Chris Nichols

­Chris Nichols is Sportsnet.ca's fantasy hockey writer.

Ducks winger Corey Perry is currently riding a 12-game point streak and he's tied with Alex Ovechkin, Rick Nash and Zach Parise for fifth in the NHL in points with 24. He's also playing more than two minutes per game on average (20:44 compared with 18:36) than last year - a stat which has seen an increase in every year of his career so far.

Monday night, as you may have already read in the live blogging, he logged 5:26 as a regular on the PK unit - for the first time in his career. The Orange County Register reports that the move had been "in the works" for a while.

"I like being there," said Perry, who helped kill six of seven penalties against Pittsburgh and says he hasn't skated a regular PK shift since his junior days.

"It keeps you in the game. You're always involved. For me, you stay involved in the game and the intensity just rises."

He actually embraces the defensive role.

"Everybody says championship teams start with defence," he said. "Good defence leads to good offence. The less time you spend in your zone, you're going to have a better chance to score at the other end."

Ken Hitchcock has done the same with Rick Nash over the past few seasons and it has paid off in spades, clearly making the opposing team worry as much about getting scored on with the man advantage as trying to score. Nash has 12 SHG to his name. Perry scored his first career shortie earlier this season and his only two short-handed points have come this season. If he does continue to skate a regular shift on the PK then you know more of them will be on the way, which certainly helps his value in leagues with specific categories for SHP of any kind.

JOVO STILL DTD
The Arizona Republic notes that defenceman Ed Jovanovski, who has missed four games because of a lower-body injury, will be on the trip to Minnesota and St. Louis. He remains day to day.

"It's heading in the right direction," he said after skating Tuesday. "Everybody involved is smart about it... not let something bother me throughout the year. Better off to be sure, and that's what we're doing. You've got to deal with it, get better and get back out there."

Jovo has had a strong start to the season, notching 13 points in 16 GP (eight via the power play) with 12 PIM and 38 SOG. If you owned the offensive rearguard last year in a pool, you'll no doubt remember his start was not nearly as good. In fact, it was downright horrible. He had no points in October and by the end of November he was up to seven points, but had a -12 rating. The rest of the way he tallied 29 points in 59 GP and was only -3 in that span.

QUOTABLE
"It's absolutely puck possession," Lightning head coach Rick Tocchet told the St. Petersburg Times about why his team has been outshot 577-491 overall this season, which averages out to around a 32-27 difference per game. "It's position. It's attitude. You put those three things together, you're going to get shots. If you're a perimeter guy who's just waiting around for the puck, you might as well wait all day. But if you actually want the puck, retrieve the puck and get to those areas, you should be able to get quite a few shots."

EMERY'S NIGHT OFF
The Philadelphia Daily News notes that Flyers head coach John Stevens said that backup goaltender Brian Boucher will "definitely" start one game on this road trip; he just isn't sure which one yet. All signs point toward "Boosh" starting in Phoenix on Saturday night on the second leg of games in back-to-back nights. The Flyers play in San Jose on Friday.

Boucher has only started one of Philadelphia's 17 games to date and he gave up four goals against the Sharks in a 4-1 home loss. Last year he was generally pretty strong in relief for those Sharks, compiling a 12-6-3 mark with 2.18/ .917 splits and two shutouts.

NASHVILLE'S GOALIE JUGGLING
Pekka Rinne has started 10 games for the Preds and he owns a 7-4-0 mark with 2.40/ .914 splits and two shutouts. Dan Ellis has started nine contests and owns a 3-4-1 record with a 2.90 GAA and .900 SV%.

Rinne has won seven of his past eight starts and has gotten the call four times this month, while Ellis has only won once since earning a "W" in his first two starts of the season. He has started twice in November.

So Rinne appears to have the upper hand for now, but does this means poolies should cast Ellis aside if they own both goaltenders? Not necessarily.

