This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
Congratulations to Jarome Iginla on 1,000 NHL points. Iginla had three goals in his first 17 games and rumors (unsubstantiated) of trades to faraway places like Pittsburgh swirled. He has 36 goals in 62 contests since and 80 points, overall. All the Calgary forward needs now is a Cup.
Take a bow if you're not from Buffalo and know which defenseman has led the league in assists over the last month of the season. Yeah, it's the Sabres Andrej Sekera, with 12 helpers.
The hunt for the final playoff seeds in both conferences is becoming anti-climactic. Carolina still has a chance, while New Jersey and Toronto showed some great stuff in the East. Dallas was one of the hotter first-half teams in the West and Calgary really turned its season around. Maybe there'll be a total collapse in the final days, but the playoff teams appear pretty well set.
Anaheim's Corey Perry was named the NHL's No. 1 star for March. Perry scored 15 goals and added six assists in 14 games. Was there a more interesting story in the league than the Ducks this season?
Ducks goalie Ray Emery holds a 6-0 record, 1.90 GAA and .935 save percentage. Considering his trip overseas, career-threatening injury, volatile nature, etc., it's shocking in a good way to see him have so much success.
It would've been nice to see Evgeni Nabokov get another chance in the NHL in 2010-11, with the Red Wings (his choice) or
Around the Rink
Congratulations to Jarome Iginla on 1,000 NHL points. Iginla had three goals in his first 17 games and rumors (unsubstantiated) of trades to faraway places like Pittsburgh swirled. He has 36 goals in 62 contests since and 80 points, overall. All the Calgary forward needs now is a Cup.
Take a bow if you're not from Buffalo and know which defenseman has led the league in assists over the last month of the season. Yeah, it's the Sabres Andrej Sekera, with 12 helpers.
The hunt for the final playoff seeds in both conferences is becoming anti-climactic. Carolina still has a chance, while New Jersey and Toronto showed some great stuff in the East. Dallas was one of the hotter first-half teams in the West and Calgary really turned its season around. Maybe there'll be a total collapse in the final days, but the playoff teams appear pretty well set.
Anaheim's Corey Perry was named the NHL's No. 1 star for March. Perry scored 15 goals and added six assists in 14 games. Was there a more interesting story in the league than the Ducks this season?
Ducks goalie Ray Emery holds a 6-0 record, 1.90 GAA and .935 save percentage. Considering his trip overseas, career-threatening injury, volatile nature, etc., it's shocking in a good way to see him have so much success.
It would've been nice to see Evgeni Nabokov get another chance in the NHL in 2010-11, with the Red Wings (his choice) or the Islanders (New York's choice).
The Blue Jackets Max Mayorov potted the first NHL goal of his career Friday night.
A night after TMZ caught T.J. Oshie partying with Elvis, the St. Louis forward returned to action Friday night and collected an assist and a plus-1 rating.
Washington continues its limp toward first place in the East.
It looks like 2009-10 was the outlier season for Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith. Keith collected 14 goals and 69 points for the Cup winners in 2009-10. In four full seasons before then, he totaled 21, 31, 32 and 44 points. This year he has 42.
Who's Hot
Pekka Rinne – Rinne went 9-3-2 with a 1.91 GAA and .936 save percentage in the month of March. He also recorded a pair of shutouts.
Patrik Elias – Elias proved to be a thorn in the Flyers side with a hat trick Friday night against Philadelphia.
Who's Not
Mats Zuccarello – The Rangers sent the speedy little forward back to the AHL. He's got a good future in the league but New York has other options.
Recommended Pickup
Mark Giordano – the Flames defender ranks third in power-play points (8) in the last month after an up-and-down season.
Probable Starting Goalies
Atlanta (Ondrej Pavelec) at Boston (Tim Thomas), 1 p.m.
Tampa Bay (Dwayne Roloson) at Minnesota (Niklas Backstrom), 2 p.m.
Detroit (Jimmy Howard) at Nashville (Pekka Rinne), 3 p.m.
Dallas (Kari Lehtonen) at Los Angeles (Jonathan Quick), 4 p.m.
Montreal (Carey Price) at New Jersey (Martin Brodeur), 7 p.m.
Carolina (Cam Ward) at Islanders (Al Montoya), 7 p.m.
Toronto (James Reimer) at Ottawa (Craig Anderson), 7 p.m.
