Happy St. Patrick’s Day

I celebrated on Saturday with green beer and UFC – that way I could do it right!

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Saturday’s win for Ben Bishop gives him 31 – and that’s actually a club record for the Lightning. I have a slim lead in my one keeper and Bishop, who amazingly still fell to me in the eighth round last summer in a 15-team league in which we keep 12 (and three of the players I kept were goalies), has been the difference-maker for me.

Interesting to see that since the Lightning stopped scratching Mike Kostka, he has three points in five games and is averaging up around 18 minutes of ice time. Probably worth a short-term grab for your playoff run if you need to plug  hole.

Tyler Johnson is two goals shy of 23, which would tie Stamkos’ rookie record. But as Johnson says:

"I think he was 18 when he did that feat right? And if I'm not mistaken he got 60 when he was 20 or 21″

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As I kinda figured when he got the monkey off his back last week – since Brandon Pirri scored his first Florida goal last week he has continued on with five points in four games. Definitely worth an add. In fact, he’s a great Cam Atkinson replacement for the stretch run.

Another former Blackhawk – Jimmy Hayes – has eight points in his last eight games for the Panthers. I have more faith in Pirri (higher upside) keeping it up than Hayes, but Hayes is still a pretty good short-term option. And at this point in the season, all options are short-term, really. Short-term pretty much carries you to the end.

Vincent Trocheck scored in his second straight game, but he also played an eye-popping 24 minutes Sunday. A forward with six career NHL games under his belt. But this was mostly due to Jonathan Huberdeau leaving the game with a UBI. No word on the seriousness…

Get the lowdown on Pirri here, Trocheck here and Hayes here. All you need to know.

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Speaking of monkeys off of backs, Alexandre Burrows. He scored his first goal of the season in his 36th game last week. Now he has six points in his last four contests, 6 PIM and 11 shots on goal. He’s back clicking with Henrik.

While Daniel sits out, prospect Nicklas Jensen has been doing a nice job on the big line. He has three points in four games and is plus-3 with eight shots. The last three games he’s averaging close to 20 minutes. Daniel is likely out until the playoffs…which probably means he’s out until next season, since the Canucks will fall short of a spot in my opinion.

Jensen fantasy scouting report here.

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Marian Hossa returned to action Sunday and tallied three points. But the hockey gods giveth and the hockey gods taketh away – Brandon Saad left with a UBI midway through the second. It sounds like he won’t miss too much time.

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Also with a big night – Blake Wheeler, with four assists.

But fantasy owners are paying attention to his teammate, Tobias Enstrom. As we know, Enstrom has crapped the bed this year. After six points in the first five games of the season, he managed just 14 in the next 62. But he has four points in two games now and was plus-4 Sunday. He also had a seven-shot game last week, so it’s looking like he’s fighting through this. But his slump was so brutal that his value is low and untrustworthy. I’m still not in a place where I would pay the price of a steady 45-point defenseman for him. Whereas last September I certainly would have.

Four-game points streak for Michael Frolik. I think he’s done the best we could have hoped for, in his first year as a Jet. And I think there is potential for much more. He is looking pretty good for 45 points. Nice goal here:

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Vladimir Tarasenko underwent hand surgery and he is done for the season. He will be “re-evaluated” in six weeks. Re-evaluated…that’s not the word you want to see before “six weeks”. Hopefully his surgery will be successful. Two years in the NHL, 10 games missed with a concussion, and 15 games missed with a hand injury. Just saying.

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Dustin Tokarski earned his first NHL shutout Sunday. I think that’s the last we’ll see of him this year, as Price is now healthy. But what an impression – three games, two wins, one shutout.

But the fantasy focus was on the other end Sunday – Michal Neuvirth is sidelined with an LBI and Jhonas Enroth had to leave the game with a right leg injury. Looks like a charley horse to me:

So Nathan Lieuwen, who apparently played both Friday and Saturday in the AHL, played again Sunday and stopped all 10 shots faced.

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Big news – Kris Letang, who has been skating on his own, has been cleared to return to practice. To me, best-case scenario is that we will see him back by the weekend. But that’s just Dr. Dobber’s guess, and it’s best-case.

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After watching at least half of his shifts in his first two games in the NHL, I had figured Evgeny Kuznetsov would be weak as a late-season fantasy add. Strong for the Calder next year, but for this year I rolled my expectations back. He was creating chances, but was struggling with timing. Two games later and he has four points. All he needed was for me to stop watching him. So – color me wrong again. I’ve had a rough week or two in general with what I project here and elsewhere, as well as with my own decision-making in fantasy leagues. So take today’s ramblings with a grain of salt ;) – I’m in a “slump” you could say.

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Jaroslav Halak has a .924 SV% with Washington. Halak owners should pray that he re-signs there. Ironically, he is the reason for the Caps being in flux the last several years. He shut the door on them in the playoffs when he was with Montreal. So the Caps immediately made the idiotic decision to stop being run-and-gun and focus on defense. Yeah, that works well with an Ovechkin team.

Speaking of Ovechkin, he has been negative in each of his last nine games (minus-14 in that span). The last time he was a plus player was Feb.8

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I wanna see more of this!