Captain Toews to the rescue, Shoot’em out in Wild West, Ducks & Habs losing helps Rangers The Buffalo Sabres almost made it 2 in a row by scaring the Chicago Blackhawks until Captain Jonathan Toews rescued the Hawks from a humiliating defeat against the NHL’s worst team by scoring two late goals with less than 2 minutes remaining to give the Blackhawks a 4-3 win.  Toews just shows what a tremendous talent he is by upping his game in the wake of losing Patrick Kane for the last month and a half and carrying the team to within reach of the Central division crown…Brandon Saad added 2 assists and has 6 points in the last six games.  Perhaps the time has come for the young LWer.  With next year being his fourth, you could see a good jump in production from the 50’s level to perhaps a 70-point campaign….For those looking ahead to next season, Buffalo’s defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen may be the main cog on the Sabres’ power play along with Zach Bogosian.  Regardless, Buffalo has a tremendous amount of defensive young talent to build the team up on.  And don’t forget Sam Reinhart…. The New Jersey Devils actually helped their cross-river rivals, the New York Rangers, by beating the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in a shootout, keeping the Mighty Habs from gaining that extra point that is so crucial at this point of the season.  It was a battle of the backups as both teams have or had back-to-back nights… It was a regular ‘shoot-em out in the Old West’ as the St. Louis Blues outlasted the Dallas Stars 7-5 last night in a game atypical at this time of year.  With Vladimir Tarasenko sidelined, Patrik Berglund has stepped up his production of late with 6 points in last 4 games.  Berglund has never lived up to his scoring potential but has come on of late...Jaden Schwartz had a hattie and showed that he can score without the talented Tarasenko giving the Blues a potent duo for years to come…Dallas has their own potent duo in Jamie Benn (2G, A) and Tyler Seguin (G, 2A) as both contributed with 3 points each in the loss.  You can probably expect more matches like this in the upcoming years… The New York Rangers got some more help as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Anaheim Ducks 4-2, keeping the Ducks from expanding their 2-point lead over the Rangers for the President’s Cup.  With 2 assists Avs’ defenseman Tyson Barrie cracked the 50-point plateau, bettering his previous high of 38 set last year.  Barrie has arrived big time and should be high on your draft lists next season as Colorado will only get better as they gain more experience… With a 3-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes, the San Jose Sharks clung to their slim playoff hopes as the season winds down.  Joe Thornton has gone scoreless in the last 7 games, not a good sign with the season on the line.  However, younger talents like Logan Couture have picked up their game with 8 points in the last 5 games.  That’s a good sign of things to come for next season as we have been waiting for Couture to break out big time for a few years now.