Dose: Not Easy for Breezy

Thursday was a hectic evening, so how about we dive right into the action? Some interesting “measuring stick” games here and there …

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BLUES 5, PREDATORS 4 (SO)

-- You know, I think that we should raise the bar a bit for Jack Adams winners. This season seems like a good one for Peter Laviolette and Mike Babcock, two guys who've gotten the most out of clear contenders, rather than bubble teams.

-- Mike Fisher collected two goals and an assist, giving him 21 points in 26 games. Really impressive for a guy who peaked at 53 points. I'd expect him to slow down (19 shooting percentage), but still an impressive way to give Nashville some very nice support offense.

-- Roman Josi (31 points in 47 games) and Kevin Shattenkirk (40 points in 47 games) continue their taking-another-step seasons. (Breakthrough seems a bit much for blueliners who are already quite good.)

-- James Neal may be one of the only disappointing Predators, relatively speaking. The 16 goals are nice, but the lack of playmaking (12 assists) keeps his ceiling relatively low.

BRUINS 5, ISLANDERS 2

-- John Tavares tried to will the Isles into this one, getting involved in both goals (1G, 1A), firing nine SOG. The 24-year-old is now on a five-game point streak in which he has four goals and five assists. He now has exactly a point per game with 48 in 48.

-- Games going beyond regulation really throws goalie records out of perspective. Is Tuukka Rask's 21-11-7 record an argument that he's left a lot on the table or should Boston be appreciative that he stole some extra points? Bruins fans may be able to answer that question more sufficiently.

-- Is Torey Krug an especially accurate shooter? With just 127 games under his belt, the sample size is too small. Krug already has 10 goals on 107 SOG in 45 games, good for a 9.3 percentage. It will be interesting to see if things balance out or if he ends up being a more efficient shooter long-term.

-- Not a bad effort from the Islanders overall, at least from a SOG standpoint, as they fired 45 on net overall.

SHARKS 6, DUCKS 3

-- The biggest losers might be people who didn't realize that Ilya Bryzgalov was starting for Anaheim, thus losing out on a chance to milk Thursday for all it was worth. Bryzgalov is now 1-3-0 with a hideous .832 save percentage after allowing six goals in less than two full periods last night. Anaheim has to have a better random backup option in its system ... or John Gibson can't be THAT far off, right?

-- Patrick Marleau is red-hot right now, as he was the two-point producer who probably stood out the most on Thursday. He scored a goal and assist for the second straight game and now has seven points in his past five contests.

-- Patrick Maroon did well to grab a garbage goal with 1:10 left in the third period. He's lucky to be in the situation he's in, but for the time being, that's almost as much for fantasy owners to gain as Maroon himself.

CANADIENS 1, RANGERS 0

-- An interesting game for Dale Weise, who still seems miscast alongside Tomas Plekanec and Max Pacioretty. He probably deserved a goal, but it was waved off. He collected an assist on the only tally. I wouldn't keep him with those two, but Michel Therrien marches to the beat of his worn-out, weird little throwback drum.

Yeesh.

-- Pacioretty had a nice game, but he was very close to an empty-netter that would have given him a second tally on the night. Bummer.

-- Carey Price gets the 24-save shutout. Henrik Lundqvist was quite good himself, although that Pacioretty GWG was one Hank would like back.

FLYERS 5, JETS 2

-- Mathieu Perreault poured on two more goals, giving him 17 goals on the season. He's only a goal shy of the 18 he collected as a career-high last season, which seemed like something of a breakthrough at the time for him.

He also continues to draw some dirty hits, as Jakub Voracek went high on him late in the game.

-- Brayden Schenn has been on and off when it comes to cashing in on great linemate opportunities, but he collected a goal and an assist last night. Promising.

-- Steve Mason is on a four-game winning streak and he also stopped all five shots in relief against Boston on Jan. 10. He's still not quite .500 record-wise, but nice returns so far.

-- These are the sort of versatile stats we were hoping for from Wayne Simmonds: one goal, one assist, +1, two PIM, three SOG and four hits.

COYOTES 3, MAPLE LEAFS 1

-- It's bad enough for Toronto to lose to Arizona - a team so much in dire straits that they traded away their best playoff chances in Devan Dubnyk - but the context is even worse. The Coyotes generated a 45-25 shot disparity, including a 21-6 difference in the second period.

