and Adin Hill are battling injuries, the Sharks have acquired Alex Stalock from the Oilers for good ol' future considerations. Stalock may be an option for goaltending starts in the short term, particularly with back-to-backs this weekend against Nashville and Anaheim. Stalock missed all of last season because of COVID complications, so he last played an NHL game during the playoff bubble for Minnesota.

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Video tributes these days are handed out like participation ribbons at elementary school track and field events, but there should be zero doubt that Duncan Keith was deserving of a grand "welcome back" from the Chicago Blackhawks. I'm a Canucks fan, so I naturally have some angst toward Keith. But I'll leave this here anyway.

The @NHLBlackhawks welcomed Duncan Keith back to United Center with an awesome tribute. 👏

(🎥: @NBCSBlackhawks) pic.twitter.com/ZqgsUZoB1E

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 4, 2022

Since joining the Oilers, Evander Kane has seven goals in 16 games, including a pair on Thursday. Kane also took a season-high seven shots in this game. The Oilers used only 11 forwards again on Thursday, which meant that Kane played over 20 minutes for the fourth consecutive game. Even though both Kane and the Oilers have had their own separate issues, the signing appears to be mutually beneficial so far.  

Mikko Koskinen has played in all but four of the Oilers' past 15 games. He seems to stumble less when he is in a timeshare as opposed to when he is the guy. He entered this game with quality starts in each of his last three starts (the really bad start in between was an appearance in relief), but he could not extend that streak in the eventual 4-3 overtime loss.

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Did you pick Craig Smith to score a goal on Thursday? No, you probably didn't, because he hadn't scored a goal in 12 games. Yet he scored three of them on Thursday, while also finishing the game with a plus-3 and four shots.

Trent Frederic chipped in three assists as well, two of them on Smith goals. Frederic had not recorded a point in his previous eight games.

With two goals on Thursday, David Pastrnak has a seven-game point streak. Over that span he has 11 points, including seven goals. Pasta also fired seven shots on Thursday, giving him 34 shots over that streak – an average of nearly five shots per game!

The Golden Knights have won just two of their last eight games. Should we be discussing whether they will be able to hang onto a playoff spot yet? Not having Mark Stone or Max Pacioretty sure doesn't help.

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Get in on Blake Coleman early, folks… or whatever Flames that you can find next week.

Another goal for Blake Coleman tonight to give him 6 points in his past 5 games. He's also over 100 hits and 150 shots for the season. Seems like a good add to me with the Flames playing 5 times next week. #Flames

— Michael Amato (@amato_mike) March 4, 2022

And you should be following Mike on Twitter if you aren't already.

Tyler Toffoli is already rostered in the majority of leagues out there, even though he's just starting to find his form as a Flame. With an assist on Thursday, Toffoli has eight points in eight games with his new team. Six of those points have been scored in the last three games.

The Habs were not expected to be this bad this season, which means that Mike Hoffman hasn't been as good as originally projected. Yet Hoffman had an impressive game on Thursday, scoring a goal while adding three assists with a plus-3. Hoffman entered this game with just one point in his last five games. On what is barely a 40-point pace, Hoffman simply doesn't have a ton of value right now, unless this is something he can build on. At least for multicategory leagues, 10 of Hoffman's 21 points have been on the power play.

With two goals (including the overtime winner) and an assist on Thursday, Ben Chiarot is boosting his trade value. For what it's worth, Chiarot has six points in his last five games. With seven goals on the season, Chiarot has more goals than Kris Letang, Morgan Rielly, Mackenzie Weegar, Torey Krug, Moritz Seider, Brent Burns, Quinn Hughes, and Seth Jones. That's a lot of offensively-minded defensemen. And it also shows how random goals from defensemen can be.

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Cale Makar has a 10-game point streak – all of it assists. Makar hasn't scored a goal in 13 games, but you're probably not complaining about that. Over those 10 games, Makar has 15 assists.

Congratulations if you had the cojones to start Karel Vejmelka against the Avalanche. The Veggie Man stopped 42 of 43 in earning a 2-1 win for the Coyotes. Just like we had all predicted! Vejmelka was starting for the first time in five games, as Scott Wedgewood had started the previous four games for the Yotes.  

This game ended with some shenanigans. Nathan MacKinnon was only missing a goal for a Gordie Howe hat trick. In spite of not scoring a goal, he chipped in big time for the peripheral categories with 7 PIM, 7 SOG, 3 HITS, and 2 BLKS.

Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche) Vs Dysin Mayo (Arizona Coyotes) – 3/3/22 👊 #GoAvsGo #Yotes pic.twitter.com/0sNIyzk015

— Tyler Kasch (@TheTylerKasch) March 4, 2022

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For more fantasy hockey discussion, follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding