The Jets spread their offensive production across four different players against the Devils in their afternoon clash. Alex Iafallo and Jonathan Toews found the back of the net, Gabriel Vilardi continued his strong season with his 18th, and Tanner Pearson finished it off with the eventual game-winner.

Josh Morrissey, who once again quietly drove much of Winnipeg’s offense from the blue line finishing with two assists as did Cole Perfetti.

Cole Perfetti has struggled to build on last season, and the breakout many of us expected (myself included) just has not materialized. He is shooting a career-low 5.6%, and while his PP TOI has ticked up, his overall minutes are down nearly a full minute per game. That said, he has been showing flashes of life lately, picking up six points in his last six games, including four assists over the past two.

Connor Hellebuyck turned aside 24 of 28 shots to secure the win.

New Jersey for the most pat stayed in the fight with help from Cody Glass who scored two on the afternoon, Nico Hischier added the other while the Hughes brothers Jack and Luke Hughes were heavily involved as playmakers, each finishing with two assists.

It’s becoming clear that sitting Dougie Hamilton out did not exactly pay off for Fitzgerald, as they still could not get past a struggling Winnipeg team. His replacement, Jonathan Kovacevic, chipped in an assist for what its worth.

The whole Dougie/Fitzgerald saga seems to be getting uglier by the day and while we will probably beat it to death before it’s over, the Devils issues don’t just top at Hamilton. Players like Ondrej Palat have offered very little return since arriving in the New Jersey and this whole situation, likely will not improve until Tom Fitzgerald makes a move and ships Hamilton out of New Jersey, if that even makes a difference at this point in their season.

Markstrom has had a rough season himself and has started to share the starter duties with Jake Allen. Both goalies have logged nearly the same number of games, though Markstrom missed time early due to injury. Their win-loss records are almost identical, but Allen has the edge in performance, posting a .907 save percentage and 2.63 GAA compared to Markstrom’s .878 and 3.28 GAA. At this point, it would not be surprising to see Allen gets more starts than Markstrom going forward. The only other option is Nico Daws, still very much a depth piece, but given how Markstrom has struggled, Daws could start to hold some value if the Devils continue to slide down the standings.

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Coming off a dominant 10-point win over the Rangers, this one felt a lot more subdued for Boston, with the Bruins only managing a single goal against the Penguins.

Victor Arvidsson was the difference-maker, scoring the lone goal that secured the win, while Casey Mittelstadt and Henri Jokiharju each chipped in with an assist to support the effort. Arvidsson is on pace for 53 points this season with the Bruins, up for his 33 last year with the Oilers.

Joonas Korpisalo was solid in net for Boston, recording his eighth win of the season and earning his first shutout this year.

Both the Penguins and Bruins are amongst the top five in the league in power-play production, but in this game, neither team could get anything going. Boston went 0-for-2 while Pittsburgh went 0-for-6 on the man-advantage.

Stuart Skinner started for Pittsburgh, facing 19 shots and allowing only that one goal. Since arriving in mid-December, Skinner has started seven games, posting a 4-3 record. Most of those wins have come recently, with three victories in his last four starts, giving him a genuine hot streak and showing he’s starting to find his rhythm with the Penguins. Skinner is strictly a waiver-wire option at best, his game is too inconsistent to trust on a regular basis. The real question is how long he can keep this hot streak going.

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Salt Lake City saw some overtime heroics but not for any Utah Mammoth, it actually came from the hands of Dmitri Voronkov who posted his 16th on the season with an OT PP goal on a feed from Zach Werenski and Kirill Marchenko to seal it.

Werenski finished with an assist, giving him 31 assists on the season, and Marchenko chipped in a helper as well. Both finished with multi‑point nights and leading the Blue Jackets in production.

Charlie Coyle also scored in on the power play, with assists from Adam Fantilli while Mikael Pyyhtia scored this first career NHL, assisted by Danton Heinen and Ivan Provorov.

For Utah, Jack McBain and Mikhail Sergachev added the goals for the Mammoth, while Clayton Keller was the only Utah Mammoth to register a multi-point effort with two assists

Through 46 games this season, Keller sits at 13 goals and 30 assists for 43 points, which projects out to about 77 over a full 82-game campaign, which is noticeably down from the 90-point pace he had with Utah last year (30 G, 60 A). His S% of 10.2% is a touch lower than last season but still right around what we have come to expect from him, and he has racked up 128 SOG, so he is still earning his points through volume and consistent chances rather than luck. He is driving play in his shifts, but his overall IPP has seen a meaningful drop from last year. Not to mention the loss of Logan Cooley was definitely a contributor as Barrett Hayton and Nick Schmaltz have had to step up to fill that void down the middle. A high 70-point floor for Keller is very realistic which could push closer to the low 80’s.

The Mammoth shelled out 37 shots on Jet Greaves who stopped all but two in the Blue Jackets win posting at 0.926 SV% and 1.97 GAA. Greaves has clearly taken over the net in Columbus, starting 15 games since December 1st.

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Roman Josi was solid on the scoresheet, finishing with three total points (1G, 2A)  and driving much of the Predators’ offense.

Steven Stamkos himself finished with a goal and an assist while Ryan O’Rielly also posted an assist.

Justus Annunen stopped 28 of 30 shots to earn the win in net and extend his personal confidence after signing a recent contract extension.

Alex Ovechkin got the Capitals on the board with his 20th goal of the season. Ovi has now posted 21 twenty goal seasons as a Washington Capital.

Ryan Leonard added an assist on Ovechkin’s 20th goal, giving him eight points (2G, 6A) over his last seven games. He’s quietly emerged as one of the more reliable pieces in Washington’s top-six this season. Leonard has steadily pushed his way up the scoring ranks, sitting at 28 points on the season, just seven back of rookie leader Ivan Demidov, and quietly making a case as one of the league’s more effective young forwards this year.

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Tomas Hertl absolutely took it to his former squad, lighting up the box score with a career five-point (2G, 3A) performance as the Vegas Golden Knights ran over the Sharks 7‑2.

Jack Eichel got in on the fun too, scoring twice to bring his season total to 16 goals and 48 points through 38 games. Even with the December time missed, Eichel still on pace for a 106-point season, which is exactly the kind of elite production Vegas needs from him night in, night out.

It was not just Hertl and Eichel carrying the load. Pavel Dorofeyev added a goal and two assists, while Mark Stone tacked on three assists, continuing his torrid stretch of 12 points in the last eight games and 41 points in 28 games overall.

Zach Whitecloud and Shea Theodore each scored, rounding out Vegas’ offensive on the evening.

Carl Lindbom stood tall with 18 saves, enough to comfortably backstop a dominant offensive effort.

On the other side, the Sharks couldn’t keep up. Collin Graf and Alexander Wennberg each scored, but that was about it. San Jose went 0-for-5 on the power play and Macklin Celebrini saw his 13-game point streak snapped.

Thanks for reading! See you next week! For more fantasy hockey content and analysis, follow me on X @Punters_hockey. If you have any questions about your team or a trade? My DMs are always open, happy to help!