The New York Islanders continue their supremacy over the Rangers this season with a 4-1 win for their 4th win of the season over the Blueshirts. Jaroslav Halak almost had another shutout but lost it with just 10 seconds left in the game. The Isles are tied atop the Eastern Conference with the Detroit Red Wings who beat the Florida Panthers 5-4.  Stephen Weiss was the offensive hero for the Wings with a goal and 2 assists. Weiss is probably still available on the waiver wire and should be picked up as a lower end forward or for depth purposes.... The Pittsburgh Penguins were without the services of top guns Crosby and Malkin but got back some significant contributors in Patric Hornqvist (2 goals) and D Kris Letang who had 5 assists in his return from injury. Keep these fantasy studs in your lineup at all times because if they can score without Crosby and Malkin, imagine what they could do with them in it.... Columbus and Philadelphia kept their playoff hopes alive with must-needed victories over Washington and Arizona respectively. With Bobrovsky lost to injury, Curtis McElhinney pushed aside 25 of 28 SOG for the win and will be counted on to keep them in the race until their starter Bobber returns....Philly beat the Coyotes in a shootout to stay in the hunt. IF you are looking for some defensive help on the score sheet, take a look at Michael Del Zotto who seems to have found his scoring form with his fourth on the season but that makes 5 points in last 4 games.... Carey Price turned aside 40 shots as the Montreal Canadienssneaked by the visiting Dallas Stars by a 3-2 score. Defenseman Andrei Markov has firmly jumped back into fantasy relevance by collecting another power-play assist to improve to eight points in his last six games. After collecting ten points over the first two months, all the cagey veteran has done is rack up 17 points in his last 22 contests. Start him with confidence as he and PK Subban have revitalized the Habs on the power-play..Jason Spezza has shown signs of life for the sputtering Stars, extending his point streak to five games with an assist. Expect him to juice up his numbers in the second half, but don't count on a point-per-game clip... It seems that Cam Ward is clearly the forgotten man in the Carolina crease as Anton Khudobin keeps flashing his breakout form from last season. In the 4-2 win over Tampa Bay, the streaking Russian improved his win total to six over his last seven games and his streak of allowing two or less ...

The New York Islanders continue their supremacy over the Rangers this season with a 4-1 win for their 4th win of the season over the Blueshirts. Jaroslav Halak almost had another shutout but lost it with just 10 seconds left in the game. The Isles are tied atop the Eastern Conference with the Detroit Red Wings who beat the Florida Panthers 5-4.  Stephen Weiss was the offensive hero for the Wings with a goal and 2 assists. Weiss is probably still available on the waiver wire and should be picked up as a lower end forward or for depth purposes.... The Pittsburgh Penguins were without the services of top guns Crosby and Malkin but got back some significant contributors in Patric Hornqvist (2 goals) and D Kris Letang who had 5 assists in his return from injury. Keep these fantasy studs in your lineup at all times because if they can score without Crosby and Malkin, imagine what they could do with them in it.... Columbus and Philadelphia kept their playoff hopes alive with must-needed victories over Washington and Arizona respectively. With Bobrovsky lost to injury, Curtis McElhinney pushed aside 25 of 28 SOG for the win and will be counted on to keep them in the race until their starter Bobber returns....Philly beat the Coyotes in a shootout to stay in the hunt. IF you are looking for some defensive help on the score sheet, take a look at Michael Del Zotto who seems to have found his scoring form with his fourth on the season but that makes 5 points in last 4 games....

The New York Islanders continue their supremacy over the Rangers this season with a 4-1 win for their 4th win of the season over the Blueshirts. Jaroslav Halak almost had another shutout but lost it with just 10 seconds left in the game. The Isles are tied atop the Eastern Conference with the Detroit Red Wings who beat the Florida Panthers 5-4.  Stephen Weiss was the offensive hero for the Wings with a goal and 2 assists. Weiss is probably still available on the waiver wire and should be picked up as a lower end forward or for depth purposes.... The Pittsburgh Penguins were without the services of top guns Crosby and Malkin but got back some significant contributors in Patric Hornqvist (2 goals) and D Kris Letang who had 5 assists in his return from injury. Keep these fantasy studs in your lineup at all times because if they can score without Crosby and Malkin, imagine what they could do with them in it.... Columbus and Philadelphia kept their playoff hopes alive with must-needed victories over Washington and Arizona respectively. With Bobrovsky lost to injury, Curtis McElhinney pushed aside 25 of 28 SOG for the win and will be counted on to keep them in the race until their starter Bobber returns....Philly beat the Coyotes in a shootout to stay in the hunt. IF you are looking for some defensive help on the score sheet, take a look at Michael Del Zotto who seems to have found his scoring form with his fourth on the season but that makes 5 points in last 4 games....

