The most impressive point streak of 2013 still belongs to the Chicago Blackhawks, but if you consider the low, low expectations of the Columbus Blue Jackets, their current 6-0-4 run is mighty impressive as well. (Granted, it's not "hockey-saving" impressive, but still.)

After all, this is Columbus we're talking about, the surest bet to finish last in the Western Conference. Instead, a 10-game point streak suddenly has the club just 2 points out of a playoff spot.

But while this is a welcome turnaround for fans of the Blue Jackets, it couldn't have come at a worse time for anyone hoping for an eventful trade deadline this April. The Western Conference is a mess, with just 8 points separating 3rd from 15th, and with just over two weeks until the NHL trade deadline, nobody's out of it, meaning there isn't a surefire seller among the bunch.

That's what the Blue Jackets were supposed to be. Instead, it's now time to consider the possibility that Columbus might congest and complicate the market even further by becoming trade deadline buyers. Could it be so?

GettySay what you will about Patrick Kaleta – please keep in mind we try and keep it PG-13 ‘round these parts – but the guy is passionate. He wants to play, wants to contribute to the Buffalo Sabres with his unique brand of, uh, contribution.

Sunday night's game against the Washington Capitals marked the first day Kaleta was eligible to return to the Sabres after his 5-game suspension, handed out for a hit on Brad Richards of the New York Rangers.

But he won’t return – he’s a healthy scratch for Buffalo, and he’s rather unhappy about it.

From Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News:

"I'm pissed off. I want to play," Kaleta said. "And especially after watching some things, sitting there watching the game, I want to play. ... I guess they don't need me right now I guess. I've been pissed off watching for the past couple weeks. No matter if you're a fan, a player, you guys know what's going on. You should be pissed off. You should play with a little piss and vinegar. You shouldn't be happy. We're not in position we want to be in. We have to work harder, come in and do something about it."

Kaleta’s a tempo-setting player for a team that could use a jolt now and again; frankly, he’s also someone that has infuriated the Capitals on occasion, too. So why sit him?

He sits because, ironically, interim head coach Ron Rolston wants Kaleta in the lineup, too. Only he didn’t have access to him for five games, and it appears the Sabres coach has decided to tack on some extra punishment for that self-inflicted absence.

163824037Damian Cristodero of the Tampa Times has a speculative article this weekend about Marty St. Louis, and whether he would waive his no-trade clause and seek an exit from the Tampa Bay Lightning after what we all expect will be consecutive non-playoff seasons.

From the Times:

When St. Louis in July 2010 signed a four-year, $22.5 million contract extension, he did so with the notion the organization, under new ownership and management, would move in a positive direction. But after the team reached the Eastern Conference final in 2010-11, it was out of the playoffs in 2011-12 and appears this season it will fall short again.

St. Louis, 37, might look at a team clearly in transition — it is trying to develop Anders Lindback as a No. 1 goaltender and has eight players on its current roster who played last season or have played this season in the AHL — and wonder how much longer he can wait.

First off: If GM Steve Yzerman’s goalies-on-the-cheap team building – handed down from atop Mount Ken Holland – helps drive the franchise’s best offensive player out of town … well, that’s a tragedy.

In fact, if it’s come to the point where St. Louis would be contemplating a trade to a contender, wouldn’t that be an indictment of Yzerman’s tenure as GM?

Getty Images

The owner was in the house Saturday night.

Bringing his family in for a weekend game, Tom Gaglardi was inside American Airlines Center for the ugliness that was the Chicago Blackhawks' 8-1 rout of the Dallas Stars.

Making matters worse was the large number of Blackhawks fans in attendance. What kind of owner wants to see that scene in his own building?

The Stars organization is currently at a crossroads. Saturday night's humbling defeat leaves them 12th in the Western Conference and last in the Pacific Division. Is a wakeup call or a shakeup needed?

These days you may not have figured for a Stars win over the Blackhawks, but you'd at least expect an effort. When you lose 8-1 there are no silver linings. Jamie Benn put it right afterward, saying, "We need to do something within this room to change that. It's an unacceptable effort tonight."

