NHL Player News

Staal provided an assist, two shots on goal, six hits and two blocked shots in Thursday's 3-1 win over the Panthers.

Staal had gone three games without a point coming out of the holiday break. The 36-year-old center has a goal and five assists over his last nine outings, though that's an unusually strong stretch of offense for the third-line center. He's at 15 points, 53 shots on net, 58 hits, 20 blocked shots and a plus-5 rating over 38 appearances this season.

Necas scored an empty-net goal on five shots, added two PIM and doled out two hits in Thursday's 3-1 win over the Panthers.

Necas' empty-netter snapped his 11-game goal drought, during which he had just four assists. The 25-year-old has earned a point in each of the last two games, so he may be coming out of his December swoon. For the season, Necas has 15 goals, 46 points, 94 shots on net, 29 hits and a plus-2 rating through 38 appearances.

Lindholm scored a goal on two shots and blocked three shots in Thursday's 2-1 loss to the Rangers.

Lindholm prevented a shutout with his goal at 7:57 of the second period, but the Bruins couldn't pull even. The 30-year-old had gone two games without a point, but he has four goals and three assists over his last nine outings. For the season, he's up to 20 points, 61 shots on net, 66 hits, 40 blocked shots and a plus-2 rating through 40 appearances. Lindholm's offense is trending in the right direction, and he does enough in other areas to be a solid depth center in standard fantasy formats.

Zibanejad scored a goal on four shots in Thursday's 2-1 win over the Bruins.

The opening tally was Zibanejad's 700th career point. It's the second milestone he's reached this season -- the last was 300 career goals back on Dec. 11, but unfortunately for the Rangers, he didn't record a point in the eight contests in between. He continues to play top-six minutes but has struggled across the board with seven goals, 15 assists, a minus-22 rating, 82 shots on net and 26 blocked shots over 37 appearances. His next assist will be the 400th of his career.

Scheifele scored a goal and took three shots in Thursday's 4-3 overtime loss to the Ducks.

Scheifele found the twine just 33 seconds into the game, and he notched his 23rd goal of the campaign, but the Ducks would complete a comeback in the latter stages of the contest. Scheifele has been very consistent once again, and he's having another solid year while operating as one of the Jets' most important forwards. Through 40 appearances, the 31-year-old is up to 23 goals and 22 assists, good for 45 points while shooting a career-high 25.3 percent.

Lowry scored a goal and recorded three hits in Thursday's 4-3 overtime loss to the Ducks.

Lowry found the back of the net for the first time since Dec. 17, when he scored in a 4-3 road win over the Sharks, and he also snapped a four-game pointless drought with this outing. Lowry has been very productive given his bottom-six role, as he's notched 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) across 40 contests.

Carlsson scored a goal and blocked two shots in Thursday's 4-3 overtime win over the Jets.

Carlsson snapped a five-game pointless streak by finding the twine with his lone shot of the game. Carlsson missed six games between Nov. 27 and Dec. 9 due to an upper-body injury, but he hasn't been very productive since his return to the ice. He has notched just two goals in his last 11 contests while also recording six PIM, 14 shots, six hits and three blocked shots in that span.

Faksa (leg) will not play versus Ottawa on Friday, Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic reports.

Faksa will miss his 10th of 11 games since he suffered the injury. Faksa returned for one game Dec. 20, but the worry is that the cut is infected and the Blues want to be sure that he has fully healed. Head coach Jim Montgomery said Friday that he thinks Faksa will return within two weeks. Faksa has two goals and seven points in 30 games this season.

Larkin delivered a goal and an assist, both on the power play, in Thursday's 5-4 win over the Blue Jackets.

The performance extended his modest point streak to four games. Larkin has found the back of the net in back-to-back contests after going 15 straight games without a goal, and since the beginning of December he's racked up two goals and 13 points in 15 appearances.

Sundqvist (illness) will not be in the lineup versus the Senators on Friday, Lou Korac of NHL.com reports.

Sundqvist has a goal and two assists in his last five games, after garnering only one assist in his previous 14 appearances. Mathieu Joseph will draw into the lineup in Sundqvist's place Friday.