Live NHL recaps run nightly. Reload the page to get fresh fantasy info.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS 4 @ BUFFALO SABRES 5
Goaltending match-up: James Reimer (24/29, .828 SV%) vs. Ryan Miller (29/33, .879 SV%)
Combos: Joffrey Lupul - Tyler Bozak - Phil Kessel/ Matt Frattin - Mikhail Grabovski - Nikolai Kulemin/ Colby Armstrong - Tim Connolly - Clarke MacArthur/ Philippe Dupuis - Dave Steckel - Joey Crabb/ Carl Gunnarsson - Dion Phaneuf/ Jake Gardiner - Luke Schenn/ Cody Franson - John-Michael Liles
Scratches: Orr, Rosehill, Aulie
Top PP times: Liles (3:38), Phaneuf (3:33), Kessel, Lupul, Bozak (2:49)
Trending: Dion Phaneuf (1G, 15 PIM, 1 SOG) ended a seven-game pointless skid here and he also drew a major and misconduct for boarding Zack Kassian. John-Michael Liles (1A, 1 SOG) had one point in six outings coming in. Joffrey Lupul (1G, 4 SOG) has points in his past five, which is two shy of tying his best point streak of the season. Phil Kessel (1A, 2 SOG) had four points in four games before tonight, which had accounted for his December points. Nikolai Kulemin (1G, +2, no PP, 3 SOG) had two goals before tonight, but he converted his penalty shot attempt for his first point of the month. Mikhail Grabovski (1G, 0:52 PP, 2 SOG) has points in four of six.
Combos: Thomas Vanek - Paul Szczechura - Jason Pominville/ Tyler Ennis - Derek Roy - Drew Stafford/ Luke Adam - Ville Leino - Zack Kassian/ Cody McCormick - Paul Gaustad - Matt Ellis/ Christian Ehrhoff - Jordan Leopold/ Robyn Regehr - Andrej Sekera/ Mike Weber - Marc-Andre Gragnani
Scratches: Stuart, Hecht, Tropp
Top PP times: Ehrhoff (5:29), Vanek (5:10), Gragnani (4:57), Stafford, Pominville (4:52)
Trending: Thomas Vanek (2G, 1A, 5 SOG) had 37 points in 38 GP vs. TOR coming in here and Drew Stafford (1G, 1A, +1, 2 SOG) has points in four of five now. Jason Pominville (2A, -2, 5 SOG) has points in each of his past five now, while Zack Kassian (1A, +1, 1:34 PP, no SOG) had 3-2-5 with 11 PIM in his 9 GP before tonight. Tyler Ennis (1G, 1A, 4:31 PP, 2 SOG) has a point in four of six and Christian Ehrhoff (1A, 1 SOG) had one point in six before tonight.
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS 4 @ OTTAWA SENATORS 6
Goaltending match-up: Brent Johnson (14/19, .737 SV%) & Marc-Andre Fleury (4/5, .800 SV%) vs. Alex Auld (32/36, .889 SV%)
Combos: Chris Kunitz - Evgeni Malkin - James Neal/ Matt Cooke - Pascal Dupuis - Tyler Kennedy/ Steve Sullivan - Joe Vitale - Arron Asham/ Steve MacIntyre - Craig Adams - Eric Tangradi/ Brooks Orpik - Matt Niskanen/ Paul Martin - Deryk Engelland/ Simon Despres - Alexandre Picard
Scratches: Staal, Bortuzzo, Crosby
Top PP times: Malkin, Sullivan (3:00), Niskanen (2:55), Kunitz, Neal (2:25)
Trending: Evgeni Malkin (1G, 1A, 3 SOG) had six points in six games this month headed in here and Steve Sullivan (1G, 2A, 3 SOG) has multi-pointers in two of three after four games without a point. Chris Kunitz (1G, 1A, 2 SOG) had four points in six games before this outing and Matt Niskanen (1G, -3, 2 PIM, 2 SOG) had chipped in four points in five outings coming in here. Simon Despres (1A, +1, 2 PIM, 1:15 PP, 1 SOG) added his second NHL point in his seventh start.
