A fantasized look at Thursday night's NHL action.
Kyle Okposo took his Olympic snub out on the opposition as he scored the OT winner and added an assist last night. He's on an 8 game point scoring streak (6+7=13) and is currently a point per game player with 42 points in 42 games on the season.
Evgeni Nabokov picked up his third win over his last 4 starts. He stopped 37 of 39 shots and has been playing very well since his return from injury. If he's in your free agent pool and you need some goalie help, kick his tires.
Ryan Spooner had an assist for the second straight game and he now has 6 assists in his last 6 games. He's not playing a whole lot of minutes but that can change if he keeps this up.
Let's go with Mike Fisher for fantasy line of the night. His 2 assists, 6 shots, 2 hits, 4 blocks, and plus-1 was everything a multicat could have asked for. This marked his third straight multi point effort (3+5=8 over that span) which followed up a streak of just 1 point over his last 9 games. He isn't this good but he isn't that bad. Split the difference.
Jeff Skinner likes to score his goals in bunches and he's on one of his streaks now. After potting a hat trick last night he has 7 goals in his last 7 games and 5 in his last 2. He lost some games to injury this season but 19+11=30 over 30 games is damn good and I'd like to see what he's capable of over a full season.
Anton Khudobin played his first game in two and a half months and made 41 saves for the overtime win. I think a speculative pickup wouldn't be the craziest thing in the world, especially given Cam Ward's minor injury and overall poor numbers.
Another assist for Jacob Trouba and he has a four game point scoring streak going. He also had 2 pim, 3 hits, 2 blocks, and 4 shots in over 20 minutes of ice time. He's starting to really come around. Don't miss the boat.
Brian Elliott made it five straight wins with his 30 save shutout last night. It's starting to feel like 2011-2012 again with Elliott's ridiculous numbers (11-1-2, 1.84 gaa, .928 sv%, and 3 shutouts).
Two goals scored by T.J. Oshie last night and he's on a three game goal scoring streak. He'd only had 4 goals in the previous 37 games on the season. He does have a boatload of assists but it's nice to see him hitting the twine a bit more.
Bad time for Martin Jones to go cold. He was pulled last night and ended up with the loss for a third straight start. With Jonathan Quick returning to action shortly, a demotion seems likely.
Four game point scoring streak for Mikko Koivu as he had two assists last night. The Wild's captain is always highly underrated but always delivers the goods on the scoring sheet.
What an outburst from Max Pacioretty last night as he scored two goals for the second straight game but also added two assists to make it a magical four point night. Save some for Sochi, MaxPac.
David Desharnais made it two straight multipoint games with a goal and an assist last night. He now has 10 points in his last 9 games and is making us forget about his poor start to the season. I'd be comfortable picking him up even in somewhat shallow leagues.
Nathan Horton returned with a bang as he scored the GWG for the Blue Jackets last night in his first game of the season. He also handed out 3 hits and had 2 shots in just under 15 minutes of ice time. I'm still weary of picking him up and expecting a lot out of him.
Curtis McElhinney followed up two games in which he got shelled for five goals each with a shutout. Go figure. Don't get too excited.