This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
When the Rangers went down 2-0 early to the Isles on Monday night, I have to admit: I thought the game looked over. The Islanders were all over my Blueshirts – outskating, outhustling, outshooting. They already had the confidence acquired from three previous victories in the season series. And yet, in one of the all-time regular-season tilts between these two franchises (not to mention a great lesson in what not to do for young goaltenders), the Rangers just kept on staying in the game, twice erasing two-goal deficits before Kevin Klein's game-winner gave them their first lead in the final five minutes.
Kevin Klein! Only-cleared-20-points-in-his-life-one-time-before-this-year Kevin Klein. Never-scored-more-than-four-goals Kevin Klein. Never-finished-with-double-digit-plus-minus Kevin Klein.
No, seriously, what's up with Kevin Klein? Of all the things, I never expected the guy to develop an offensive game at age 30. I'm putting him in the "Hot" section down there.
But I'd be remiss if I didn't mention some of the other craziness from last night's action. Another defenseman, the soon-to-be-27 Alex Biega, made his NHL debut for the Canucks, and all he did was score what turned out to be the game-winning goal, helping Vancouver do what few teams have done: beat Devan Dubnyk as a member of the Wild. Dubnyk's now in a massive slump by his Minnesota standards, having lost one game in a row.
In another entry for the "things that never happen, but did" category, Tuukka Rask gave up four goals for the second game in a row and was stuck with a loss for the fourth game in a row, blowing a 3-0 lead and giving up the game-winning goal to Calgary's T.J. Brodie (who, incidentally, has as many goals as Kevin Klein) with two seconds left in overtime.
It's the stretch run, guys! Let's get weird. But first: Tuesday.
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
Blue Jackets (Curtis McElhinney) at Flyers (Ray Emery), 7:00 PM
Capitals (Braden Holtby) at Penguins (Marc-Andre Fleury), 7:00 PM
Islanders (Chad Johnson) at Hurricanes (Anton Khudobin), 7:00 PM
Sabres (Anders Lindback) at Devils (Cory Schneider), 7:30 PM
Panthers (Roberto Luongo) at Maple Leafs (Jonathan Bernier), 7:30 PM
Stars (Kari Lehtonen) at Blues (Brian Elliott), 8:00 PM
Sharks (Antti Niemi) at Predators (Pekka Rinne), 8:00 PM
For updates on the projected goalies later in the day, check out our Projected Goalies Grid.
Injury News For Teams Playing Tuesday
Columbus Blue Jackets
Nathan Horton, RW (back) – Feeling a bit better; still wants to play
Boone Jenner, LW (back) – Coming up on the long end of his timeline, but no updates
Dalton Prout, D (upper body) – Wasn't able to get back in the lineup over the weekend
Ryan Murray, D (ankle) – Put back on IR last week; out another 3-5 weeks
Jeremy Morin, LW (upper body) – No word since brief hospitalization due to elevated heart rate
Sergei Bobrovsky, G (groin) – Could return by end of month
Philadelphia Flyers
Zac Rinaldo, LW (suspension) – Eight-game ban is up now
Shayne Gostisbehere, D (knee) – Could return (probably in AHL) by end of February, early March
Rob Zepp, G (leg) – Over his injury, so he's been recalled; could take duties from Emery
Steve Mason, G (knee) – Could resume skating later this week
Kimmo Timonen, D (blood clots) – Back at practice with Flyers on Tuesday
Washington Capitals
Dmitry Orlov, D (wrist) – Still in a holding pattern, with another surgery possible
Nate Schmidt, D (shoulder) – Out about another 2-4 weeks
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pascal Dupuis, RW (blood clot) – Out for the year
Christian Ehrhoff, D (concussion) – Practicing on limited basis
Olli Maatta, D (shoulder) – Done after shoulder surgery
New York Islanders
Eric Boulton, LW (lower body) – Remains on IR indefinitely
Kyle Okposo, RW (eye) – Still not skating
Michael Grabner, RW (upper body) – Seems to be getting close to returning, but not yet
Carolina Hurricanes
Ryan Murphy, D (leg) – Out about three more weeks
Buffalo Sabres
Josh Gorges, D (lower body) – Could be out "for a while"
Patrick Kaleta, RW (lower body) – Out 4-6 weeks
Cody McCormick, C (blood clots) – Appears to be done for the year
Mikhail Grigorenko, C (lower body) – Skating, but return ETA unknown
New Jersey Devils
Damon Severson, D (ankle) – Skating, but not practicing yet
Ryane Clowe, LW (concussion) – Done for the season
Stephen Gionta, C (hand) – Cleared for contact
Bryce Salvador, D (back) – Remains out indefinitely
Florida Panthers
Willie Mitchell, D (upper body) – Getting close to returning
