This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
Carolina's Eric Staal has compiled 38 points (14G, 24A) in 39 games against Buffalo. He netted the game-winner the last time he played the Sabres and has eight points in his last seven overall contests. There's no reason to reach here. Staal figures to produce Monday night, even though the game is on the road.
Rasmus Ristolainen is a minus-45 in his first two campaigns with Buffalo and he's still not even 21 years of age. The defender is obviously a product of his environment. He has been on fire as of late, however. Ristolainen has potted three goals and seven points in his last five. On a side note, I have no problem with the Sabres taking advantage of the system to tank for McEichel. My hometown team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, tanked like no one else to put themselves in position to draft Mario Lemieux and that turned out pretty good. The New Jersey Devils, the other team at the bottom of the 1983-84 standings, finished second-to-last and drafted Kirk Muller.
The Blue Jackets' Nick Foligno blew the lid off Saturday afternoon in Columbus, tallying a hat trick on three shots against Pittsburgh. Foligno continues to ride a magical season – he already's got 70 points (30G, 40A) as compared to his previous high of 47 points. The legacy forward collected a pair of helpers against the Rangers in his last game against them.
The Blueshirts are hot and have a bunch of scoring options, but we'll go with the recently-returned-to-action Martin St. Louis. His cost figures to be reasonable after missing three weeks with a knee injury. St. Louis picked up an assist Saturday and has always found success against Columbus. He's got nine goals and 17 points in 18 career tilts and dished out two assists the last time he played the Jackets.
Winnipeg's Blake Wheeler has four points in his last five, scoring goals in three straight over the stretch. Only eight of his 25 goals have come on the road, where the Jets play Monday, but he's playing well. Interestingly, since Wheeler put up a plus-36 rating his rookie year in 2008-09 for the Bruins, he's never finished worse than a minus-4 or better than a plus-8. He enters Monday's game with a plus-25 rating.
Zach Parise sounds like an uninspired pick, but when a player scores 30 points in 32 games against his opponent, there's little reason to shy away from him. Parise notched two goals in a loss to Detroit on Saturday, giving him five goals in his last seven.
Anze Kopitar is a good bet for the Kings (no shocker) on Monday, but defenseman Alec Martinez has a goal and four points in his last five. With 21 points in 52 contests, Martinez is pointing at a higher pace than at any time in his six NHL seasons – by a mile.
Alexandre Burrows has four goals and an assist in his last five. He has 33 points in 67 tilts, just under a half-point per game. That's nearly identical to his career numbers; 342 points in 685 contests. Whatever the case, he's hot right now and deserves merit for Monday.
The Star's Jamie Benn has registered four multi-point efforts in his last 10, totaling seven goals and 13 points. Dallas is on the road Monday, but Benn's been good in away contests with 37 points in 39 games. He picked up a pair of assists the last time he faced San Jose and has an outside chance of reaching the point-per-game plateau with 77 points in 79 tilts.
The defensive-eligible Brent Burns has collected 59 points in 79 games. For a player who once had the reputation of getting hurt all the time, Burns has stayed remarkably healthy in 2014-15. Burns, who's tallied nine assists in his last 10, also helps poolies with 147 hits, 120 blocks and 23 power-play points. Quite the season for Burns.
Hot:
Mark Arcobello: Over the last two weeks, Arcobello has scored four goals and eight points for the Coyotes. His three power-play points tie him for the fourth-most in the league. Arcobello has spent time with four different organizations in 2014-15, but it looks like he's finally found a home in the desert.
Daniel Sedin: Vancouver plays its final three games of the regular season at home this week. Sedin has three goals and 11 points in his last 10, but Radim Vrbata (among others) has been red-hot as well. After finishing with 47 points in 73 contests last year, the 34-year-old Sedin has made a surprising recovery, collected 71 points in 79 tilts.
Cold:
Chris Kunitz: His months-long woes continue. Kunitz, who scored 35 goals last season, has compiled 17 goals in 2014-15. Worse yet, he has just two goals in his last 30. Fantasy owners will want to think long and hard before drafting the NHL veteran next year. Pittsburgh continues to give Kunitz opportunity, but he can't seem to take advantage of the opportunity. The Pens are on the hook for two more seasons with an annual salary cap hit of $3.85 million.
Shea Weber: On the surface, Weber's 45 points in 76 contests look like a regular season worth of production. Digger deeper, the all-world blueliner has struggled with a lower-body injury during the last month and since Feb. 19 has three points in 19 games. Weber has recorded 24 shots in his last five games, so perhaps a big finish awaits.
Recommended Pickup
Ian Cole: The Penguins are struggling to score goals, but Cole has picked up a point on five of Pittsburgh's seven goals in the last four games. With no timeline for a return by fellow defenseman, Kris Letang, Cole figures to play a fairly prominent role with the team over the final three games of the regular season.