-- Oliver Ekman-Larsson get a gift for his 13th goal of the season, as he beat a sleepy Jonathan Bernier (the tally that either turned things around or merely began the inevitable, depending upon your perspective). The remarkable thing about OEL is that his 13th goals are not that out of pace with his shooting, as he's fired an impressive 158 SOG.

He did generate six GWG, though.

-- Keith Yandle is really playing well lately, with an assist in five of his last six games. He's shooting often enough that he's probably "due" for a goal, too.

STARS 6, SENATORS 3

-- Two of Ales Hemsky's eight goals have come against the Ottawa Senators, a team he barely played for.

-- Jason Spezza didn't manage a point despite six goals being scored. He did generate four SOG, however.

-- The score was misleading, as the Stars cashed in on two empty-netters. Nice bonuses for Jamie Benn and Trevor Daley there.

-- Speaking of not particularly memorable former players, Alex Chiasson scored his eighth goal of the season (he was once a Dallas Star).

-- Bobby Ryan's a nice example of a guy whose split stats are worth perusing. In October to November, Ryan had 13 points in 21 games. From December to January sto far, he's produced 22 points in 23 contests.

LIGHTNING 5, RED WINGS 1

-- Cedric Paquette nabbed the first hat trick of his NHL career last night, including the game-winner. The 21-year-old now has three-game point streak going, giving him five of his season's 15 points. It's possible that Jonathan Drouin (two assists last night) and Alex Killorn (also a pair of helpers) are forming a solid line alongside Paquette. The sample size is small enough not to get too excited, but keep an eye on it.

-- Petr Mrazek was pulled after two periods, allowing five goals on just 15 SOG. Thomas McCollum was perfect in relief, stopping all 17 shots in just one period of work.

-- Ben Bishop stopped 27 out of 28 shots to win his 25th game. He's taken four out of five games and only has dropped two decisions since Dec. 15. Three games included non-decisions, but still a pretty impressive run.

PANTHERS 3, BLUE JACKETS 2

-- Sean Bergenheim scored a goal after generating 14 penalty minutes. You don't see many players generating offense after getting a misconduct, but that's what happened last night.

-- Aaron Ekblad scored his seventh goal of 2014-15. He's done so on a solid enough 102 SOG.

-- Roberto Luongo had lost five games in a row (0-4-1) but bounced back nicely last night, stopping 31 out of 33 shots for his 18th win of 2014-15.

WILD 1, FLAMES 0

-- Devan Dubnyk stopped all 30 shots for the shutout, which is especially good timing as Darcy Kuemper was in Iowa for a conditioning stint (that went really, really poorly). This is Dubnyk's third shutout of the season and second as a member of the Wild. He's done about anything one can reasonably expect to nab the Wild job. I can't guarantee anything, but if NHL goaltending battles were fair - they're generally not - he'd grab the job. He's just 40 percent owned, so maybe just stash him for now and see if it works out? If nothing else, he may provide some nice short-term value as Minnesota scratches and claws for a playoff spot.

-- Jonas Hiller was impressive in his own right, stopping 31 out of 32 shots. It stings a little to see a strong performance "wasted" with a loss though, doesn't it?

-- Zach Parise scored the only goal of the night on a play that was largely made by Thomas Vanek. Vanek is still a little disappointing, yet the "he never shoots" meme seems to be drying up quite a bit. For the most part.

OILERS 3, SABRES 2

-- Sneaky thing that tells you this might have been a game between bad teams: of the players who had a goal in this game, Matt Fraser was the scorer who has generated the most so far this season with six. Two players (Anton Lander and Oscar Klefbom) scored their first goals of the season.

Yep, these are bad teams.

-- That said, two players had three-point games as Matt Fraser and Anton Lander generated a goal and two assists apiece.

-- The Sabres are a whole other level of bad, though. Edmonton generated more shots in every period, generating a 34-20 advantage overall.

-- Ben Scrivens improved his record to a pathetic 9-16-7 with this win. He's still approaching a .900 save percentage, as he has an .895 average right now.

-- Remember when Jhonas Enroth was on a hot streak? He's now lost eight games in a row and 10 of his last 11 games. To be fair, he plays for the Buffalo Sabres.

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