But does it go beyond the Stars' dressing room?

LNAIn a National League A playoff game in Saturday, Cedric Botter of Fribourg-Gottéron fired a shot at the EHC Biel net and the puck went in.

OK, not all of the puck went in. Just most of it.

In a wild scene that league officials said they’d never witnessed before, the hockey puck split in two pieces when it connected with the left post, sending a huge chunk of it behind netminder Reto Berra. The rest of it rebounded off of Berra’s back and into the crease, where he swatted it away with his paddle.

So a goal was scored and the puck was saved at the same moment. And that, friends, is how you get rips in the fabric of the space/time continuum ...

The real question, of course: Did the goal count?

[Also: Ryan Miller on teammate's healthy scratch gripes – grow up]

Watch the play via Swiss Habs, and make the call:

According to Grégory Beaud of 20Minutes.ch, a Swiss sports site: No, the goal did not count.

No. 1 Star: Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus Blue Jackets

Bobrovsky was perfect for Columbus, making 39 saves versus the Phoenix Coyotes in regulation before being forced to defend his shutout in the shootout. He couldn't be beaten there either, stopping two Phoenix shooters in the 1-0 win. The Blue Jackets now have a 10-game point streak going; Bobrovsky has been the biggest reason for that.

No. 2 Star: Devin Setoguchi, Minnesota Wild

Big night for Setoguchi, who had a three-point night in the Wild's 6-4 win over the Colorado Avalanche, scoring twice and picking up the 100th assist of his NHL career. Here's Setoguchi's second, on a nice saucer feed from Pierre-Marc Bouchard.

The Vancouver Canucks already looked good at the faceoff circle for the opening draw in their Saturday night tilt with the Detroit Red Wings, rocking their spiffy new Millionaires' jerseys.

But then Alex Burrows made them look even better, opening the scoring just six seconds in for the fastest goal in over 20 years and the fourth-fastest goal in NHL history.

The scoring play is finished off with a picture-perfect shot from Burrows, but we have to give credit to Daniel Sedin, who really gets this sequence started.

Daniel's headed to the boards off the opening faceoff, and appears to be about to receive the puck, so Brian Lashoff steps up to meet him at the wall. But Daniel recognizes this and make a sharp, sudden turn to the inside of the ice. When Alex Edler's able to hit him there, suddenly Lashoff is caught and the Canucks are in 2-on-1 off the faceoff.

Daniel makes the cross-ice pass and Burrows rings the shot in off the post for the early lead.

Lashoff might concede that he was a tad too aggressive. In his defence, the Canucks were wearing jerseys from the 1910s. Maybe he thought he was back in the age before the NHL allowed forward passing?

The goal came just six seconds in, missing a share of the NHL record for fastest goal to start a game by just one second. That's a feat that's been done three times, by Doug Smail in 1981, Bryan Trottier in 1984, and most recently, by Alexander Mogilny in 1991.

The Chicago Blackhawks' historic point streak may be over, but at least one thing one thing remains unchanged from the moment the season began: Patrick Kane is still incredible. The Hawks' MVP put on another show in Chicago's 8-1 rout over Dallas, scoring this beauty of a spin-o-rama goal:

Best part of the clip: it's so disorienting that the scorekeepers put it up as a Dallas goal at first. Either that or they'd just stopped caring by then.

Sure, you could be upset that Kane's still giving his all at the tail end of a complete shellacking. Or you could revel in it, since Kane letting his foot off the gas means we don't get to see this beauty.

Sometimes, Kane pulls off difficult moves so effortlessly you'd think you were watching a video game. This is one of those occasions, as he coasts into the Dallas end, spins, and fires a backhand over Richard Bachman's shoulder in one gorgeous, fluid motion. In a video game, this is easy. You hit the spin button, then you hit the shoot button. In real life, it's considerably more difficult. But not for Kane, who effortlessly gives us one of the prettiest goals of the year.