A trio of trifectas for Ilya Kovalchuk as he followed up his Gordie Howe Hat-Trick on Saturday with 1+2=3 & plus-3 yesterday (3GP 2+7=9). He started the year slow and not sure what clicked for him but in late November he decided to start shooting again and is 18+21=39 with 137 shots over his last 31 games.

Did you know that David Clarkson is a 20 goal scorer? A four game point streak (4+3=7) put him over the top... pretty impressive stuff and kudos to you if you hung in there with him after he converted on just 6.3% of his shots last year as his luck has flipped on its head to the tune of a 14.7% sh% this season.

Two points for Tomas Plekanec yesterday and while he's well on his way to another of his patented "off-years", I like him as a buy low candidate in keeper leagues, in fact I did just that in a league I'm in recently. I see three things that can turn around for him next year:

• 1) His sh% this year is 7.9%, much lower than his 11.6% career sh% coming into this season;
• 2) His minus-13 is ugly but his 976 PDO is unlikely to be repeated; and
• 3) He's been killed by the Habs woeful PP (12.5%, 29th in the league) as his PPP/60 has dropped from 4.51 last year to 2.78... I'd bet on that rebounding somewhat.

GWG, plus-2, four hits & four shots in a busy afternoon for Michael Del Zotto, he now has 2+1=3 & plus-6 over his last four games after going pointless in eight straight.

There hasn't been a show-stopping performance in there but Martin Brodeur has put together a solid run going 5-2-1, 2.09 & .909 while starting eight of the last nine for the Devils... he could be an under-the-radar pickup for the stretch drive.

A matching goal & assist for Zach Parise to extend his point streak to five games (5+2=7).

Wayne Simmonds with a PPG (6:09 PP TOI), a fist fight, two hits & four shots yesterday. He has goals in three straight games (four in total).

Three points & plus-3 for Artem Anisimov, which must have seemed like a mirage for his owners as he had gone 17 games prior to that without a point.

Max Pacioretty with a goal yesterday and he has 7+3=10 & 39 shots over his last 10 games.

Two points for Brad Marchand and while he's been well behaved lately with just two PIMs in his last eight, he now has 3+3=6 over his last six games.

Leland Irving and something named Iiro Tarkki are up from the minors, whereas Zack Kassian & Jeff Deslauriers were demoted.