Buffalo (Jhonas Enroth) at Washington (Semyon Varlamov), 7 p.m.
Pittsburgh (Marc-Andre Fleury) at Florida (Scott Clemmensen), 7 p.m.
Edmonton (Devan Dubnyk) at Vancouver (Roberto Luongo), 10 p.m.
Anaheim (Ray Emery) at San Jose (Antti Niemi), 10:30 p.m.
Rotowire Goalie Grid
Injury Roll Call
Atlanta
Radek Dvorak – Questionable, missed Thursday with upper-body injury.
Boston
Shawn Thornton – Questionable, not cleared Thursday, could also miss Saturday.
Shane Hnidy – Questionable, could make season debut Saturday after shoulder.
Tampa Bay
None
Minnesota
Cam Barker – Questionable, missed Thursday w/back, nearing return.
Brent Burns – Questionable, left Friday's practice with undisclosed leg injury.
Nick Schultz – Questionable, could miss Saturday with undisclosed injury.
Marek Zidlicky – Questionable, missed practice Friday with unknown ailment.
Detroit
Pavel Datsyuk – Out, crushing fantasy owners with lower-body injury.
Jimmy Howard – Probable, expected to return from sprained shoulder Saturday.
Nashville
Jordin Tootoo – Questionable, back/neck injury could sideline him Saturday.
Dallas
Adam Burish – Questionable, missed Thursday with leg injury.
Karlis Skrastins – Questionable, close to returning from thigh injury.
Brian Sutherby – Questionable, missed Thursday with no known return date.
Los Angeles
None
Montreal
Jeff Halpern – Out, will not travel to New Jersey, missing with undisclosed injury.
Alexander Picard – Questionable, missed Tuesday and Wednesday with foot.
Jaroslav Spacek – Out, returned to practice Friday and close to returning.
New Jersey
Colin White – Questionable, missed last two games with leg injury.
Zach Parise – Probable, expected to make debut Saturday following knee injury.
Carolina
Jay Harrison – Questionable, returned to practice Friday but status unknown Sat.
Islanders
Michael Grabner – Questionable, missed last two games awaiting birth of child.
Toronto
None
Ottawa
Erik Karlsson – Out, will not play Saturday due to leg laceration.
Buffalo
Mike Grier – Out, will not play Saturday due to knee injury.
Jochen Hecht – Out, also out Saturday with upper-body injury.
Ryan Miller – Questionable, unlikely to play Saturday especially w/strong Enroth.
Washington
John Erskine – Questionable, left Thursday with day-to-day undisclosed injury.
Mike Green – Out, skated Friday in practice but return date unknown.
Dennis Wideman – Out, called week-to-week with lower-body injury.
Pittsburgh
Dustin Jeffrey – Out, expected to undergo knee surgery Tuesday.
Arron Asham – Questionable, dealing with minor lower-body injury.
Nick Johnson – Out, still battling concussion symptoms.
Sidney Crosby – Out, next step will be practices with contact.
Matt Cooke – Out, eligible to play in second round of playoffs.
Florida
Shawn Matthias – Questionable, has sat out last four games with ankle injury.
Jack Skille – Questionable, could return Saturday from ankle injury.
Alexander Sulzer – Questionable, missed last two games with groin/hip injury.
Edmonton
Kurtis Foster – Out, took part in practice Friday following concussion symptoms.
Colin Fraser – Questionable, missed practice Friday for undisclosed reason.
Vancouver
Tanner Glass – Probable, expected to return Saturday from abdominal tear.
Mikael Samuelsson – Probable, skating on own Friday but is expected back Sat.
Chris Tanev – Out, will miss Saturday with upper-body injury.
Andrew Alberts – Out, practicing but may not play before end of regular season.
Anaheim
Jonas Hiller – Out, dealing with vertigo symptoms.
San Jose
Kent Huskins – Out, has missed almost two months with upper-body injury.
Transactions
Barret Jackman – Activated by St. Louis from IR.
Ian Cole -- Assigned by St. Louis to AHL Peoria.
David LeNeveu – Recalled by Columbus from AHL Springfield on emergency basis.
Colin Greening – Assigned by Ottawa to AHL Binghamton.
Yann Sauve – Recalled by Vancouver from AHL Manitoba.
Follow me on Twitter and Hockeybuzz.
