This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
We've hit an interesting point here in the final stage of the regular season – the games have become not necessarily about the better team winning, but rather about the hungrier one, which generally means the one that's fighting desperately to ensure that its season doesn't end on April 11.
Staving off elimination is a great motivator, and hockey is very much a game of emotion, so we're seeing a lot of playoff-type performances from the squads battling on the fringes, while a lot of the teams at the top of the standings – particularly in the Eastern Conference – have stagnated, playing a lower-fi game to conserve energy for the playoffs. To wit, among the current top eight teams in the East, only four have winning records over the last 10 games, and none of them has won more than six games in that time.
Indeed, these frantic pushes for the playoffs often exhaust the teams that are forced to go that route, leaving them worn out by the time they have to grind through a seven-game series against what's usually a better team. Sure, anything can happen in the postseason, but it's a lot easier to make a deep run if you haven't been engaging in playoff-style hockey for two or three weeks before the NHL's lengthy playoffs begin.
Well, at least that's what I'm going to tell myself to feel better about the Rangers' two weekend losses.
Let's tarry forth to Tuesday's action.
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
Panthers (Roberto Luongo) at Bruins (Tuukka Rask), 7:00 PM
Hurricanes (Anton Khudobin) at Capitals (Braden Holtby), 7:00 PM
Devils (Cory Schneider) at Blue Jackets (Sergei Bobrovsky), 7:00 PM
Lightning (Andrei Vasilevskiy) at Maple Leafs (James Reimer), 7:30 PM
Senators (Craig Anderson) at Red Wings (Jimmy Howard), 7:30 PM
Canucks (Jacob Markstrom) at Predators (Pekka Rinne), 8:00 PM
Rangers (Henrik Lundqvist) at Jets (Ondrej Pavelec), 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
Florida Panthers
Roberto Luongo, G (upper body) – Couldn't start Sunday due to soreness
Al Montoya, G (groin) – Remains out into early April at least
Nick Bjugstad, C (back) – Done for the season after surgery
Boston Bruins
Dougie Hamilton, D (shoulder) – Out indefinitely
Kevan Miller, D (shoulder) – Lingering on LTIR
Brett Connolly, RW (finger) – Practicing with the team
Carolina Hurricanes
Rasmus Rissanen, D (knee) – Out another week or two with MCL ailment
Riley Nash, C (head) – Didn't play Sunday
Jack Hillen, D (concussion) – Still not skating with the team
Washington Capitals
Jay Beagle, C (shoulder) – Not expected to play Tuesday, but will travel with team
Dmitry Orlov, D (wrist) – Sent on AHL conditioning assignment
John Erskine, D (neck) – Skating with the team
New Jersey Devils
Ryane Clowe, LW (concussion) – Out for the season
Bryce Salvador, D (back) – Likely done for the year
Columbus Blue Jackets
Rene Bourque, LW (back) – Out for the year after surgery
Jack Skille, RW (shoulder) – Another season-ending surgery
David Clarkson, RW (oblique) – Out into early-to-mid April
Jared Boll, RW (suspension) – Tuesday is last game of ban
Matt Calvert, LW (concussion) – Practiced fully Monday
Ryan Murray, D (lower body) – Didn't travel with Jackets for weekend action
Alexander Wennberg, C (hand) – Practiced fully Monday
Tampa Bay Lightning
Braydon Coburn, D (lower body) – Out into mid-April at least
Andrej Sustr, D (upper body) – Out a week or two
Jason Garrison, D (upper body) – Out 3-4 weeks
Victor Hedman, D (undisclosed) – Injured Monday; questionable for Tuesday
Tyler Johnson, C (upper body) – Didn't go Monday; Tuesday uncertain
Toronto Maple Leafs
Peter Holland, C (lower body) – Could return as soon as this weekend
Stephane Robidas, D (shoulder) – Season over
Roman Polak, D (hernia) – Season-ending surgery
Ottawa Senators
Matt Puempel, LW (ankle) – Out another 3-5 weeks
Andrew Hammond, G (back) – Clarified nature of his injury Monday – i.e., back
Milan Michalek, LW (concussion) – No word on return
Robin Lehner, G (concussion) – Still having concussion issues
Chris Phillips, D (undisclosed) – Not close to returning
