Undoubtedly the fantasy performer of the night was Montreal winger Max Pacioretty, who collected four points (2G/2A) in the 6-4 road win over Dallas. With 25 points in 33 games, the talented forward is on the cusp of being considered an upper-tier fantasy option but needs to be less streaky and more consistent. Perhaps, the emergence of David Desharnais in the recent weeks will help lead to more reliable offensive production from "Mad Max". Coming off a three-assist game, the diminutive center added a goal and an assist to raise his totals to 5 points in the last 2 contests. If both forwards can get each other going, fantasy owners will reap huge rewards in the second half. Desharnais is plenty available in most leagues, so he is well worth a waiver pick-up at this point. Also, do not underestimate the effect of being selected to the American Olympic team for Pacioretty, who responded to the news with arguably his best performance of the season. More Fantasy Notes: In a battle featuring rookie gooltenders Boston beat Nashville in OT 3-2. Swedish goaltender Niklas Svedberg got his first NHL win in his first NHL game. Nice to see that.  Predators goaltender Marek Mazanec took the loss, and after a fast start his record is now only 7-8-2 with a .906 save percentage. Brad Marchand got the game winner, and while he has only 20 points on the season, he does have a knack for scoring important goals. Boston forward Jarome Iginla had a goal and after a slow start this year he has 28 points and has scored in each of his last 6 games.  Nashville defenseman Shea Weber had a good game with a goal and an assist, and he has 10 goals and 24 points on the season. His -12 is a bit disconncerting though... The New York Islanders continued their mini-hot stear beating the Blachawks in OT.  The Islanders have won 4 of their last 5 games, and 3 of them were against quality teams; Chicago Boston and Detroit.  New York forward Kyle Okposo scored the game winner and he had an assist as well. Last night Okposo seemed determined to demonstrate to the US Olympic Committee that they made a mistake in not choosing him for the team.  He has 42 points in 42 games this year.  Well its good news for poolies who own him, as he will have a little extra motivition the rest of this year. Corey Crawford looked sharp in goal for Chicago after missing more than 3 weeks with an injury as he had 31 saves, but Evgeni Nabokov was better with 39 saves. Lets see if the Islanders can keep this going... Carolina forward Jeff Skinner had a big game last night with 3 goals, including the game winner in OT. When Alexander Semin went down with an injury the Hurricanes had to rely more on Skinner, and even though Semins is back Skinner is still getting top ice time. He, Semin and Eric Staal led all Carolina players with 4:07 in PP time last night. Skinner has been red hot lately scoring 7 goals with 2 assists in his last 5 games.  With 19 goals and 30 points on the season he may surpasse the 62 points he scored in his rookie season 2010-2011. He regressed badly in the next 2 years, including a horrendous -21 two years ago.  But he is still only 21 years old, and he says that he is playing with more confidence these days, which means he is understanding the NHL game better.  While he will cool down from this torrid pace he could set a career record with goals scored if he gets more than 31.  We think he can.  Washington goaltender Phillipp Grubauer got the wind taken out of his sails as he allowed 4 goals and took the loss. Lets see if Coach Oates goes back to Brayden Holtby in the next game. Likely!