Steen making teams feel Blue

Four more days of action left until the All-Star break. It would appear that these few days off are coming at a bad time for some players in the midst of hot streaks. Let's get right to the (12) recaps.

BLUE JACKETS 3, BRUINS 1

— Entering the game, the Blue Jackets had lost four in a row and the Bruins had won five in a row. Columbus was also starting backup netminder Curtis McElhinney on the road. Credit to McElhinney here for the strong night in net (34 saves).

— Ryan Johansen’s goal and assist gives him points in 13 consecutive games. He’s at a point-per-game (43) mark. It would not surprise me to see this type of production last not just this season, but for the next decade. Johansen is just touching the surface of what could be a superstar career.

Don’t forget, for everything NHL, check out Rotoworld's Player News, and follow @Rotoworld_ HK and @jhascup22 on Twitter.

— Even after a two-goal night from Matt Calvert, he has just 12 points, so I can’t go recommending him just yet. He was a productive WHL player with moderate goal totals in the AHL. It might take some time for him to develop into a 20-goal guy at the NHL.

— Carl Soderberg is going to earn a pretty penny this offseason when he hits free agency. Tough to see the Bruins being able to afford him with the way their roster/cap looks for next season. He’s a big center whose confidence appears to be growing at the NHL. The 29-year-old has 10 goals and 30 points.

FLYERS 4, SABRES 3

— Thankfully, every team will play the Sabres at least once this season, meaning it provides that confidence-boosting opportunity. For the Flyers, it ended a 168:50 goal drought, the fourth-longest in team history. The Sabres lost for the 10th straight game.

— Who ended it, you ask? R.J. Umberger scored at 3:51 of the third period. He has eight goals and 12 points, so he’s far from appealing in fantasy leagues. His offensive side has dried up in recent seasons. Philadelphia also got goals from Mark Streit, Chris VandeVelde and Michael Raffl.

— Rob Zepp made 24 saves. What a great story. Thirty-three-year-old playing the first NHL games of his career this year. As long as Steve Mason is out, Zepp should get the majority of the starts. Ray Emery has been a sieve. Tough to gauge whether Craig Berube turns to Zepp tomorrow, though.

— Zemgus Girgensons scored twice, giving him his first points since Dec. 29, a span of eight games without one. With 13 goals and 22 points, he has a lot of catching up to do before the All-Star Game, to actually, you know, elevate his totals to a level worthy of the selection.

CANADIENS 6, ISLANDERS 4

— Jaroslav Halak had allowed four goals on 100 shots in four games against his old team prior to this one. Then, he gave up six on 33 on Saturday night. Halak leads the league with 24 wins, but the rates are more middle of the pack: 2:36, .912 save percentage.

— He can thank Tomas Plekanec for the stat inflation. The veteran scored twice and assisted two more times for his sixth career four-point game. Plekanec has not been a huge fantasy factor in recent seasons, but he seems to have turned back the clock a bit this year with 13 goals and 32 points. I wouldn’t expect him to put your team on his back moving forward, but good supporting stats are very likely.

— Alex Galchenyuk has 11 goals and 29 points this year, two (of each) shy of his career highs. The breakout doesn’t appear to be coming this year, but you’ll want him when it does because he is in the next wave of promising forwards.

— Dustin Tokarski (four goals, 31 shots) needs to thank his counterpart for the win in this one. Though he did make eight of nine saves while on the penalty kill.

— If you’re facing Kyle Okposo in head-to-head leagues (like me), then you’re probably not going to win goals this week. Okposo followed up his four-goal Friday with a goal and an assist Saturday. John Tavares also matched him, firing eight shots on net, too. These two players are such an underrated duo.

BLUES 3, MAPLE LEAFS 0

— New coach, pretty much same results for the Maple Leafs. Clearly, the team’s flaws lie in its roster and not wholly on the coach. Though it’s worth pointing out they have scored just eight goals in six games with Peter Horacheck behind the bench.

— The Blues, on the other hand, are one of the best (if not the best) team in hockey right now. They are four points away from Nashville’s 64 for the most in the league, and they lead the NHL with a plus-35 goal differential.

— Pretty stellar work from the first line yet again: Alexander Steen and T.J. Oshie got goals. Steen also added an assist, as center David Backes got two. Steen is proving that last season’s breakout as one of the top scorers in the game was no fluke. He has goals in five straight games and points in nine straight. During this stretch, he has seven of his 15 goals and 16 of his 30 points. According to NHL.com, the first line has 49 points in the last 11 games.

— Kevin Shattenkirk now has eight goals and 39 points this season. His career highs are 10 goals and 45 points. He’s been a huge steal in fantasy leagues this season.