Combos: Colin Greening - Jason Spezza - Daniel Alfredsson/ Nick Foligno - Peter Regin - Chris Neil/ Kaspars Daugavins - Zack Smith - Erik Condra/ Bobby Butler - Jesse Winchester - Zenon Konopka/ Chris Phillips - David Rundblad/ Erik Karlsson - Jared Cowen/ Matt Carkner - Brian Lee
Scratches: Michalek, Filatov, Gonchar
Top PP times: Karlsson (5:45), Spezza (4:39), Alfredsson (4:19), Cowen (4:05), Rundblad (3:56)
Trending: Jason Spezza (2G, 2A, +4, 2 SOG) is having a heck of a season so far and his poolies are loving it, especially where he was available in the vast majority of drafts. Colin Greening (1G, +3, 3:48 PP, 1 SOG) has points in five of six now. Erik Karlsson (3A, +3, 5 SOG) had four points in his eight December games before this outing. Daniel Alfredsson (1G, 2A, +4, 2 PIM, 4 SOG) has been a point-per-game player over his past 10 starts. Jared Cowen (1G, 3A, +4, 2 SOG) has points in five of nine this month and he came into tonight with six points in all, so hot month for the youngster.
CALGARY FLAMES 2 @ FLORIDA PANTHERS 3 (SO)
Goaltending match-up: Leland Irving (39/41, .951 SV%) vs. Jose Theodore (24/26, .923 SV%). Irving was a first rounder from 2006 and this was his NHL debut. Heck of a performance tonight.
Combos: Curtis Glencross - Olli Jokinen - Jarome Iginla/ Alex Tanguay - Brendan Morrison - Rene Bourque/ Blake Comeau - Roman Horak - Lee Stempniak/ Tom Kostopoulos - Matt Stajan - Tim Jackman/ Scott Hannan - Derek Smith/ Jay Bouwmeester - Chris Butler/ T.J. Brodie - Cory Sarich
Scratches: Carson, Backlund, Piskula
Top PP times: Iginla, Jokinen, Bourque, Tanguay (3:34), Stempniak (2:21)
Trending: Jarome Iginla (1A, -1, 2 SOG) had 5-5-10 in his eight starts this month coming in, while linemate Olli Jokinen (1G, 1A, -1, 7 SOG) had chipped in 4-5-9 in that same span. Curtis Glencross (1A, -1, 0:24 PP, 3 SOG) had three points in four games before this outing. Rene Bourque (1G, 2 PIM, 1 SOG) had 4-2-6 in 7 GP coming in here and Alex Tanguay (1A, 2 PIM, no SOG) has points in five of eight. Shootout: Tanguay
Combos: Tomas Fleischmann - Stephen Weiss - Kris Versteeg/ Marco Sturm - Jack Skille - Tomas Kopecky/ Sean Bergenheim - Shawn Matthias - Mikael Samuelsson/ Krys Barch - Mike Santorelli - Matt Bradley/ Jason Garrison - Brian Campbell/ Ed Jovanovski - Keaton Ellerby/ Mike Weaver - Dmitry Kulikov
Scratches: Gudbranson
Top PP times: Versteeg (6:05), Campbell (6:00), Fleischmann (5:59), Weiss (5:53), Kulikov (5:45)
Trending: Good night for Sean Bergenheim (2G, +1, 0:09 PP, 5 SOG), who had a couple of goals on the month before this multi-goal game. This was only the fourth start of the season for Mikael Samuelsson (2A, +1, 4 SOG), who earned his first pointage here. Shawn Matthias (2A, +1, 2 PIM, 0:18 PP, 5 SOG) has points in three of six. Shootout: Kulikov, Weiss
DALLAS STARS 3 @ NEW JERSEY DEVILS 6
Goaltending match-up: Richard Bachman (25/31, .806 SV%) vs. Johan Hedberg (33/36, .917 SV%)
Combos: Loui Eriksson - Jamie Benn - Michael Ryder/ Brenden Morrow - Mike Ribeiro - Steve Ott/ Eric Nystrom - Vernon Fiddler - Radek Dvorak/ Jake Dowell - Tom Wandell - Toby Petersen/ Nicklas Grossman - Trevor Daley/ Alex Goligoski - Philip Larsen/ Sheldon Souray - Stephane Robidas
Scratches: Pardy, Fistric, Vincour
Top PP times: Benn (4:54), Goligoski (4:39), Daley (4:31), Ryder, Eriksson (4:26)
Trending: Michael Ryder (1G, -1, 4 SOG) hadn’t scored this month before tonight. He has points in three of four though. Loui Eriksson (1A, 2 SOG) and Jamie Benn (1A, 2 PIM, 2 SOG) have been cool of late, but are due for another hot streak. This was Brenden Morrow’s (1G, -3, 3:29 PP, 5 SOG) fifth game back and he’s still averaging a point-per-game. Mike Ribeiro (1A, -3, 3:29 PP, 1 SOG) had six points in six tilts coming in and Steve Ott (1A, -2, 3:01 PP, no SOG) had three points and 27 PIM in his six starts on the month before tonight. Sheldon Souray (1A, 3:29 PP, 5 SOG) had a loooonnnnggg pointless skid halted here.
