Dose: Kings keep climbing

For whatever reason, this week spreads out the number of games each evening pretty evenly. There’s not the usual imbalance of double-digit games on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday versus smaller smatterings on the other days of the week.

In other words, don’t expect a lot of pre-recap conversation in the Dose this week. To make sure you’re up to date regarding injuries - either if one slips through a recap or crops up after the DD already posts - I’m going to go ahead and throw up the usual end-of-post bits here through Friday:

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

That should help you stay informed of the latest twists and turns as injuries continue and trade rumors keep percolating.

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.

RANGERS 6, ISLANDERS 5

-- Wow, what a close-out by the Rangers. They scored the last three goals to win this one in regulation. They also generated five of the last seven in an explosive offensive contest. The Islanders carried the play early (22 shots in the first period alone), but either fell off a bit or simply encountered a Rangers team that got angrier as the contest went along.

(Aside: I would delight in this being, say, a second vs. third seed matchup in the Metropolitan Division's wing of the playoffs.*)

-- Each team had a Ryan enjoy a two-goal night, as Ryan Strome hit 11 goals while Ryan McDonagh now has seven respectively.

-- Kevin Klein continues to impress. He generated two points for the second consecutive contest (one goal, one assist on Monday) and now has a five-game point streak going. His very low SOG output - one total in the past three games - make me think there's some flukey play involved, although I do like his instincts when it comes to picking his spots when he pinches.

-- I like that the Rangers are giving Cam Talbot a chance to prove himself. He's doing reasonably well in that regard, especially considering four straight wins. Plenty of room for improvement, however.

* - The NHL's made it kind of difficult to describe its postseason, hasn't it?

KINGS 3, LIGHTNING 2

-- I wonder how many people assumed it was Nikita Kucherov who scored this game's first goal, not Nikita Nesterov (who generated his first goal of 2014-15 thanks to an assist by Kucherov pal Ondrej Palat). Even his number is similar, as Nesterov wears 89 while Kucherov dons 86.

-- I can't help but give Dwight King at least a mild short-term endorsement as part of That Beaten To Death 70s Line Only It's a Slightly Different 70s Line alongside Tyler Toffoli and Jeff Carter.

It may still require a deeper league, but I can't dismiss King's value as passenger.

-- Man, the Kings are red-hot right now. I wonder how many top West teams were glad to see Calgary come back, as the Flames won't have an easy time holding off Los Angeles through the final two months of 2014-15.

-- It hasn't always been pretty, yet Jonathan quick is now on a five-game winning streak, improving his record to 22-15-10 despite a so-so .910 save percentage.

JETS 5, OILERS 4 (SO)

-- Kudos to Winnipeg for holding on to win this hectic one, even with injuries to Mathieu Perreault and Drew Stafford. Perreault left the game with a lower-body injury while Stafford's issue appears to be upper.

-- Viktor Fasth left the shootout early after hurting himself during a save. Keep an eye on that, if you're in some weird fantasy league that rewards goalies who get hung out to dry on bad teams.

-- The Oilers were lucky to save face in this one, as Winnipeg basically doubled them in every full period and generated a 46-22 shot advantage overall.

-- Bryan Little may have been the standout guy for the Jets, scoring two goals, one assist, getting a +1 and eight SOG in 23:54 TOI.

-- Tobias Enstrom shows enough flashes of his once-borderline All-Star self to be intriguing. At worst, I love the guy in FanDuel.

-- Nail Yakupov has really shown some zip to his game lately. With two goals on Monday, he extended his point streak to five straight games (three goals, three assists). The season overall's been horrible, but you don't get penalized for what he didn't do before you had him on your team (and vice versa).

-- Hey, Tyler Myers scored a goal. He’s an interesting Daily Fantasy consideration, if nothing else.

AVALANCHE 5, COYOTES 2

-- The Colorado Avalanche kept the Coyotes from firing a single SOG in the second period, a franchise-first. They also limited Arizona to just five in the first, so it was a sleepy start for the already-quite-drowsy 'Yotes attack.

Honestly, considering that Mike McKenna was in net, I figured the Coyotes would work a little harder to give him support. Maybe they were extra-conservative to try to protect him? Either way, that's pretty pathetic.

-- What a strange season for Mark Arcobello, who went from a hopeless situation (Oilers) to a thankless one on a strong team (Penguins) back to a make-the-best-of-it chance with the lowly Coyotes. Not excited about his fantasy potential, really, but two goals in three games is still solid.

(Oh yeah, he also played four games for Nashville this season. I bet he has some strong hotel takes to share.)

-- Weird one for Semyon Varlamov, who allowed one goal on those five SOG, sat out the third and received his 16th win of the season. It sounds like they were merely resting him.