— Brian Elliott has the potential to be among the top tier of fantasy netminders. He recorded his third shutout of the season, on 27 saves. The problem he faces is that Jake Allen plays more than usual for a backup.

HURRICANES 3, SENATORS 2

— Justin Faulk is a mix of the good (eight goals, 26 points, 121 shots) and bad (minus-15 rating). On Saturday, he scored, assisted, had six shots on goal and a plus-three rating, so he was all good. He’s an exciting player who should only become more central to this offense. Faulk is already tied for his career high in goals and is six away from tying points, too.

— This is what I expected from Anton Khudobin (30 saves on 32 shots) this season and why I anticipated he'd wrest the job away from Cam Ward. Khudobin has given up seven goals over his last five starts. Ward has an .890 save percentage in January.

— Mark Stone has been one of the few bright spots in a disappointing season for the Senators. He has notched a point in five consecutive games, to give him 11 goals and 24 points on the year. The goal scoring frequency should decrease, though, as he’s lighting the lamp at an 18% clip.

RED WINGS 5, PREDATORS 2

— While all the talk is centering on the Islanders, Lightning, Canadiens and Penguins in the East, here the Red Wings are, three points short of the most in the conference. All they did Saturday was dispatch the red-hot Predators, who had won five games in a row.

— The Red Wings’ depth continues to get overlooked. This is a team that’s not just dependent upon Pavel Datsyuk (two assists) and Henrik Zetterberg (goal).

— The (young) second line of Tomas Tatar (two goals, assist), Riley Sheahan (two assists) and Gustav Nyquist (goal, assist) has shown its as dangerous as any in the league. Tatar has 20 goals and 32 points this season, and points in four straight. He had 19 goals all of last season. Tatar and Nyquist are not getting enough love around the league. It's time to get on board in fantasy leagues, too, because the arrows are pointing up for these young players.

— Don’t forget Petr Mrazek (34 saves), too. The Red Wings haven’t missed Jimmy Howard at all. The 22-year-old is Detroit’s goalie of the future. Worth noting that Howard still has four more years left on his deal after this one, though.

— The Predators probably will stay afloat without Pekka Rinne, but don’t expect much more. Carter Hutton lasted 12:32 after giving up three goals on four shots. Can’t fault him for all of them, though, as bounces, screens and great individual efforts did him in. Marek Mazanec made 18 saves in relief.

— If Mike Fisher is available in your league, take advantage of his hot streak; he has points in six straight. Though the 34-year-old has nine goals and 18 points in 23 games, he has never performed at this level before, so enjoy it while it lasts.

LIGHTNING 3, AVALANCHE 2 (shootout)

— The Lighting got scoring contributions from the former Rangers. Anton Stralman had a goal and an assist, while Ryan Callahan also scored and also had the winner in the shootout. Stralman already has 22 points this season. His career high is 34 set in 2009-10.

— The Lightning were outshot 42-31, but Ben Bishop was the difference in this game. He has given up four goals on 70 shots over his last two games. He keeps that up and the Lightning are nearly unbeatable. I think he’s good for wins but the rates might be more second tier.

— Not sure if there are any antsy owners in your league, but now is the time to try to grab Nathan MacKinnon. He has just nine goals and 27 points, but is still firing shots at the 15th-best rate in the league (142). Reaching last year’s 24 goals and 63 points doesn’t seem that likely, but I’m not counting it out because the talent is there for a big run.

— Semyon Varlamov has not seen his save percentage dip below .925 in his last six starts. He’s going to get plenty of action and will likely still post strong rate stats. The wins are another story.

OILERS 3, PANTHERS 2 (shootout)

— Thanks to NHL.com for the following: The Oilers were winless (0-8-6) in their last 14 road games and utilized their first third-period comeback of the season to snap the skid.

— Matt Hendricks tied up the game at two in the third period to ultimately force extra time. He has six goals and 11 points on the year, so he’s probably not owned anywhere unless your one of his relatives

— It baffles me to see Jordan Eberle and all that skill have just 12 goals and 28 points this season. He has to be one of the bigger disappointments in fantasy this season. Silver lining is at least things can’t get much worse, right?

— Jonathan Huberdeau and Erik Gudbranson netted the goals for Florida. Huberdeau is a young forward whose ability gives him the chance to be a regular All-Star. He has four of his eight goals and eight of his 25 points over his last six games. A must-have in dynasty leagues.

— Despite the overtime loss, it’s nice to see Roberto Luongo (32 saves) bounce back from two off nights in which he gave up a total of seven goals on 48 shots.

