from Katie Strang of ESPN,

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Martin St. Louis, New York Rangers: The veteran forward tallied twice for the surging Rangers in a 4-3 shootout win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday. St. Louis, who also beat Blue Jackets goaltender Curtis McElhinney in the first round of the shootout, now has four goals and six points in his last four games. Meanwhile, the Rangers pulled to two points behind the rival New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division, with three games in hand.

Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings: Datsyuk may be one of the most underappreciated stars in the NHL right now, but the guy called “wizard” never seems to disappoint for the Wings. Most recently, he led the Wings in their dramatic comeback win over the Dallas Stars, finishing with two goals and four points in the Detroit’s 7-6 overtime win on Saturday. It was Datsyuk’s second multi-goal game in a week; he has eight points in his last four games, and the Wings continue to be one of the most resilient teams in the league.

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Los Angeles Kings: A 2-1 win in Saturday’s Stadium Series game against the San Jose Sharks was the Kings' seventh straight as the defending Stanley Cup champions appear to have awakened from their midseason slumber. Kudos to the Kings for treating this past weekend as nothing more than a business trip, as they seemingly spurned all of the hype and trappings of the outdoor event, focusing instead on clawing their way back into the playoff picture out West.

Minnesota Wild: There was a healthy amount of doubt that the Wild would get to this point -- and it’s tough to imagine them getting here at all were it not for the shrewd acquisition of goaltender Devan Dubnyk. But they are now among the top eight in the Western Conference standings after a 6-2 drubbing of the Dallas Stars on Sunday that allowed them to slot into the last wild-card spot. The Wild are 8-1-1 in their past 10 games. Impressive.

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