Considering how often he's been the only reason they've been competitive many nights, it's kind of charming to see him basically handed a win for once.

Jump for the remaining recaps.

FLAMES 4, BRUINS 3 (OT)

-- The Flames boast the Western Conference's answer to the Lightning's surprise line of greatness. I'm sure anyone who reads the Dose has to own one of these players in fantasy already, but it's still resounding how low the ownership levels are:

Sean Monahan - 38 percent owned.

Johnny Gaudreau - 53 percent owned.

Jiri Hudler - 65 percent owned.

Pretty wild stuff. That trio is basically a lock for a goal, if not more in each game and was the catalyst for last night's eyebrow-raising comeback.

-- T.J. Brodie had an impressive breakthrough in 2013-14, but his numbers this season (including Monday's OT GWG) are fabulous:

Nine goals, 25 assists, 34 points, +24 rating, 24 PIM and 97 SOG. He already set new career-highs in goals, points and plus/minus.

-- The Bruins can't seem to rely on Loui Eriksson, at least not at the level of previous supplementary wingers such as Nathan Horton or Jarome Iginla. He's now on a four-game pointless streak with a -5 rating, zero PIM and 12 SOG. The sad thing is that he's firing a decent amount of pucks, at least for a guy who's been annoyingly trigger-shy like him.

CANUCKS 3, WILD 2

-- A rare loss for Devan Dubnyk, who gave up three goals on 29 shots. This represents his first regulation defeat since Jan. 19. He's been one of the most reliably strong netminders since becoming a member of the Wild, and allowing three goals in a loss really isn't that bad of a setback.

-- Radim Vrbata hasn't scored a point in his last two games, so maybe his resistance to losing the Sedin twins boost is starting to fade (he had previously been on an eight-game point streak).

-- Alex Burrows hasn't set the world on fire in his reunion with the twins, but he's been firing enough SOG that a big game isn't unthinkable. He's had at least three SOG in every game since Feb. 7.

-- Bo Horvat is now on a four-game point streak. Not super-thrilling, but Vancouver has to feel solid about seeing The Guy They Got (via a pick) for Cory Schneider doing fairly well.

-- Nino Niederreiter scored goals 17 and 18 of 2014-15 as he's creating more distance from last season's mark of 14 tallies. He's just not steady enough to recommend, though.

CANADIENS 2, RED WINGS 0

-- This one was a nice goalie duel that was ultimately a bummer for the Red Wings, who were two and a half minutes away from at least getting beyond regulation.

Instead, Tomas Plekanec and Max Pacioretty grabbed a goal and an assist apiece, with Plekanec's being the winner and Patches getting the empty-netter. After carrying excessive defensive assignments to the detriment of his offensive numbers last season, Plekanec already has 17 goals and 40 points in 2014-15, just three goals and points off of 2013-14's production.

-- After going three games without a point, Dale Weise nabbed an assist, giving him 23 points in 53 games. Not so sure he deserves such high billing, but he's throwing out points here and there.

-- By stopping all 25 shots, Carey Price earned his fifth shutout of the season, 32nd win and fifth victory in a row.

HURRICANES 6, SENATORS 3

-- Mike Hoffman now has a goal in three straight games and a four-game point streak overall. Last night's goal gives him 20 on the season, continuing a breakthrough after he did very little in 23 contests last season. While the puck luck's a little bit much - he's connecting on 16.1 percent of shots - he's been generating points frequently enough that he's likely a fixture in the Ottawa offense going forward.

-- Justin Faulk has six assists in the past four games and is Brodie-like with 10 goals and 25 helpers for 35 points in 55 games, although he sports an un-Brodie-like -17 rating. That said, on a better team, I'd wager that mark would either be positive or at least close to even. I love that he's maintaining his consistent shooting, too, with 150 SOG.

-- Jeff Skinner has a goal in three straight games, yet is also a -5 in that time. That's a very "Carolina" stat line, right there.

-- Quite the run for Andrej Nestrasil, who also has quite the mug shot; he now has three goals and two assists - including three points last night - for five points in his past three games. That's half of his 2014-15 production in that short span.

-- How can you blame the Senators for balking on trading Craig Anderson - age and all - when Robin Lehner has done little to prove himself as a No. 1? Lehner might be the next Ondrej Pavelec, a guy a team talked itself into giving an above-market deal to out of wishful thinking.

Lehner's really worse in a way, as Ottawa had a top goalie to sign in Anderson and still paid Lehner as if he was an up-and-coming No. 1 instead of what he really was: a guy they believed could eventually become one.

It doesn't hurt THAT much now, but what if Ottawa starts to advance enough to the point that cap space actually matters?