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Dose: 50 Again from Ovechkin

The Thursday Dose wishes everyone a Happy Thanksgiving as the NHL had a busy 12 game Wednesday schedule

Want a long, sweeping intro? I have nothing for you there, sorry. At least not today.


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BRUINS 3, PANTHERS 2


-- Loui Eriksson scored his 20th goal of the season, giving himself 44 points in 76 games. It seems like he's truly settling in with the Bruins now (three points in his past four games doesn't hurt), and should have some more nice years remaining since he's reasonably young at 29.


-- Brandon Pirri continues his trend of scoring goals and that's it, as he generated No. 21 on Tuesday. Putting jokes aside, 21 goals in 44 games is obviously highly promising, even if his 15.8 shooting percentage implies that he's seeing some friendly bounces. I'm really intrigued to see what might happen in 2015-16 if he gets a healthy role in 82 games (or something close to 82 games).


-- David Pastrnak is owned in just nine percent of leagues. Ryan Spooner (a milder recommendation, but still a decent one) is taken in 10 percent. Just thought I'd throw that out there if you're looking for offense.


-- With three wins in a row, the Bruins may end up being just as focused on the likes of the Washington Capitals (first wild card spot) and Detroit Red Wings (third Atlantic spot) as they are with holding off the Ottawa Senators.


Granted, I'm not sure how eager I'd be to face the Tampa Bay Lightning as far as that third Atlantic spot is concerned.



CAPITALS 4, HURRICANES 2


-- There, he did it: Alex Ovechkin hit the 50-goal threshold once again. He's now done it six different times in his career, and he hasn't hit age 30 yet. He's only the sixth player to ever hit 50+ goals six times. I know snipers really start to slow down around this age, but considering his penchant for shooting, that sweet spot on the power play, and his rare talent ... I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up with 10 50+ goal seasons before he's done.


-- Mike Green scored his eighth goal of the season and added an assist, pushing his points to 42 in 67 games. That's 13 more points that Matt Niskanen, even though the Dax look-alike has been on a tear with five assists in his past four games.


-- It's not totally outrageous to wonder if Braden Holtby (38-19-9) may end up with twice as many wins as Cam Ward (20-22-5) this season. Pretty crazy stuff considering the fact that Holtby's making something like $2 million in 2014-15, which is ... a lot less than what Ward is receiving.

BLUE JACKETS 3, DEVILS 2 (OT)


-- Mike Cammalleri edged last year's 26 goals with his 27th in 2014-15, with both totals happening in 63 games. He's done so while being more selective with his shot, as he scored 27 on 143 SOG (18.9 percent) vs. 26 on 191 SOG (13.6).


-- Ryan Johansen will likely fall short of last season's goals (25 vs. 33), but he's clearly shown that he's for real with 68 points in 76 games, better than his breakthrough 63 points in 82 contests in 2013-14. He'll be just 23 entering the 2015-16 campaign, so don't be stunned if he continues to improve by nice strides.


-- Nick Foligno is a stranger case, although skating with Johansen more often than not could keep him in the neighborhood of fantasy usefulness for quite some time.


-- Jack Johnson has seven goals, 35 points and heaps of pity from that news earlier this season that his parents blew all his money with really foolish investments.


MAPLE LEAFS 3, LIGHTNING 1


-- Wow, can't say I expected Toronto to take one - and in regulation - from Tampa Bay.


James Reimer clearly made the difference here, stopping 40 out of 41 shots to improve to 9-15-0 in 2014-15.


-- How does one assess this season for Nazem Kadri?


If you compare it to the last few years, this is definitely an off season. It should be intriguing to see how the 24-year-old's RFA talks work out this summer.


-- Ryan Callahan scored a goal in this one, giving him 23 in 2014-15 (this ties his second-highest goal total in any season). Callahan is two points from tying his career-high of 54, set back in 2011-12.


All that time on Steve Stamkos' line obviously brings huge benefits, but hey, at least Callahan is taking advantage.

SENATORS 2, RED WINGS 1 (SO)


-- The Ottawa Senators find themselves in an internal debate of Craig Anderson vs. Andrew Hammond, but c'mon, really? If Hammond is healthy, the Senators owe it to themselves - not to mention to hamburger pun enthusiasts - to ride out this hot streak as far as it will take everyone involved.


-- Ottawa deserved the SO win, really, as the Senators doubled the Red Wings from a shots perspective (34-17).


-- Gustav Nyquist already has a new career-high with 52 points, four more than last season's breakthrough 48. There's still time for him to match last season's goals of 28, as he's scored 25 in 76 games.


-- Is Clarke MacArthur still a fancy stats darling? I'm not certain, but he continues to be solid-if-unspectacular in simpler fantasy terms, as he scored his 14th goal and 28th point on Tuesday.

CANUCKS 5, PREDATORS 4 (SO)


-- Impressive stuff by Vancouver, as the Canucks beat the St. Louis Blues on Monday and then turned around and squeezed by the Nashville Predators last night. The Canucks are a hard team to figure, although I still believe they're in the lower end of Western Conference playoff teams.


(Note: that's not as insulting as it sounds as first, as the West is still the best conference.)


-- Man, Cody Franson got a rough break in being traded back to the Nashville Predators, barring a still-possible strong run in the playoffs. After scoring 32 points in 55 games with Toronto, Franson only has four points in 20 games as a Predator. His seventh goal of 2014-15 was also his first with Nashville in 20 games.


-- Eddie Lack now has 16 wins this season, just as many as he had in 2013-14. Overall, his stats argue that he's better than a backup; combining the first two years of his career, he's 32-28-9 with five shutouts, a .915 save percentage and 2.44 GAA. Not bad.


-- This was an essential Alex Burrows night: one goal, one assist and 15 PIM.


RANGERS 3, JETS 2


-- Look, it's no secret that I'm a fan of Dustin Byfuglien as a truly unique peripheral oddity, but that cross-check on J.T. Miller is awful. Considering Buffy's size and anger levels, it may be wise for the NHL to send him a message about why he should be wielding his powers for more good than bad.


-- That's two straight losses for Winnipeg, with both coming in regulation and both being fairly late goals. The Jets are now 1-2-0 in the first three games of a key four-game homestand that they may look back upon with deep regret. Their schedule is honestly pretty murderous the rest of the way once they end their break and get back into the swing of things on Saturday.


-- Henrik Lundqvist gets his first win since coming back from his scary throat issues, and it only took two games to do it. He stopped 32 out of 34 shots to go to 26-12-3 in a nice-if-strange season for the 33-year-old.


-- With three assists in his past four games, Keith Yandle now has seven points in 15 games with the Rangers and 48 points overall this season. Not too shabby.


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