Give Lars Eller and Matt Beleskey a look, Bobrovsky and Mike Smith finally win, and more…

*

Good for the banged up Blue Jackets getting a win off the visiting Panthers.

There was a scary moment in warm-up where Sergei Bobrovsky ran into and was felled by a teammate. You'd figure with the luck these guys are having the friction from the collision might have started a fire. Good news, they were both fine and Bob secured his first win in over two weeks.

More good news, Brandon Dubinsky has made it to "day-to-day" status and could be back this week.

Of course, since this is the season from hell, the Blue Jackets found out that they'll lose Artem Anisimov for two to three months with a torn triceps. Anisimov isn't relevant in most leagues but he's a quality third centerman and he made the Blue Jackets a better team. This will hurt Bobrovsky's fantasy owners the most.

*

I wonder if Aleksander Barkov is headed towards a healthy scratch or even a demotion here. His offensive struggles this season are well known but the team hasn't been shy about continuing to give him big minutes. He just skated a season-low 12:13 and received just 14 shifts. Unless he was hurt, which I couldn't dig up any indication of, he got himself benched. The next step is the press box.

Frankly, I'd applaud the move. It certainly can't hurt since Barkov isn't producing anyhow. Maybe a night or two in the press box would light the fire he needs. If not, well there's always a trip to the minors to help get some scoring confidence built.

*

Alexander Killorn had a seven-game scoring streak come to an end last night. It was also the first game since his last scoreless game that he didn't register a shot on goal. I wouldn't be too concerned. If you were into Killorn then you had to accept the fact he wasn't seeing much power play time. What makes Killorn enticing is that he is currently skating on the top line with Steven Stamkos and Ryan Callahan, a cushy spot. As long as Killorn is skating on that top line, stick with him.

On the other end of the spectrum, Brett Connolly broke one hell of a slump scoring for the first time since October 20^th. I'm not ready to jump on Connolly but he has skated on the top power play unit the past couple of games, which is intriguing.

One guy there can be no questions about: Victor Hedman. He scored three assists in just his second game back from injury. What a beauty. He's back in the top-40 for defenseman scoring despite having played just seven games. I fully expect to see Hedman in the top-10 by season's end. Yep, even with 18 games missed Hedman will get to 50 points.

*

Dan Boyle missed last night's contest due to illness. Not to worry, Ryan McDonagh stepped back into his spot on the top power play unit and even recorded a primary assist.

I figured it would take longer for this change to happen with Boyle finally producing but this poorly timed illness just opened the door. I think McDonagh runs with this chance, the Rangers are primed to produce with Derek Stepan back.

Stepan continues to roll, extending his scoring streak to seven games. He probably slows down at some point but I don't see why Stepan couldn't continue to score near this pace the rest of the way.

One thing working in Stepan's favour is that the Ranger power play has run much more smoothly since he returned. We are working with some smaller sample sizes here with a difference of just a couple of goals over stretches of 35 or so power play opportunities but the Ranger power play before Stepan returned clicked at just 14.3% and is at 20.0% since.

*