Pavel Datsyuk returned to the lineup after missing some time due to a nuisance groin problem that has plagued him since the beginning of the season. Datsyuk proved just how valuable he is not only to the Detroit Red Wings, but fantasy owners alike by scoring twice including the power play game-winner.  He's a definite start, but he has shown some brittleness of late....If you are looking for forward help, take a shot on Stephen Weiss who added a goal and an assist after scoring twice in the last game after being out of the lineup for the entire start of the season.....How much can we say about G Jimmy Howard's performance this year? Just stick him as your starter and concentrate on other areas of your team.... Jaroslav Halak and New York Islanders win again, making it 6 in a row and 11 of their last 12 games for the team from Long Island. That's 9 wins in a row for Halak who has clearly added stability to the Isles crease.... Pittsburgh's Blake Comeau had been given the opportunity to play alongside Sidney Crosby earlier in the week but with no luck but came away with a hat trick last night playing on Crosby's line and also Evgeni Malkin's line. Another potential candidate for a top-six spot but Comeau saw minimal power play time.  With Beau Bennett out for 2 weeks, Comeau should breathe easier for a little while anyways....D Kris Letang with 2 assists now has 4 points in last 2 games.... The New York rangers played the Tampa Bay lightning a little tougher than last week's 5-1 loss at the Garden but still came away on the wrong end of a 4-3 game. Ex-Ranger Captain Ryan Callahan scored twice against his former team and added an assist, giving him 5 points in two games against his former team. Playing alongside a superstar talent like Steven Stamkos will do that to you...Alex Killorn was slotted on the left wing on the Stamkos-Callahan line so that needs to be monitored to see if Killorn sticks.... Florida beat Carolina 1-0 as Roberto Luongo and Al Montoya combined for the shutout with Luongo leaving the game with an upper-body injury. No further news at this time. ...Nick Bjugstad scored 21 seconds into the game and the Panther duo made it hold up for the victory. That's 9 points in past 6 games for Bjugstad making him a must-start as a key Florida offensive weapon, although the Cats don't score a whole lot.... It was Martin Jones (28 SV) and not Jonathan Quick that posted a 4-0 shutout over the Minnesota Wild, chasing Darcy Kuemper (4 GA) from the game ...

I think it is safe to say that Evgeni Malkin is "in the zone" as he scored twice, including the game-winner against Boston, giving him 8 points in last 5 games....Sidney Crosby (G, 2A) scored for just the 2nd time in 11 games, so expect his production to start heating up as well...Kris Letang pitched in with 3 assists... The New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers battled to a 1-0 shootout victory by the Isles. Both net minders were brilliant as they kept their opponents off the score sheet.  Steve Mason (46 SVS) & Jaroslav Halak (21 SVS) put on a showcase of goaltending skills with Halak earning his third shutout and has now won 7 in a row. Make sure you get the hottest goaltender in the NHL in your lineup, the Islanders are for real! Minnesota G Niklas Backstrom made himself relevant once again as he defeated the Florida Panthers 4-1, raising his record to 3-2-0. With Josh Harding getting some work in the minors, the Wild may be in a situation where they will deal one of their net minders. Darcy Kuemper seems ensconced as the No. 1 right now and that shouldn't change unless he loses his hold with a string of poor starts....Just an FYI, Jason Zucker with his 2 goals tonight, has as many goals as Zach Parise this year-8.... It was a sweet return to the lineup for Detroit's Center Stephen Weiss who scored his first 2 goals in over a year. Weiss signed with the Red Wings in July of 2013 but his debut season with the team was cut short by an injury.  Brought in to supply some secondary scoring, Weiss only played in 26 games and produced just 4 points.  Weiss is a 4-time 20+ goal scorer and if he stays healthy, could supply some depth support to your fantasy team....Jimmy Howard raised his record to 9-4-4 with the 4-3 win, wiping out the bad memories of his poor 2013-14 season.

Weiss skated with the Red Wings on Saturday and said that he feels better after the skate. He is targeting next Friday for a return, but the way injuries have gone for Weiss lately, nothing is guaranteed.

Weiss injured his groin nine days ago in the first game of his conditioning stint with Grand Rapids (AHL). He will likely need to go back to the AHL for another conditioning stint once his groin is back to 100%. He should be no where near your fantasy radar until he can play in 10 consecutive games... at least.

Weiss pulled his groin in his first game with Grand Rapids and he has been placed on injured reserve to make room for Johan Franzen to be activated. Weiss can not stay healthy and should not be on your fantasy radar.

Weiss' conditioning stint did not last very long... He will head back to Detroit and likely be placed on injured reserve to make room for Johan Franzen who is set to be back this weekend. Weiss can not stay healthy and should be considered in any fantasy format until he can play in consecutive games.

Weiss has been a healthy scratch in all but one of the Red Wings first eight games. The 31-year-old played just 8:03 and failed to record a point or shot. He has been a huge disappointment for Detroit since signing a big deal two summers ago. He will head to Grand Rapids where he will try to get back up to speed and hopefully crack the Wings' lineup when he returns.