Posted by John Pereira, special to ESPN.com
The Ottawa Senators were on home ice, Mike Fisher scored a hat trick, but at the end of the night everyone was talking about Alexander Ovechkin. The young Russian phenom scored four times and added an assist in the Capitals' 8-6 win over Ottawa. The feat was especially impressive because Ovechkin did it all while in pain. He was cut and needed stitches to close a gash on his leg that he suffered in Thursday's loss in Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, Fisher's three-goal night bumped him up to 26 points on the season to go along with 35 penalty minutes. Outside of the big three, he's likely the most valuable fantasy player on the Senators' roster.
Whoever said hockey development in Russia isn't quite what it used to be? Ilya Kovalchuk scored again on Saturday night as the Atlanta Thrashers walked past Boston 5-0. I bring it up on the heels of the Oveckin accomplishment to note that the two Russians are the first two players to reach the 30-goal mark this season. Kari Lehtonen stole the show for Atlanta, stopping all 26 shots he saw. If we remove one recent bad performance against the Panthers, Lehtonen has a goals-against average in the 1.60 range in his past six games.
Jaromir Jagr took advantage of Andrew Raycroft and the Toronto Maple Leafs to continue his own hot streak. Jagr scored once and added three assists as the New York Rangers beat the Maple Leafs 6-1, giving Jagr 11 points in his past six games. Brandon Dubinsky and Petr Prucha also had multiple-point nights as the Rangers' power play clicked five times on the night.
I've been saying it for weeks: If he's available, you have to go and get Joffrey Lupul. The Flyers' right winger had three points as Philadelphia beat Tampa Bay 4-2 in an odd matinee matchup. Lupul has 35 points on the season, eight of those in his past four games. Mike Knuble is flying a bit under the radar this season. He scored the game-winning goal and has 23 points in total on the season, but still remains available in some ESPN leagues. He provides a nice mix of points and penalty minutes, nearly in line with what Fisher is doing in Ottawa. He should be owned in all leagues.
It's been an up-and-down season thus far for Jose Theodore. But the former Hart Trophy winner was back in net and looked pretty good despite the final score against the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings scored twice on Theodore and Anze Kopitar scored into an open net in the final minute for a 3-1 win. Theodore is currently owned in about 18 percent of ESPN leagues but may be worth adding in some formats. He could become a great third goalie for fantasy owners in deeper leagues.
Wade Dubielewicz has done a reasonable job of filling in for an injured Rick DiPietro, who's currently listed as day-to-day with a sore knee. Dubielewicz stopped 27 of 29 shots in a 5-2 win over New Jersey. He could serve as a reasonable fill-in for a DiPietro owner looking to pick up some goalie stats. Sean Allen talked about Richard Park in Friday's Open Ice column and looks to have hit it right on the head. Park is playing on the first line and is logging a lot of minutes with the Islanders and had two assists to show for it on Saturday night. The native of South Korea is available in about 98 percent of ESPN leagues and is a good short-term add.
When you imagine a duel of opposing goalies, you generally wouldn't first think of Ryan Miller and Ty Conklin, but that's exactly what happened Saturday night. Conklin stopped all 26 shots he faced while Miller stopped 23 of 24 as the Penguins took a 2-0 win over the Sabres. Colby Armstrong scored the winner early in the second period and Evgeni Malkin added an empty-netter. Armstrong now has eight points in his past five games and will remain valuable so long as he's logging minutes with Sidney Crosby. He's available in nearly every ESPN league. That number will likely shoot up if he has a good showing in the nationally televised New Year's Day outdoor game rematch between the teams.
The Anaheim Ducks lost their first game since the return of Scott Niedermayer. The Calgary Flames were led by Jarome Iginla and Kristian Huselius, who each had three points in the 5-3 win. Huselius stole the puck from Niedermayer behind the net and scored a wrap-around goal on Jean-Sebastien Giguere to tie the game part-way through the second period. Keep an eye on Todd Bertuzzi. He has six points in his past eight games and looks to have found his offensive game for the time being. He's owned in only 33 percent of ESPN leagues.
Nikolai Zherdev has grown as a player and is obviously no longer in coach Ken Hitchcock's doghouse. Zherdev finished with a career-high four points, but more importantly in hockey terms, passed up a chance for his third goal of the game to assure the Blue Jackets won the game. He was sitting on two goals and was heading toward an empty net when he decided to pass the puck to Kris Beech for an easy tap-in goal instead of shooting it himself. With that kind of attitude, he'll find himself out on the ice with Rick Nash more often than not.
It wasn't Marian Gaborik or Brian Rolston who scored the winner in overtime for the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night. No, it was Petteri Nummelin who sent the Edmonton Oilers back to their locker room with their heads hanging. Nummelin has all of six points this season, so we don't need to worry about his fantasy value. The Minnesota forward who did catch my attention on the night is Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who had three assists. Bouchard is your prototypical set-up man -- 26 of his 32 points this season have been assists. If you're hurting in that category, he might be a cheap addition via the trade.
Steve Bernier and Joe Thornton helped the San Jose Sharks set a team record. Bernier had three points and Thornton added two assists as the Sharks beat the Predators 5-2 for their ninth consecutive road victory. Again, Chris Mason shows why he'll never play on one of my fantasy teams. He allowed all five goals and is still sporting a goals-against average greater than three and a save percentage short of .900. At the other end of the ice, Evgeni Nabokov continues to have an all-star caliber season. He has now seen his GAA drop below 2.00 on the season. And Nashville's David Legwand saw his mini-point streak come to an end. He was taken out of the game with an apparent upper body injury. Something his owners should be monitoring.
The calendar flips forward this week as we move into 2008, but apparently no one has told Paul Kariya. Kariya is playing more like the calendar reads 1998, scoring like his old dominating self. He scored three goals in the third period to bring back the Blues and tie the game and force the Dallas Stars to overtime on Saturday night. Unfortunately for the Blues, Dallas goalie Mike Smith was perfect through the shootout, and the Stars picked up the 5-4 win.
And last but not least, Detroit won again. Pavel Datsyuk provided the offense and Chris Osgood played well in net. That's it, the same formula they have followed all season. I will mention the play of Ilya Bryzgalov, who has continued to be one of the better goalies in the NHL for the past month. He was much better than the final 4-2 score shows. I'd be working the trade route to see what he would cost me if I was in need of a goalie.
John Pereira is a fantasy hockey analyst for ESPN.com.
