Dose: Semyon's on track

Happy holidays, folks. With NHL action paused for a much-needed break, the Dose will also take a little siesta and skip Thursday and Friday. We’ll be back with Michael Finewax’s thoughts on Saturday and Jimmy Hascup on Sunday.

To cope with the gap, I’ll surely take to recapping family snipes and gripes during these festive times.

Sign up for some fantasy hockey over at Yahoo and make sure to get a copy of Rotoworld's Draft Guide.

Also don't forget, for everything NHL, check out Rotoworld's up to the minute coverage on Player News, as well as follow @Rotoworld_HK and @cyclelikesedins on Twitter.

AVALANCHE 5, BLUES 0

-- I'm not sure what's more surprising: the score or the fact that the Avalanche heavily outshot (41-26) St. Louis. Semyon Varlamov stopped all 26 shots for a shutout in his return to action while Jake Allen didn't even make it through the game, as Martin Brodeur made 10 saves in relief. It sounds like Calvin Pickard won't be at the NHL level much longer, by the way.

-- Gabriel Landeskog is heating up a bit as of late. He had two assists on Tuesday, three in the last two games and five in as many contests.

-- Is Jarome Iginla living up to that "slow start" reputation and coming out of hibernation? He generated a goal and an assist last night and has four points (one goal, three assists) in three games.

LIGHTNING 4, PENGUINS 3

-- Tampa Bay's under-the-radar second line has been tearing it up, but Tuesday was a true memo to those who've been tuning them out. Tyler Johnson generated a hat trick on four SOG and threw in two PIM for good measure. Ondrej Palat collected three helpers of his own. Nikita Kucherov was splendid in his own right, contributing a goal and two assists. At this point, I don't see why any fantasy owner wouldn't grab one of them if any are available.

-- Steve Stamkos has been quiet by his lofty standards, yet anyone complaining about 19 goals in 36 games (and a point-per-contest) is suffering from some serious fantasy entitlement issues.

-- It seems like Patric Hornqvist is playing with Evgeni Malkin a bit more than Sidney Crosby right now. Poor guy.

-- Blake Comeau was really making the most of his elevated chances, but he's one of the many Penguins who can't stay in the lineup. Remarkable how competitive Pittsburgh remains despite injuries.

-- I wonder how many statheads took weird joy in seeing Marc-Andre Fleury struggle.

LEAFS 4, STARS 0

-- It's weird seeing James van Riemsdyk and Phil Kessel apart, but that was the case on Tuesday night, as JVR skated with Mike Santorelli and Nazem Kadri while Kessel was with his best bud Tyler Bozak and Joffrey Lupul. Toronto was significantly out-shot like usual, but there are probably some "spread the wealth" advantages to such a plan. Doesn't mean it isn't weird to watch, though.

-- Jonathan Bernier just seems to own the Stars. He stopped all 43 shots and generally looked fantastic all night.

-- Quite the bit of work from Dion Phaneuf: one assist, +2, four SOG, one blocked shot and seven PIM thanks to a fight with Antoine Roussel.

-- Rough night for Tyler Seguin (zero points, -3), but he was creating chances with six SOG.

RANGERS 4, CAPITALS 2

-- A late scoring change means that Rick Nash got his first hat trick as a member of the New York Rangers last night. He now has a patently absurd 23 goals; he's just three goals short of the 26 tallies he collected in 65 games last season and has more than the 21 he generated in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season.

-- At 22, it's way too early to dismiss Evgeny Kuznetsov but I get the impression that he's been a disappointment for the Capitals, especially from an all-around perspective.

-- Henrik Lundqvist is really making up for lost time. He has won six straight games and has basically been outstanding since the somewhat ghastly month of October ended.

-- The Rangers' schedule is still pretty road-heavy through mid-January, but they've shrugged off away games for the most part in December, so maybe it won't matter.

BRUINS 5, PREDATORS 3

-- Don't look now, but Loui Eriksson is looking pretty good all of a sudden. He scored two goals last night and has six points in his last four games. It's not as if there's zero talent there, but a lack of peripherals makes him a feast-or-famine guy.

-- David Krejci went without a point in three games back since returning from injury, but he finally scored a goal last night. When healthy, he's been pretty productive with 11 points in 15 games. It's clear Boston's offense really needs him.

-- Every Carter Hutton start seems like an argument for Pekka Rinne's Hart (not just Vezina) credentials; Hutton is 0-3-1 now on the season.

