Dose: Rising and Sliding
Last night was a busy Thursday - though maybe not relative to other Thursdays - so I’ll save the spiel and get down to business. As a reminder, the Dose is going truly daily, but I won’t be handling the Saturday and Sunday editions (/imagines some readers making T.G.I.F. jokes). I’ll be back with you on Monday, so it’s only a brief siesta/reprieve.
Anyway, let’s get crackin.
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SENATORS 4, OILERS 3 (OT)
-- Thoughts go out to Bryan Murray and his family after hearing awful news about colon cancer. If it’s beyond a cure (and sadly, it sounds that way), here’s hoping his last months/years are as painless as possible.
-- Mike Hoffman sure is on a hot streak. He scored two goals last night and is on a three-game streak in that regard (four tallies in that span). He also has six of his seven goals in the last five games.
It's tough for me to say how valuable he truly is - his AHL stats from last season were actually quite strong - but one good sign is that he's been shooting a lot lately. He has at least four SOG in all but one of his last six games.
-- David Perron could be in line for bigger things. I'm not so sure it will be "28 goals, 57 points" good, especially since his two PIM are far, far off his 90 PIM output from 2013-14.
Still, he's shooting pretty well (42 SOG in 17 games), but isn't getting any puck luck (a terrible 2.4 shooting percentage). His career percentage is 12.9.
He's not perfect, but he is in line to improve and still gets his hits. Keep an eye on him.
BLUES 4, PREDATORS 3
-- There are times when it just looks like Vladimir Tarasenko's been shot out of a cannon (or at least his lethal wrister has been). I honestly can't help but marvel at the jump he's made. The Tarasenko line has 30 points in its last seven games.
-- What could really make St. Louis scary is its depth. T.J. Oshie looked pretty up to speed on a line with David Backes and Patrik Berglund, while opponents must feel helpless also trying to match up with Alexander Steen, Joakim Lindstrom and Paul Stastny. If Ken Hitchcock ever realizes that you should get more out of your fourth line than mere agitation and goonery, watch out.
-- "Filip Forsberg, 2015 Calder Trophy winner," sounds more and more likely with each impressive performance.
CANADIENS 5, BRUINS 1
-- After I praised the Bruins sticktoitiveness (heavy science word, sorry for the jargon) earlier this week, they've been blown out 10-1 in a 48-hour period. I feel like I should start to use my jinxing powers for good. Any suggestions?
-- Maybe we should invest in Dale Weise in "fearing for his life" games? He scored a penalty shot goal, an assist, fired 3 SOG, delivered two hits and compiled 7 PIM ... in 8:50 time on ice. What?
-- It's weird to complain about 8 goals in 17 games, yet Max Pacioretty was off to a slightly disappointing start. He's really picking things up lately with three goals and one assist in his last four games. With 62 SOG in 17 games, he shouldn't slow down in broader terms. Obviously the key here is for him to not get clobbered or suspended, "Wolverine healing powers" or not.
AVALANCHE 4, RANGERS 3 (SO)
-- One of the eyebrow-raisers was Nathan MacKinnon getting bumped down to the third line, although I wonder if it's as much about spreading the offensive wealth (and creating advantageous matchups) for Colorado as anything else. Either way, he scored a goal and received 17:04 TOI, so all seems OK.
(If my eyes aren't deceiving me, it seems like he stayed with Jamie McGinn and Daniel Briere for most/all of the game, but feel free to correct on that point if you're better at squinting at shift charts.)
-- Tyson Barrie might not hit the 13-goal mark very often in his career - particularly in just 64 games, as he did last season - but he's a quality producer. With four assists in his last four games, he now has 12 points in 18 contests.
-- Dan Boyle returned to action last night, firing three SOG in 22:14 TOI. As much as he's declined, I have to admit to a soft spot for the guy (I managed to see him up close and personal in his prime, and he was amazing), so I'll try to keep that bias out and just say keep an eye on him.
JETS 3, HURRICANES 1
-- A good reminder not to get TOO excited about Carolina. Yes, they aren't as bad as that start, but the 'Canes are a long way from being legit.
-- Elias Lindholm may be worthy of excitement, though. The fifth pick of the 2013 NHL Draft has been on fire lately. Just look at his October/November splits:
Oct: one assist, -6 rating in eight games
Nov: six goals, two assists, +5 rating in seven games
At minimum, plop him on your watch list.
-- Even with Ondrej Pavelec playing better than expected, I wonder if Winnipeg would ultimately be better off with its backup, in this case Michael Hutchinson.
SHARKS 2, LIGHTNING 1
-- Not a fan of Tampa Bay's third jerseys. The best that can be said about them is that they look like the Kings almost-90s-duds from afar. Meh.
-- This is my annual moment to complain about goalie points. Why can't Antti Niemi's assist at least go into some sort of tiebreaker category? It would be cool if a head-to-head league used shootout points and goalie points to break a tie. Just throwing it out there without having to do any of the work involved.
-- Joe Thornton has three goals in his last four games and is shooting twice per game (36 in 18 contests). That's the Jumbo Joe equivalent of a trigger happy season. I remember a time when virtually all of his shots were just passes that didn't make it to their intended locations ...
WILD 6, SABRES 3
-- Darcy Kuemper stars in "possibly ruining your goalie stats in seven minutes or less." I wouldn't drop him, but I have to admit some concern here.
-- Nino Niederreiter generated a hat trick, nearly doubling his season goal total from four to seven last night. He's a nice depth forward for the Wild, but not for your fantasy team.
-- It's hard to tell if I should be bashing Cody Hodgson or just feeling bad for him. Maybe he's the real loser of the Zack Kassian trade?
(Nah, it's still the Canucks.)
FLAMES 5, COYOTES 3
-- Paul Byron had quite a game, prompting a lot of bad classic Literature/poetry jokes if you're ... me.
-- "Boring" or not, Sean Monahan seems like a legit scorer. With a 15.2 shooting percentage, he could slow down a bit, though.
-- The best thing about Mark Giordano and T.J. Brodie is that they're getting a ton of reps. Giordano is bound to settle down (13.3 shooting percentage is high for a forward, let alone a defenseman), yet 45 SOG in 18 games is still something to feel good about.
(More on Giordano and other players bound to cool off here.)
-- I've stated my general liking of Antoine Vermette's talent, but with less than two SOG per game, I think he's (wait for it) likely to settle down if he doesn't ramp up the volume.
STARS 2, KINGS 0
-- Exploiting back-to-backs isn't foolproof, but when a team is coming off the kind of barnburner/slobberknocker/other ridiculous words like the Kings were, it makes sense that they were maybe a little out of gas against Dallas.
Take a few bonus points from the Stars on that account, but it's nice to see them win a low-scoring game here and there. Kari Lehtonen won't get many opportunities to inflate his stats.
-- I'm not sure if the Stars are better off spreading the offense by moving Jason Spezza off of the "super line," but I'll wager a guess that Spezza owners want them to go top-heavy.
-- Justin Williams added six more SOG last night. Telling ya, the guy's primed to start scoring. I think.
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