"We're going with who we think can win us the game that night, plain and simple, be it a hot hand or a record," coach Barry Trotz told The Nashville Tennessean after yesterday's skate. "I'm just going with who I think will get us through."

QUOTABLE
"We have to sit down and go through the whole thing," Blues President John Davidson told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch of the pending decision on defenceman Alex Pietrangelo, who, with his next start, will have played nine games. A committee of Davidson, GM Larry Pleau, executives Doug Armstrong and Al MacInnis and coaching staff will decide whether to keep the rookie defenceman with the big club or send him back to junior. "We like what we've seen of Alex. He hasn't done anything to hurt himself. "

"You know we went through it with David Perron, where we kept him for a good period of time," Davidson said. "And he got his games in, everybody thought we weren't going to get his games in, but we got lots of games in for him. And he became a better pro.

"I think 'Petro' is a smart kid who has come a long way with his body and his way of thinking. He's got talent. I think we're probably leaning toward keeping him. But again, that's just my opinion."

FROLOV'S TEMPORARY BOOST
LA Kings Insider notes that Ryan Smyth will not play tonight and will be out "longer than that, for sure," according to Terry Murray. Smyth is still officially listed with an upper-body injury and we should know more soon. In Smyth's absence, Alexander Frolov becomes the first-line left wing, alongside Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams. Murray said he had not yet decided who would skate on Michal Handzus' left wing.

So Frolov, who has gone nine games without a goal and has four helpers in that span, should get a temporary boost in fantasy value. Is he a streaky player? Sure. But if you can catch him at the start of a potenial hot streak, why not give him a shot if your own team is hurting with injuries on the wing?

OSGOOD FRIDAY
Michigan Live reports that Chris Osgood skated for the second straight day today and said he felt much better after being idled several days with a virus, which he said was similar to what defenceman Jonathan Ericsson had a couple of weeks ago. Osgood said he lost eight pounds and needed to get an IV on Monday. He should be ready to start Friday's game against Florida.

"I feel all right for the most part,'' Osgood said. "I'm healthy now, it's just a matter of getting my wind back, getting back on the ice and sweating it out.''

Jimmy Howard will start again tonight vs. DAL. He has won all three of his November starts with six total goals against, including four in that last wild one against the Ducks. He's 4-2-1 overall this season with 2.85/ .898 splits.

Daniel Larsson, incidentally, is backing up and he's carrying 2.70/ .916 splits for Grand Rapids to date with a 5-2-0 mark.

SPEAKING OF THOSE STARS
Marc Crawford is splitting up Brenden Morrow and Mike Ribeiro, according to The Dallas Morning News. They've each been struggling lately along with the team, so when the Stars take on the Wings tonight it'll be Morrow with Mike Modano and Jamie Benn. Ribeiro will centre Steve Ott and Jere Lehtinen, while the top line of James Neal and Loui Eriksson with Brad Richards will stay intact.

"I think Ott is a lot like Morrow and I know he really played well in that role last season when he was given a chance," Crawford said. "So I think it's a matter of finding symmetry and balance, and four lines that can all play well together."

With 46 SOG in 19 GP so far, Ribeiro has been getting more chances at scoring goals than he's used to in this new wider-open system for the Stars. It has been an adjustment for the slick passer.

"It's a different kind of game for me, so I do have to adjust," he said. "I've had almost 50 shots this year, and that's been really different. I usually only have maybe one shot a game, but I feel like I have been in position to score a lot more this year, and I need to be able to put the puck in."

Crawford told the DMN that he doesn't anticipate any lingering issues here.

"He was fine at the beginning of the year [seven points in the first five games], so I think he fits in fine," Crawford said. "We want to play the game with pace, but we're not going to take away the things he brings - his great hockey sense, his great deception, his ability to dart and dive.

"What he does need to improve on is his recovery on the defensive side and his ability to keep his shifts short ... You take your chances when you get them, but you have to be responsible and you have to keep your energy high every shift."