Chris Neil, RW (thumb) – No progress reported recently
Detroit Red Wings
Erik Cole, RW (upper body) – Didn't go Sunday
Riley Sheahan, C (upper body) – Didn't travel with team for Sunday's game
Johan Franzen, RW (concussion) – Still not practicing
Jonas Gustavsson, G (concussion) – Expects to practice soon
Vancouver Canucks
Ryan Miller, G (knee) – Facing shots in practice
Brad Richardson, C (ankle) – Won't play Tuesday
Zack Kassian, RW (back) – Not traveling with the team
Nashville Predators
Matt Cullen, C (lower body) – Didn't play Sunday
Eric Nystrom, LW (lower body) – Didn't travel with team over weekend
Shea Weber, D (lower body) – Didn't go Sunday
James Neal, RW (upper body) – Also couldn't go Sunday
New York Rangers
Martin St. Louis, RW (knee) – Skated on his own Sunday
Kevin Klein, D (arm) – Officially placed on IR; still at least a week away
Matt Hunwick, D (upper body) – Couldn't play Sunday
Winnipeg Jets
Bryan Little, C (upper body) – Tentatively expected back April 4
Grant Clitsome, D (back) – Out for the year
Paul Postma, D (undisclosed) – Out a number of weeks
Ben Chiarot, D (hand) – Skating; getting closer to return
Hot
Drew Stafford, RW, WPG – Life in Winnipeg is pretty darn good for Stafford right now. He's on a nine-game point streak currently, and although he's still technically a second-liner, his unit with Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler has been essentially splitting first-line minutes with the Jets' top trio. That's helped him to 11 points over these last nine games, and he's pushing toward a point-per-game pace as a Jet – and it's no coincidence that this has come with his team battling for one of the Western Conference's final playoff spots.
Radim Vrbata, RW, VAN – Big things were expected from Vrbata this year skating alongside the Sedin twins, and he's delivered them – the Czech veteran is just two points shy of equaling his career-high 62, so he should set a new personal best before the regular season wraps up. But he's been pouring it on particularly hard of late, with five multi-point games in his last six contests adding up to a whopping 11 points – to go with a plus-6 rating and four PIM – over that span. The most intriguing part? He's actually not playing with the Sedins lately; rather, Vrbata's formed a stunningly productive trio with Nick Bonino and Chris Higgins on the Canucks' second line.
Cold
Brent Seabrook, D, CHI – At one point, it looked like Seabrook was on pace to match last season's 41 points, or perhaps even exceed it – three months into the season, he owned 21 points in 37 games and was well on his way. But he's been slumping for quite some time now, with his latest seven-game scoreless skid just the most recent symptom. In calendar year 2015 as a whole, Seabrook has only 10 points in 39 games, and he's gone minus-10 in that span. A curious situation, as the rest of the 'Hawks have not really struggled, though their offensive production from the blue line has stagnated with Seabrook's slump.
Anders Lee, LW, NYI – Lee's had a breakout year, but the last couple weeks or so have not been kind to him. Over his last eight games, Lee has just a single assist and a minus-6 rating to his credit, and his ice time is starting to fluctuate as a result. Over his last nine games, Lee's skated less than 15 minutes six times; in the prior 19 contests, he saw at least 16 minutes of ice time in 17 games. That's a pretty sharp transition.
Recommended Pickup
Jonathan Huberdeau, LW, FLA – Among the greatest travesties in fantasy hockey history is the community's neglect for Huberdeau, who's finally started rounding into the star-quality form that made him 2011's No. 3 overall pick. I think his 68 percent ownership on CBS is low, but that's nothing compared to his horrendously meager 23.3 percent ownership rate on ESPN – that's simply criminal. Meanwhile, all he's done is rack up 16 points and a plus-7 rating in his last 14 games. While your leaguemates keep rolling the slumping Brock Nelson and Paul Stastny and Jeff Skinner, you can have yourself a shiny new Huberdeau. I strongly recommend it.
