*Tyler Johnson- After his two goals last night helped propel the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning past the Montreal Canadiens, the 2nd-year center has now vaulted into third in NHL scoring with 45 points. It's unbelievable how quickly Johnson has ascended into the upper echelon of fantasy forwards, but he is as MUST-START as they come now. Keep rolling Johnson. **Patrik Elias- Kudos to the veteran Czech winger for surpassing the 1,000 point mark in his NHL career with a goal and two assists. I beg you to buy low on Elias who has been a huge fantasy disappointment but has been turning it on with 5 points over the last 5 games. If there is anyone left on the waiver-wire that can notch 30-35 pts in the second half, it's surely him. ***Steve Mason- An extraordinary effort by Mason as he single-handlely provided the Flyers the much-needed win with 40 saves on 41 shots against Ottawa. The victory snapped his personal six-game losing streak and although he was all-world last night, he has a way to go before he earns our confidence as a solid fantasy goalie option. ****David Backes- Wow, a four-goal performance by the superior St. Louis two-way center who is also benefitting from two "HOT" line-mates in TJ Oshie and Alex Steen. The return of Jaden Schwartz will help balance the offense a bit, but I would keep riding Backes and company until they cool off. *****Semyon Varlamov- The Colorado Avalanche have been struggling to keep opposing offenses at bay and last night in Chicago was no different. The Blackhawks fired 53 shots at Varlamov but he was up to the task with the Herculean shutout effort. Just like Mason, I still don't trust Varly as a consistent fantasy netminder, but a few more of these type of games and I'm sure I could be swayed.

Hot coffee on a cold day.....let's go! I think Christian Ehrhoff took the task to hand yesterday with 7 SOG and the game-winning goal in the third period. Finally earning that paycheck... No Kunitz. No Dupuis. No Hornqvist.  No Bennett.  No Letang.  No problem for the Penguins as long as they have both Crosby, Malkin and Fleury leading the way.... The Islanders had the Blues, leading 3-0 after 1 period, but Marty was the inspiration taking over for Jake Allen.... Both top defensemen for the St. Louis Blues had a combined 15 SOG, Shattenkirk 8 & Pietrangelo 7..... Vladimir Tarasenko is slowing down, but not much as he potted his 17th goal to seal the deal on Long Island. You knew Jaroslav Halak had to lose after winning 11 in a row and Steve Mason had to win eventually. It was just odd that the Flyers would beat the Kings in LA after going 1-8-2 in last 11 games.... Has anyone seen Anze Kopitar this season? Two teams you gotta believe in this year are the NY Islanders and the Calgary Flames.... If Florida can string together a few wins, then they would be my surprise team of the season so far... And Columbus would be my surprise team going the other way but with the way Sergei Bobrovsky has been playing in his last few games, I think the Blue Jackets are ready to make a run.... I mean, the Jackets did beat the Tampa Bay Lightning on their own ice 3-1 as they have everyone back in their lineup.... Buffalo's Matt Moulson had 7 SOG but I'm sure he daydreams about his days playing alongside John Tavares on Long Island.... Roberto Luongo must be loving life playing in Florida again, getting away from last year's circus in Vancouver.... You just gotta love what this kid Aaron Ekblad is bringing to, not only the Florida Panthers, but the NHL as well.   3 more assists last night brings him up to 17 points in 25 games.  Impressive indeed... Remember how it was the end of the world for Leaf fans when they took a 9-2 shellacking from the Tampa Bay Lightning? They have gone 5-1-1 since that game.  Sometimes you need a little smack on the behind to get you going... With 7 points in last 4 games, Joffrey Lupul seems to be getting into one of his zones that he is famous for. The other thing that Lupul is famous for is getting injured... Every single Canuck had a SOG in yesterday's contest against Toronto.... Tyler Seguin with his 3 points leapfrogged over Crosby and Voracek for the NHL lead in points. Plus he leads with 21 goals.  Boston?  Do you see what is ...

The NY Rangers responded well after taking a beating from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday and defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 2-0 behind Cam Talbot's 31-save effort. Henrik Lundqvist was given the night off so no need to panic as he should be in net for the next start....Rick Nash continues to play at a high level as he scored his 13th goal on the season...Martin St. Louis notched a power play assist for his 9th point in 10 November games....Flyers' G Steve Mason did all he could to give his team a chance but they couldn't solve Talbot...Interesting development that Claude Giroux played in the game when there was talk over the past few days that he was nursing some sort of injury, but miraculously was able to play against the Rangers..... In his second game back after missing 2 games due to a lower body injury, Radim Vrbata scored twice, both on the power play, to help the Vancouver Canucks squeak by the Edomonton Oilers 5-4.  Vrbata is destined to have a good season playing alongside the Sedin twins, perhaps even breaking his career high of 62 points set in 2011-2012....Speaking of the Sedins, Daniel had 3 assists and Henrik 2 on the night, both playing at point-per-game levels after last season's horror show....4 goal scorers for the Oilers but none of them named Hall, Eberele, Yakupov or Nugent-Hopkins....It fact it was 30-year old Steven Pinizzotto in just his 19 NHL game who had a goal and an assist in the losing effort for the Oilers. WOW!

