Alex Ovechkin scored 4 goals, including a last-minute game-tying tally, in Washington's 6-5 come-back win over Tampa Bay. With 26 goals in 29 games, the absence of Steven Stamkos makes the chances of anyone catching "Ovie" for the Maurice Richard Trophy slim to none. Nicklas Backstrom actually finished with more points in the contest, collecting a goal and 4 assists. After going scoreless in seven straight, the talented center has 7 points in the last three games. Regardless of a scoring drought, you never sit Backstrom out of your fantasy lineup.... Patrick Kane continues his ascent up the fantasy elite with another three points (1G/2A) in the 6-2 Chicago win over Dallas, giving him 12 points in the last 6 games. With 40 points on the season, the slick winger sits second in the NHL in scoring. For all of those pundits, including myself, that thought Kane would take a step back after hoisting the Cup, he is making a huge statement.  Patrick Sharp continues his hot streak with 2 goals.... Martin St. Louis extended his point streak to three games with a goal and two assists in the OT loss to Washington. Even without Stamkos, the ageless wonder is just barely out of the top-ten in scoring with 30 points. Don't discount him as he is still an elite fantasy forward who will get "hotter" when Stamkos returns. For now, marginal players like Tyler Johnson have seen a boost in fantasy value playing alongside St. Louis....The dynamic trio in Edmonton- Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins- combined for 6 points in the Oiler's OT win over Carolina. Eberle provided the overtime heroics with his 11th goal and 27th point in 32 games. His recent hot streak will have him over a point-per-game pace real soon, so trade for this guy if you can.  As for Hall, only injuries stand in his way as a permanent top-five fixture amongst fantasy forwards.... While playing for a "lousy" team, superstar John Tavares keeps notching the points, two more assists last night in the improbable 2-1 Islander win over San Jose.... Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk seamlessly returned from a concussion, scoring a goal and an assist in the 3-2 loss to Florida. He now has 25 points in as many games, so activate him ASAP.... Easy win for Los Angeles last night 6-0 over Montreal. Rookie goaltender Martin Jones had his second straight shutout with 31 saves, and with Jonathan Quick out, and Ben Scrivens in Coach Darryl Sutter's dog house, this guy is a great short term pickup. Young center Tyler ...

Alex Ovechkin scored 4 goals, including a last-minute game-tying tally, in Washington's 6-5 come-back win over Tampa Bay. With 26 goals in 29 games, the absence of Steven Stamkos makes the chances of anyone catching "Ovie" for the Maurice Richard Trophy slim to none. Nicklas Backstrom actually finished with more points in the contest, collecting a goal and 4 assists. After going scoreless in seven straight, the talented center has 7 points in the last three games. Regardless of a scoring drought, you never sit Backstrom out of your fantasy lineup.... Patrick Kane continues his ascent up the fantasy elite with another three points (1G/2A) in the 6-2 Chicago win over Dallas, giving him 12 points in the last 6 games. With 40 points on the season, the slick winger sits second in the NHL in scoring. For all of those pundits, including myself, that thought Kane would take a step back after hoisting the Cup, he is making a huge statement.  Patrick Sharp continues his hot streak with 2 goals.... Martin St. Louis extended his point streak to three games with a goal and two assists in the OT loss to Washington. Even without Stamkos, the ageless wonder is just barely out of the top-ten in scoring with 30 points. Don't discount him as he is still an elite fantasy forward who will get "hotter" when Stamkos returns. For now, marginal players like Tyler Johnson have seen a boost in fantasy value playing alongside St. Louis....The dynamic trio in Edmonton- Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins- combined for 6 points in the Oiler's OT win over Carolina. Eberle provided the overtime heroics with his 11th goal and 27th point in 32 games. His recent hot streak will have him over a point-per-game pace real soon, so trade for this guy if you can.  As for Hall, only injuries stand in his way as a permanent top-five fixture amongst fantasy forwards.... While playing for a "lousy" team, superstar John Tavares keeps notching the points, two more assists last night in the improbable 2-1 Islander win over San Jose.... Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk seamlessly returned from a concussion, scoring a goal and an assist in the 3-2 loss to Florida. He now has 25 points in as many games, so activate him ASAP.... Easy win for Los Angeles last night 6-0 over Montreal. Rookie goaltender Martin Jones had his second straight shutout with 31 saves, and with Jonathan Quick out, and Ben Scrivens in Coach Darryl Sutter's dog house, this guy is a great short term pickup. Young center Tyler ...