STARS 5, CAPITALS 4

— The Capitals had earned at least a point in 18 of their last 20 games. They nearly got one in this one after erasing a 3-0 Stars lead.

— Jason Spezza, Tyler Seguin and Erik Cole each posted a goal and an assist. With eight goals and 32 points, Spezza hasn’t exactly lived up to expectations this year. A little more puck luck (scoring rate is 8.6%) and his stats will begin to align with expectations. He’s someone I’d try to trade for heading into the second half.

— Jamie Benn tallied what’s considered the game-winning goal in this one. With 13 goals and 37 points, he’s been a bit quieter than normal. He hasn’t been a point-per-game player since November. I wouldn’t be too worried about him, though.

— Justin Peters made his first start since Nov. 29 and gave up five goals on 26 shots. Braden Holtby had made 21 consecutive starts, so he’s on pace for around 70 this season. Even after this outing, the Capitals have to give Peters more consistent work in the second half. Letting Holtby continue to start this many times is not a recipe for long-term success the rest of this season.

— Nicklas Backstrom (goal, assist) should be an All-Star. There’s just no way the league will leave out Alex Ovechkin (goal, assist), though, and with the requirement to select a player from every team, it makes it difficult to get a slew of worthy players in. Backstrom has 14 goals and 46 points, good for 10th in the NHL. His 32 assists are fifth-most in the league.

WILD 3, COYOTES 1

— Devan Dubnyk (25 saves) could be a nice addition for fantasy squads in the second half. Much of the Wild’s issues have stemmed from their goaltending. Dubnyk is an immediate upgrade. He has a .937 save percentage at even-strength play, which is fifth-best among goalies with at least 12 starts. Nice way to make your home debut, against your old team, no less.

— Charlie Coyle, Jason Zucker and Zach Parise (empty-netter) scored for the Wild. For those who own Zucker, I’d look into moving him. I seriously doubt he continues to score at a 16% pace. He’s also not doing much (five assists, 14 penalty minutes) outside of lighting the lamp to make him more worthwhile to hold on to.

— It’s pretty clear that Antoine Vermette is going to get moved by the deadline. He’s a solid two-way center who will fit in well with a team looking to make a playoff push; he has 11 goals and 29 points this season.

— Mike Smith has been bashed — and deservedly so — a lot this season. Worth noting when he doesn’t light a match to his numbers. He made 30 saves Saturday, in his league-leading 19th loss. I’d probably need to see at least two weeks of this to think about adding him.

FLAMES 4, SHARKS 3 (overtime)

— Sean Monahan went 13 games without a goal, and now he has netted two in his last two games. He won Saturday’s 24 seconds into the extra frame. He has 28 points this season, so he’s on pace for about 50. Worth owning more as a fill-in at this stage of his career because of the inconsistency that comes with such a young player.

— Dennis Wideman scored his 11th, and is bound to topple his career high of 13 goals set in the 2007 and 2008 seasons. He’s scoring at double his career rate (12.4%), so owners beware.

— Interesting to see Bob Hartley turn to Joni Ortio for his third straight start. Though he has won all three, this one was his weakest effort — three goals on 22 shots.

— Not really sure I feel comfortable saying Thornton is done as an elite center at age 35. He has 10 goals and 25 assists this season, so he’s on pace to post his lowest point total (full season) in over a decade. But all it takes is some better puck luck after it leaves his stick and he could get to 70 points again. He’s still driving possession at an incredible rate, so that’s a good sign.

— Melker Karlsson’s scoring rate is pretty ridiculous right now. He has seven goals and is converting on over a quarter of his shots. A major correction is coming soon.

DUCKS 3, KINGS 2 (shootout)

— It doesn’t really get any better than this type of matchup, even if the Kings aren’t among the best, just yet. There’s something about this rugged, power-hockey style that is so much fun to watch.

— I also really enjoy when talented two-way centers such as Ryan Getzlaf (goal) and Anze Kopitar (goal) battle each other. Still very early, but Getzlaf is in the conversation when it comes to the Hart Trophy. He has 14 goals and 48 points, and has real shot at reaching the 90-point mark for the second time in his career.

— Kopitar, on the other hand, might not be in the MVP discussion, but he’s ready for tremendous second half of the season. Since December, he’s registered 25 of his 35 points. I sure hope fantasy owners stayed patient.

— Frederik Andersen made 26 saves for his fifth consecutive win. Andersen has given up two goals in his last two games.

— Jonathan Quick has not won since the first day of 2015, but this marks his best performance of the new year. In January (six games), he has given up 17 goals.