Dose: Returns and Debuts

Well, the first two weekend Doses went up (read Michael Finewax’s rundown of Friday’s action here and Jimmy Hascup’s review of Saturday’s boatload of games in this article), but now you’re stuck with me again through Friday.

/Cackles

Let’s throw down the game recap gauntlet, shall we?

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.

SHARKS 2, HURRICANES 0

-- Sunday for Carolina morphed from “Who is Troy Grosenick?” to “How do we beat Troy Grosenick?” He made a pretty ridiculous 45 saves, and needed to, as San Jose inflated its margin of victory with a Joe Thornton empty-netter.

San Jose would be silly not to give Grosenick, 25, another start or two after such a performance. I looked at his AHL stats yesterday and didn’t see anything special - save percentages of .908 and .905 - but perhaps he can go on a solid little run?

I wouldn’t really count on it, to be frank, yet it’s a cool story and he could be a worth a brief investment if you’re really hurting for goaltending. (Just don’t expect a long-term answer.)

Aside: a Twitter autocorrect mishap from Kevin Kurz makes “Gooseneck” the leader out of the clubhouse for the goalie’s nickname, if you ask me.

-- The Sharks only managed 19 shots on goal, so the Hurricanes really dominated them - but not Grosenick - on Sunday. That’s … not good.

The most positive consideration is that they’ve played a ton of games away from “The Shark Tank” so far in 2014-15. In fact, Kurz passes along a nugget that the Sharks are the first team in NHL history to play 15 of 20 games on the road to start a season. They also play 16 of 21 away to kick things off, and Jon Wold observes that they also finish 2014-15 with 10 of 13 away contests.

That’s rough for San Jose, but the beauty of every team having 41 home and 41 away games is that things balance out, at least to some extent.

It looks like that will begin on Thursday, as they begin a six-game homestand with a contest against the Florida Panthers. Two road games are sandwiched in between that and another five-game homestand, so they play 11 of 13 at home from Nov. 20 - Dec. 20.

-- Holy smokes folks, Joe Thornton has seven goals already thanks to that empty-netter. He’s only four shy of his 2013-14 total. We’re at least facing a minor threat of Thornton making good on his, erm, defense of Tomas Hertl from last season.

-- Nathan Gerbe fired seven SOG last night, giving him 41 in 13 games (more than three per contests). The undersized forward only has one goal, good for a 2.4 percent success rate. Even with a 6.7 percent career shooting percentage, that's bad luck. I don't think Gerbe's worth adding, but I can't help but admire his scrappiness.

CANADIENS 4, RED WINGS 1

-- Upon noticing their six-game winning streak (but particularly the five games in which they outscored opponents 22-6), I couldn't help but ask myself, "Are the Canadiens actually good now, instead of at least partially lucky?"

It's difficult to tell - they scored so often despite just 19 shots on goal yesterday - but they were my preseason pick to get trampled by a West team I selected out of hat (Chicago, again, arbitrarily because the West is tough) in the 2015 Stanley Cup Final ... so obviously I think there's plenty of talent there.

The biggest impediment may be Michel Therrien being wishy washy about actually turning that talent loose. Stay tuned.

-- Habs Eyes on the Prize points out that Detroit emptied its net with five minutes left, yet Montreal failed to score into the yawning goal. Apparently Max Pacioretty missed out the most, as Matthew Macaskill believes he could have had an "empty-net hat trick."

-- Consider me a fan of the Canadiens slightly tweaked top six forwards. Brendan Gallagher has been lining up with Tomas Plekanec and Alex Galchenyuk while P.A. Parenteau skates with David Desharnais and Max Pacioretty.

-- Justin Abdelkader's intriguing in hits leagues. With 44 hits, 18 PIM, 41 SOG and a solid 11 points, he's not too shabby in deeper formats. Nothing special, mind you, but you also don't lose too much chasing hits with him, either.

WILD 4, JETS 3 (OT)

-- What an odd game. Ondrej Pavelec made it through about 20 minutes. Niklas Backstrom lasted through about 50. Darcy Kuemper ended up getting the W while Michael Hutchinson was saddled with a very unfair loss.