-- Patrice Bergeron had three assists last night and has a nice jack-of-all-trades vibe in fantasy: 26 points, +5, 26 PIM and 100 SOG. He should be useful for FW if that's a category, too.

COYOTES 5, OILERS 1

-- I had an odd feeling that the Coyotes would bounce back after being humiliated by Vancouver the previous night. OK, a lot of that had to do with Edmonton being on the schedule ... BUT STILL.

-- Sam Gagner is the Shareef Abdur-Rahim of the NHL, piling up fake stats against bad teams while generally doing very little to help his own squad win. That said, those who noticed he was facing his own team should feel good about those four points.

-- Devan Dubnyk also beat his old cronies and is now 7-3-2 with a .920 save percentage in 2014-15.

-- The Oilers aren't making a great argument that it was all Dallas Eakins' fault, though I'm not sure why anyone would think that things would change for an organization that's been clueless for far longer than Eakins had been around.

RED WINGS 6, SABRES 3

-- I wonder how many people who just watch the box scores condemned Detroit early on, as Buffalo held a 2-1 lead through the first period and a 3-2 advantage in the second intermission. Those people might have felt foolish when they booted up smart phones and computers and realized that the Red Wings corrected things with a four-goal third period.

-- Detroit generated a clear advantage all game long, more than doubling Buffalo's shot total in each period while going 39-16 overall. The Red Wings really prospered on the PP, converting four of six chances there.

-- Is Chris Stewart waking up a bit? He now has a three-game point streak and four points (one goal, three assists) in his last five games.

FLYERS 5, WILD 2

-- Sean Couturier cooled off to some degree, yet look at his December work: five goals, 10 points, +3 in 11 games this month.

-- Michael Raffl's results have been pretty modest, yet with how hot Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek have been, he's worth grabbing in certain formats by association. That obviously changes if he gets dropped off of that top line, though.

-- With an .896 save percentage, Ray Emery obviously hasn't been spectacular, yet he has three wins in a row.

-- Ryan Suter shouldn't be sought out for his medical expertise, but he's been playing very nicely. He has four assists in his last three games, six in five and 11 in nine.

JETS 5, BLACKHAWKS 1

-- Usually, people calling for fewer Ondrej Pavelec experiences are doing so because of poor work, but in this case Michael Hutchinson has just been that good. He stopped 38 out of 39 shots to improve to 8-2-2 with a gorgeous .944 save percentage in 2014-15.

-- Mathieu Perreault has been outstanding. He's currently on an eight-game point streak and has 11 in his last 10 games. It seems like he's found some electric chemistry alongside Mark Scheifele, and that kind of jump in depth might just make Winnipeg a consistently dangerous opponent.

-- I'm not saying drop Kris Versteeg outright, but it does seem like he might be slipping just a touch. On the bright side, he has a minor penalty in three straight games.

-- Even on a rare night with zero SOG, Dustin Byfuglien was still very useful: one assist, +3 and five hits in 28:25 TOI.

CANADIENS 3, ISLANDERS 1

-- Carey Price certainly made a big difference in this one, stopping 37 out of the 38 pucks that came his way. Montreal won despite firing just 21 shots of its own.

-- Alex Galchenyuk now has seven points in his last four games (four goals, three assists). He's only 53 percent owned, so you should absolutely amend that.

-- Puck luck still hasn't really been going Kyle Okposo's way. He has 20 SOG in his last three games, including seven last night, yet Tuesday's goal is the lone tally that came from those efforts. He should be getting better bounces if he keeps firing away (116 SOG in 34 games).

-- P.A. Parenteau has been a mild disappointment, although he does have four assists in five games.

HURRICANES 2, DEVILS 1 (SO)

-- These two teams are just big shoulder shrugs at this point. I don't get them. I guess that's what happens when you're essentially average?

-- I have to commend Jordin Tootoo for a true weirdo stat line: zero points, zero SOG, five PIM and five hits in 3:39 TOI.

-- That's a five-game losing streak for Cory Schneider, who stopped 32 out of 33 shots last night in defeat. He only has one win in his last seven games and two in 12 (!). Remarkably, his individual numbers are competent enough with a .917 save percentage. I'd call him insanely unlucky if he wasn't set for life.

For a full list of injuries and suspensions, click here. Go to Rotoworld's NHL page for breaking hockey news and more.