Dmitry Kulikov, D (suspension) – Three games left on ban for clipping Tyler Seguin
Brandon Pirri, C (upper body) – Hit IR over weekend
Toronto Maple Leafs
Joffrey Lupul, LW (knee) – Won't be back in Tuesday
Dion Phaneuf, D (hand) – Skated before practice Monday; return doesn't sound imminent
Trevor Smith, C (undisclosed) – Questionable for Tuesday
Dallas Stars
Ales Hemsky, RW (lower body) – Not traveling for Tuesday's game
Patrick Eaves, RW (head) – Under concussion protocol, but avoided fractures at least
Rich Peverley, C (chest) – Remains without a return timetable
Tyler Seguin, C (knee) – Could miss as much as eight weeks
Patrik Nemeth, D (arm) – Will get some AHL action in before returning
Valeri Nichushkin, LW (hip) – Should return within about a month
St. Louis Blues
Kevin Shattenkirk, D (abdomen) – Out another week or more
Chris Porter, LW (ankle) – Close to 100 percent
San Jose Sharks
Mike Brown, RW (leg) – Still not skating
Justin Braun, D (upper body) – Hoping to return to action this weekend
Tye McGinn, LW (undisclosed) – On IR with no timetable offered
Daniil Tarasov, RW (undisclosed) – No timeline
Raffi Torres, LW (knee) – Looking likely that he'll shut things down this year
Nashville Predators
Anton Volchenkov, D (lower body) – Didn't play over weekend
Ryan Ellis, D (lower body) – Expected back in a week or two
Hot
Kevin Klein, D, NYR – Yes. Kevin Klein. Kevin Already-Set-A-New-Career-High-In-Points Klein. Kevin Already-More-Than-Doubled-My-Previous-Career-High-In-Goals Klein. That Kevin Klein, the one and the same, has a five-game point streak going during which he's accumulated Monday's game-winning goal (his ninth tally of the year) and six – count 'em, six – assists. Not to mention his plus-22 rating, good for a tie for ninth in the league. Oh, and his four game-winning goals – twice as many as he'd accumulated in the entirety of the six-plus seasons he spent in the league before this year. When the Rangers dumped Michael Del Zotto, they couldn't have possibly thought they were going to get this. Fantasy owners couldn't have seen it coming either. But it's here, and it's real. The guy has a truly legitimate offensive game.
Bryan Little, C, WPG – After breaking out for a career-high 64 points last year, Little started this year with a stretch of inconsistent play, but he's been yanking his stats upward lately. Five multi-point efforts in his last eight games have led to a whopping 11 points in that span – five of them goals, pushing his total to 23 (as many as he scored last year). Now, all of a sudden, he's on pace to roar past his 2013-14 totals and create a whole new set of career marks. And the guy manages to stay on the positive side of the ledger consistently despite seeing plenty of power-play time for a Winnipeg team that's not conducive to great plus-minus.
Cold
James van Riemsdyk, LW, TOR – The Leafs are all struggling, but none more than JVR, who remains without a single measly point in the month of February. He's now on a seven-game stretch without locating the scoresheet, and he's gone minus-6 in that span with 17 shots on goal – way below his season average for shots per game. And unlike Phil Kessel, he hasn't had to deal with any fourth-line demotions. JVR's 43 points in 57 games remain a decent line, but his minus-22 rating is a drag and it's questionable just what kind of scoring rate he'll maintain for the rest of this season as the Leafs keep falling apart.
Brad Richards, C, CHI – Richie heated up for a while in January, posting a series of multi-point games, but his offense has dried up near-totally since the All-Star break. He's gone more than a month without a goal now and has only two helpers in 10 games since the league returned to action following All-Star festivities. Richards has also regularly found himself on the minus side of the column lately, including going minus-4 over the last three games. He's been valuable this year by the standards of a guy who plays under 15 minutes per game, but his brand name has long since ceased matching his contributions.
Recommended Pickup
Tyler Myers, D, WPG – Finally granted sweet, sweet freedom from the confines of Buffalo, Myers has responded with three points in his first three games as a Jet, following a two-assist Valentine's performance with a goal on Monday. It's not much of a track record to go on, but we always knew Myers' talent was there – he was just in a terribly oppressive situation with the Sabres, and things had clearly gotten stale. He wouldn't be the first talented guy to have a resurgence following a change of scenery; snatch him up on speculation that his upside may finally start being realized.