-- It's especially amusing for Kuemper, as he grabbed a random win after being scuttled from the net following two goals allowed on as many shots earlier this week.

-- Skeptics will wonder if this is Pavelec turning into a pumpkin, so to speak. Consider me a skeptic in this case, as Pavelec hasn't really earned much benefit of the doubt.

-- Kind of burying the lede here, as Zach Parise returned from his concussion issues with a big game. He scored two goals, registered a +2 and threw four hits, which isn't maybe the greatest thing considering what kept him on the shelf.

-- Ryan Suter generated 8 PIM on Sunday, which is twice as many as he had all season long.

-- Are my eyes deceiving me or did Jared Spurgeon block eight shots? He probably wore ice pack armor after this game.

-- Evander Kane and Andrew Ladd weren't slacking. Kane had a goal, four PIM, five SOG and seven hits. Ladd matched him with a tally, seven PIM, four SOG and four hits. Kane is available in about 20 percent of leagues, so snatch him up if possible.

BLACKHAWKS 6, STARS 2

-- Chicago fired 23 SOG on Dallas in the third period alone, nearly matching the Stars' 24 shots from the entire game. Yikes.

-- Kris Versteeg is something off a whipping boy among the stats minded, but should fantasy owners care? With three points last night, he now has 10 points. As long as he's riding shotgun with Jonathan Toews and/or Patrick Kane, he should be owned in more than a piddling six percent of leagues.

He could easily slink back into irrelevance, but Versteeg's a solid short-term consideration.

-- As far as I can tell, Ales Hemsky played most/all of Sunday with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. Not sure how long that experiment will last, however.

-- The Stars might bounce back from this (to a point), but they're also a cautionary tale about relying too much on players who aren't homegrown. Tyler Seguin's obviously been fabulous and Jason Spezza's had his moments, but at least half of Dallas' top six forwards are pretty new to the team. If you look at the league's elite, the core is generally developed in-house while supporting cast members come from outside. As great as Marian Hossa is, the Blackhawks generally go as far as Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith can take them.

PANTHERS 6, DUCKS 2

-- Expert analysis: Anaheim really, really needs to get healthy. I'm not sure how much this beatdown has to do with mumps (or "illnesses") and how much of it has to do with the Panthers being sneaky-good, but this is a little worrisome.

-- Most worrisome is Frederik Andersen's work, as he's totally slipped without the threat of John Gibson looming. Then again, maybe it's more about teams learning his tendencies and other issues that befall inexperienced goalies than any armchair psychology.

Counterpoint: armchair psychology is more fun.

-- Impressive games from Nick Bjugstad (two goals, two assists, +4 and five SOG) and Brad Boyes (two goals, one assist, +3 and four SOG). In all honesty, it's tough for me to get TOO excited about Florida forwards at this point, though.

Now, red-hot rookie defenseman Aaron Ekblad? He's worth a short-term look, at minimum.

COYOTES 2, OILERS 1

-- If Devan Dubnyk (4-0-1, .925 save percentage) and Mike Smith (4-9-0, .889 save percentage) were making comparable amounts of money, would there be any question at all who would be getting the most reps? Smith's contract smelled like panic for me from the start, and it only seems worse considering how precious every dollar is for the Coyotes. Keep an eye on this situation.

Note: it's weird seeing Dubnyk bounce back in a small sample after I felt dumb going out on a limb for him last season. Five games isn't much, but with Arizona's ability to make goalies look good, he's worth at least monitoring.

-- Taylor Hall returned and played a very Taylor Hall game: one goal, five SOG. You can lambaste the Oilers in many ways, but Hall's the real deal.

-- Nikita Nikitin's a pretty awkward dude to watch, right down to wearing 86 as a defenseman.

-- Hard to argue with Dallas Eakins leaning toward Viktor Fasth over Ben Scrivens right now. Edmonton remains a buzzsaw for goalies (just ask Dubnyk).

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