Just as Tuesday night was good to be the home team with 10 of 11 teams winning at home, Friday night was good to be out on the road with 5 of the 6 visiting teams taking home the 2 points. The night was sandwiched around shutouts, first by New Jersey's Cory Schneider who seems to be getting into a groove after a rough 4 game stretch and then by, of all goalies, Arizona's Devan Dubnyk. I'm not too surprised by Schneider's 1-0 blanking of the Washington Capitals but Dubnyk?  I guess with the way Mike Smith has been playing of late, even last year's Holey Goalie was a better option. I would continue starting Schneider but don't have a lot of faith in Dubnyk.  Dubnyk may have earned another start, but Smith will be their starter....Schneider played well but the Devils caught a break when Mike Cammalleri intercepted a pass from Washington G Braden Holtby and fired the miscue into the net for his seventh goal and the game-winner. Cammalleri has provided the offense the Devils were lacking last year.  Good signing Lou!.... Arizona D-man Keith Yandle continues to be a somewhat undervalued beast on defense as he scored a goal and 2 assists and now leads the Coyotes in scoring with 14 points in 17 games. Yandle has led the team in scoring the past two seasons and it looks like he is heading for the trifecta....Hats off to Martin Hanzal who had a hat trick in the 5-0 pasting of the Vancouver Canucks. Hanzal is a decent depth fantasy forward but that's about it....I guess you could say that Vancouver's G Ryan Miller was due for a clunker after an 11-2-0 start. Expect Miller to return to form in his next start..... IT was quite a matchup between two teams who have been frequent exchangers of players over the past few years. Steve Mason didn't fare as well as he would have liked against his former team, losing 4-3 and only stopping 34 of 38 SOG. Mason has not fared as well as last season, but the young goalie should shake off the inconsistency.... Jakub Voracek, another ex-Blue Jacket, had a better game with goal and an assist to continue his torrid start to the 2014 season. He now has 24 points in 17 games and is 1 point behind league leader Sidney Crosby. WOW!...Ex-Flyer Scott Hartnell tried his darnedness to get on the score sheet as he took 6 SOG, but Mason gobbled those up....Ryan Johansen had a 4 assist night and along with Nick Foligno (2G, A) are your best options for offense on Columbus....Blue Jacket D-man James Wisniewski scored his first 2 goals on the ...

Mason stopped 34 of 35 shots in a 4-1 win over the Panthers on Thursday. After sitting for four straight games, tonight will mark Mason's fourth consecutive start. He has won two of the three with a 1.36 GAA and .960 SV%. He would face an Avalanche team who have lost five of seven.

Mason stopped 35 of 36 shots in the Flyers win over the Oilers on Tuesday.It was Mason's first win of the season and he enters play on Thursday with a 3.16 GAA and .901 SV%. He draws a good matchup tonight vs. a Panthers team who rank 29th in scoring (1.50 G/PG).

The Florida Panthers and Roberto Luongo continue to be a tough draw as the Boston Bruins squeaked out a 2-1 win over the Cats. Brad Marchand was the offensive catalyst for the third straight game with a goal and an assist giving him 6 points in those three games. If you are looking for a mid-50 point scorer who could possibly give you a little more, then Marchand might be worth a pickup... The Cam Ward resurgence continues from the weekend as Ward and the Carolina Hurricanes won their third straight with a 4-2 win over Columbus. It is safe to put Ward back in your lineup, or possibly pick him up off waivers if he happens to still be available.... The hottest player in the NHL continues to tear it up as Vladimir Tarasenko scored a game-winning power play goal as the blues beat the New Jersey Devils 1-0. There isn't much more to say than to keep him in your lineup until he somehow cools off.  That's 9 points in his last 5 games.  Torrid!  G Jake Allen pitched the 26-save shutout..... Steve Mason and the Philadelphia Flyers played a solid game at home to start off a 4-game homestand. On player who is giving Tarasenko a run for the "hottest player" honors is Jakub Voracek who had 2 goals, including the game-winner. With 18 points in 12 games, he is right up there with Sidney Crosby for the league lead in points. Like Tarasenko, he also has 9 points in his last 5 games..... If the NHL, or fantasy poolies even, haven't taken the Calgary Flames seriously yet, well you just might have to join the ever increasing believers as the Flames took one from the Washington Capitals with a 4-3 OT victory in DC. The Flames have carried over their solid play from last year and Head Coach Bob Hartley has them playing spirited hockey.  Continue to start T.J. Brodie and Mark Giordano on the back end and perhaps Johnny Gaudreau even though he was kept off the score sheet, he does have 5 points in last 4 games. G Jonas Hiller has brought much needed stability in net for the Flames so continue to start him with confidence.... Chicago, behind the 28-save performance by Corey Crawford, blanked the Montreal Canadiens 5-0 at the Bell Centre. Jonathan Toews was the catalyst with a power play goal and an assist as the Habs continue to struggle to score. Their goal differential to date is -14, so someone has to step up or G Carey Price will start to get shell shocked.... Erik Karlsson led the way with a power-play goal that keyed a three-out burst in the third period for the Senators ...

Mason stopped 28 of 30 shots in the Flyers 2-1 loss to the Panthers. Saturday was Mason's best outing of the season, but he is still searching for his first win of the season (0-4-1). Mason gets set to take on an Oilers team who has lost two in a row, with a 3.55 GAA and .887 SV% in his first six starts.

Mason stopped 28 of 30 shots in the Flyers 2-1 loss to the Panthers. Saturday was Mason's best outing of the season, but he is still searching for his first win of the season (0-4-1). Mason gets set to take on an Oilers team who has lost two in a row, with a 3.55 GAA and .887 SV% in his first six starts.