As everyone knows by now, Tampa Bay Lightning Center Steven Stamkos broke his leg in a crash into the goalpost that apparently didn't budge like it was supposed to. With the Bolts sitting atop the Eastern Conference, the Lightning will have to find ways to make up for the lost production.  Stamkos is believed done for the season, with initial reports stating that he would miss anywhere from 6-12 weeks.  Losing a player of this magnitude is damaging to everyone; the NHL team, the Canadian Olympic Team and the fantasy owner.  There will be a few call-ups for tonight's match against the Montreal Canadiens with D-men Sami Salo and Keith Aulie also getting injured in yesterday's afternoon tilt against Boston. Expect wither Tyler Johnson or Alex Killorn to grab a little more ice time, but monitor the next few games to see where the trend lies.....What has probably gone unnoticed was the fine play of both goaltenders, especially Tampa backup Anders Lindback who turned aside 23 of 25 SOG but came away with the loss. Don't expect Lindback to start grabbing starts away from starter Ben Bishop, but the coaching staff will have confidence to go with the backup to spell Bishop from time-to-time....Tuukka Rask continued his dominance over the Bolts this year with his third victory against them by a combined score of 11-1 and shutting them out twice in the process.....I'll be watching the transaction wire to see who the Tampa Bay Lightning call up. Could one of those players be named Jonathan Drouin? Drouin has gone 9-20-29 in 14 games for the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL.

As everyone knows by now, Tampa Bay Lightning Center Steven Stamkos broke his leg in a crash into the goalpost that apparently didn't budge like it was supposed to. With the Bolts sitting atop the Eastern Conference, the Lightning will have to find ways to make up for the lost production.  Stamkos is believed done for the season, with initial reports stating that he would miss anywhere from 6-12 weeks.  Losing a player of this magnitude is damaging to everyone; the NHL team, the Canadian Olympic Team and the fantasy owner.  There will be a few call-ups for tonight's match against the Montreal Canadiens with D-men Sami Salo and Keith Aulie also getting injured in yesterday's afternoon tilt against Boston. Expect wither Tyler Johnson or Alex Killorn to grab a little more ice time, but monitor the next few games to see where the trend lies.....What has probably gone unnoticed was the fine play of both goaltenders, especially Tampa backup Anders Lindback who turned aside 23 of 25 SOG but came away with the loss. Don't expect Lindback to start grabbing starts away from starter Ben Bishop, but the coaching staff will have confidence to go with the backup to spell Bishop from time-to-time....Tuukka Rask continued his dominance over the Bolts this year with his third victory against them by a combined score of 11-1 and shutting them out twice in the process.....I'll be watching the transaction wire to see who the Tampa Bay Lightning call up. Could one of those players be named Jonathan Drouin? Drouin has gone 9-20-29 in 14 games for the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL.

NHL IN 30-2013/14: TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING You would think that when a team is blessed with one of the top goal-scorers and the leading point-getter in the NHL that the team would have not have any difficulty in making the playoffs. It wasn't so much that the team couldn't score, as they were 4th in the Eastern Conference in Goals For, but they were also near the top in Goals Against, allowing 150 in the shortened 48-game Lockout season.  Much was to be blamed on the defense as well as the unsettled goaltending.   Guy Boucher was let go towards the end of last season and the Bolts handed the reins over to Syracuse Crunch Head Coach Jon Cooper of the AHL.  Cooper led the Crunch to a 43-22-6 record and the team lost to Grand Rapids in the Calder Cup finals so the Lightning are hoping he can infuse that into the Big Club.  Yzerman signed ex-Red Wing Valtteri Filppula from free agency with hopes that Filppula will firm up the second line and add some scoring.  Not much was done this off-season compared to last when they shored up their defense with signings of Matt Carle and Sami Salo among others.  They also brought in Anders Lindback with a trade, but none of those moves seemed to gel for Tampa.  Perhaps the best thing to come out of last season was that the Tampa Bay Lightning were awarded the 3rd overall pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft where they promptly selected LW Jonathan Drouin, whom many believe was the top prospect in the draft.  Cooper's experience in coaching the Tampa prospects such as Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn, Brett Connolly and many others may go a long way in providing added scoring depth to their potent first-line.  G Ben Bishop was acquired from the Ottawa Senators at the trade deadline to provide stability in net. Goalies It is safe to say that the goaltending tandem of Mathieu Garon and Anders Lindback did not live up to expectations as they sported a 2.90 Goals Against Average and a Save Percentage that was a tad under .900. Not very good numbers if you want your team to be competitive, therefore the trade for Ben Bishop.  Although his SP was a little worse than the original two co-starters at 2.99, his SP was a more pedestrian .917, and that was in 9 games.  At 26 years of age, Bishop comes with much promise and could solidify the crease for the next few years.  His GAA & SP should improve as he gains more experience but remember he has never a true starter's workload with the most games played in a season was the 48 games in 2009-...

Johnson posted three goals and three assists in 14 games with the Lightning this season.

Johnson has 32 goals and 26 assists in 59 AHL games this season. He will likely fill the hole that Lecavalier's injury leaves.