The Fifth Liners

Tyler Seguin  Currently the beating heart of what is a patchy Dallas Stars team, Seguin currently sits second in the points standing with 59. He has a keen eye for goal and seems to score at will which if the Stars management can work out a plan promises great things. Seems inconceivable now that Boston traded him back in 2012 for Loui Eriksson- see how well that deal worked out boys! At only 23 years of age, Seguin is looking like he could be something remarkable! Jacob Voracek The biggest surprise of this season so far, Voracek has already scored an amazing 59 points, which nearly equals his entire season total of 62 points last season! The Philadelphia Flyers have endured a lacklustre season, from which the Czech winger has one of the few highlights. Many will say he have a fluke season and this will never again continue. They maybe right, but this season Voracek has deserved all the praise that has come his way and his name of the trophy would be fitting! Pekka Rinne...

Today it was announced that Los Angeles Kings backup goalie Ben Scrivens has been traded to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for a 2014 third round draft pick, meanwhile regular goalie Devan Dubnyk has also been traded to the Nashville Predators in exchange for forward Matt Hendricks! Trading Scrivens is either a stroke of genius by Edmonton or pure silliness by LA because this player has been one of the finds of the season since he deputised so superbly for regular Kings goalie Jonathan Quick back in November, and so far he holds a record of 7-5-4 with a 1.97 GAA! This also included 10 shutouts and two first star performances (one of which I witnessed against the Rangers at the Garden). Being Quick's backup is a bit like being Petr Cech's number two at Chelsea, which is unless something drastic happens, you don't even consider leaving the bench!  So in that light, this move will give the guy game time, which he is not assured of at LA. But also it weakens the Kings b...

After emerging from a tense couple of hours in the cinema watching Tom Hanks cope with being hijacked by pirates in 'Captain Phillips' I found Mike's question of the week on my phone which read, " Pekka Rinne is going to miss 4 weeks due to Injury, how much will this affect his teams performance?" The two time Veniza trophy nominee has proven to be a wall in net for the Nashville Predators since arriving in 2005 and so far he holds a win/loss rate of 153-83 and impressively holds a save percentage of .920! Rinne has without question been the most important factor of the Predators over the last few years and has led them to no less than 8 visits to the Playoffs. But with the team no losing him, it will either be a time for his backups to sink or swim and now Nashville has the worrying issue that both Carter Hutton and Magnus Hellberg do not have any NHL experience under their belts. Hutton briefly was called up to the Chicago Blackhawks during their Stanle...

Detroit Red Wings #1 goalie Jimmy Howard hasn't had his best season, the team has lost 6 of its last 10 games, with 2 of those being shootouts. The added pressure of the team dropping out of the playoff places made winning last night's game vital. According to  NHL.com , Howard sought advice from former Wings Goalie Chris Osgood, Coach Jim Bedard and Jedi Master Yoda  in his attempt to end the slump. Whatever that advice was, it worked. Howard made 22 saves including breakaways and a mis-hit penalty shot after Bobby Butler was tripped by Jakub Kindl . Helping the Wings to beat the Nashville Predators 3-0. Howard, braced for action.  Howard's performance was so good last night that he earned the 1st star of the game. The two points earned see the Wings jump back into that last playoff place although things are still very tight with a few teams still in contention. Henrik Zetterberg , Johan Franzen and Justin Abdelkader scored for the Wings and new boy Dann...

By Alex Watson Craig Anderson (Ottawa Senators) Since being traded to Ottawa in 2010, Craig Anderson has proven himself to be mister consistent and this season has been no exception and as it stands Anderson currently has the highest save percentage and currently has a GAA average of 1.49. His great goaltending has put him in line for a potential Hart Trophy and has also contributed to the Senators ever improving form and they are now firmly in line for a place off spot. Pekka Rinne (Nashville Predators) Nashville’s form so far this season has been very stop- start, but the one thing that hasn’t been is the goaltending of Finland’s Pekka Rinne who currently has already registered 5 shut out victories alone this season and has prove a bright spot in the Predators season and if his form continues, they could prove to be the wildcard of the playoff race! Nikolas Backstrom (Minnesota Wild) The Wild’s fortunes are ever improving this season due to some smart acquisiti...