Combos: Zach Parise - Adam Henrique - Ilya Kovalchuk/ Petr Sykora - Patrik Elias - Dainius Zubrus/ Mattias Tedenby - Travis Zajac - David Clarkson/ Eric Boulton - Ryan Carter - Cam Janssen/ Anton Volchenkov - Adam Larsson/ Alexander Urbom - Mark Fayne/ Bryce Salvador - Kurtis Foster
Scratches: Tallinder, Sestito, Taormina
Top PP times: Kovalchuk (3:52), Foster (2:58), Zubrus, Sykora (2:21), Henrique (2:01)
Trending: Travis Zajac (-2, 15:22 TOI, 0:57 PP, 3 SOG) made his season debut and while it wasn’t in his normal L1 spot, he will eventually work his way back there. Having Adam Henrique (1G, +3, 2:01 PP, 2 SOG) thriving between Zach Parise (1G, 3A, +3, 2 PIM, 1:31 PP, 6 SOG) and Ilya Kovalchuk (1G, 1A, +1, 4 SOG) takes all the pressure off rushing Zajac back before he really has his game legs going. Henrique, BTW, has SHG in two of three now. Not too shabby. Parise is really coming on strong. David Clarkson (1G, -1, 1:10 PP, 4 SOG) only had three points on the month coming in and Patrik Elias (1G, 1A, +1, 1:31 PP, 2 SOG) has points in six of seven now. Petr Sykora (1G, 1A, +2, 2:21 PP, 2 SOG) has points in four of six and he had 14 points overall coming in. No points for Kurtis Foster tonight, but his value continues to rise with a regular shift on PP1.
ANAHEIM DUCKS 1 @ CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS 4
Goaltending match-up: Jonas Hiller (20/24, .833 SV%) vs. Ray Emery (24/25, .960 SV%)
Combos: Niklas Hagman - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry/ Andrew Cogliano - Bobby Ryan - Teemu Selanne/ Matt Beleskey - Maxime Macenauer - Kyle Palmieri/ Andrew Gordon - Rod Pelley - George Parros/ Francois Beauchemin - Cam Fowler/ Toni Lydman - Lubomir Visnovsky/ Luca Sbisa - Sheldon Brookbank
Scratches: Guenin, Fraser, Bonino
Top PP times: Getzlaf (4:08), Visnovsky (4:04), Perry (3:56), Selanne (3:30), Hagman (3:21)
Trending: Teemu Selanne (1G, +1, 3 SOG) has been breaking the heart of goalies for years and he stole Ray Emery's shutout bid in the last few minutes. Niklas Hagman (1A, 3 SOG) has points in three in a row.
Combos: Viktor Stalberg - Jonathan Toews - Patrick Kane/ Patrick Sharp - Marcus Kruger - Marian Hossa/ Bryan Bickell - Dave Bolland - Michael Frolik/ Ben Smith - Jamal Mayers - Andrew Brunette/ Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook/ Nick Leddy - Niklas Hjalmarsson/ Steve Montador - Sean O’Donnell
Scratches: Carcillo, Lepisto, Scott
Top PP times: Keith (3:19), Hossa, Kane, Toews, Sharp (1:53)
Trending: Patrick Sharp (1G, 1A, +2, 6 SOG) had 5-4-9 in his 6 December GP before tonight and Marian Hossa (1G, 1A, +2, 2 SOG) had 4-4-8 in that same span. Nick Leddy (1A, -1, 2 PIM, 0:53 PP, 2 SOG) only had one other point this month coming in. Same for Dave Bolland (1G, 1:19 PP, 1 SOG).
Chris Nichols is Sportsnet.ca's fantasy hockey writer.
