Running on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Hockey Talk examines player and team trends as well as take a more in-depth look at the game. This is an interactive project, so feel free to email your opinions to Douglas.Benton@RealGM.com, and your thoughts may just appear in this space. March 10 The Dallas Stars (89 points) and the Colorado Avalanche (80 points) played a home and home over the weekend with each team winning on its home ice. The Avalanche won 3-1 on Saturday, and the Stars followed it up with a 3-0 victory on Sunday. One big difference was the absence of Peter Forsberg on Sunday after he had a two assist game the night before. In Sunday?s game, the Stars dominated, limiting them to just 19 shots. This was highlighted in the first period, which the Stars won 2-0 and out shot Colorado 12-1. Sunday also offered another marquee match-up as the Montreal Candadiens (85 points) traveled to Anaheim to play the Ducks (85 points). The Ducks dominated the action in winning 3-1 when they out shot Montreal 37-21, including 27-12 in the first two periods. They also added a shorthanded goal, took four less penalties, and won 11 more face-offs. In Chicago, where the Blackhawks are barely hanging on to their playoffs hopes, those dreams took a hit this weekend in home losses to the San Jose Sharks and the Edmonton Oilers. Chicago lost 3-2 to San Jose on Friday and then lost 6-5 in overtime to Edmonton on Sunday. This comes after the Blackhawks had won three in a row and needed to come away from these games with more than one point. At 73 points, they are five points out of the playoffs and tied for tenth place in the Western Conference. March 7 The Ottawa Senators have lost two games the last two nights as they are now 0-2-1 on the West Coast trip. It ends on Saturday at the Phoenix Coyotes. The Senators lost 3-2 at San Jose on Wednesday and followed it up with a bad 2-0 loss at the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday. They have now lost six of seven games, and in those losses, they have just scored four goals and have been outscored 20-4 in them. On the other end of the spectrum, the Carolina Hurricanes are settling into the No. 3 seed as they are up five points on a charging Washington Capitals team. They beat Atlanta 6-3 on Wednesday and then the Minnesota Wild on Thursday by a score of 3-2. They have won six of seven games, and in four of those wins, they have scored at least five goals. Offensively, they are playing very well with Eric Stall having six goals and 11 assists in his last 11 games. Goaltender Jose Theodore of the Colorado Avalanche is rekindling some of the magic he displayed in Montreal. The Avalanche have won five straight games after their 1-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks behind 27 Theodore saves on Thursday. Theodore, in net for each game, hasn't given up more than two goals in this stretch, which included two wins against Vancouver, and wins at Calgary, Los Angeles, and Anaheim. March 5 Washington Capitals? forward Alexander Ovechkin continues to amaze as he had a first period hat trick during the Capitals? 10-2 rout of the Boston Bruins on Monday. The goals were No. 50, 51, and 52 on the year for Ovechkin. He now has a 10 goal lead over No. 2 Atlanta?s Ilya Kovalchuk and is cementing his spot as the best goal scorer in the world. After losing five straight games in the middle of February, the San Jose Sharks have won six in a row after a 6-4 win over Montreal on Monday. The streak includes five wins on the road and against such opponents as Detroit and Pittsburgh and home against Montreal. Prior to the game on Monday, the Sharks had allowed six goals in five games and have out shot their opponents by at least eight shots in five of the last six games. Forward Joe Thornton has had 10 points in these six games while Jonathan Cheechoo has four goals over this stretch. Sidney Crosby made his return to the ice on Tuesday by tallying an assist in the Penguins? 2-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. He logged 22:07 of ice time and also had a +2 rating. However, the most important aspect about this game was a 35 save shutout by goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. In another comeback, Peter Forsberg made his season debut with the Colorado Avalache in a 2-1 home win over the Vancouver Canucks. He had 22 shifts and just under 20 minutes of ice time when he put three shots on net. March 3 The Vancouver Canucks have hit the skids with just over a month left in the regular season. They are winless in their last three games, including a 3-2 overtime loss at home against Columbus on Friday and a 4-1 loss at Chicago on Sunday. On Friday, they were out shot 33-23, and on Sunday it only got worse when they were out shot 28-10. For the most part, scoring has been their problem as they have scored three goals or less in 17 of their last 20 games. Goaltender Roberto Luongo hasn?t been as good this season as he was last so the Canucks will have to score more regularly to win games. Over these same 20 games, 10 of them have ended in overtime or a shootout with the Canucks having a 4-6 record. Most of those games saw the Canucks have third period leads which they squandered. Yes, the Canucks still pick up a point in these games, but when you are trying to chase Minnesota in the division and hold onto the last spots for the playoffs, you need two points when you have a late lead. Not just one. The Canucks are currently at 74 points and in a tie for seventh in the Western Conference. Goaltender Cristobal Huet made a stellar debut with the Washington Capitals with a 4-0 shutout of the New Jersey Devils on Friday. He made 18 saves. Colorado is still waiting for Peter Forsberg to make his debut, but now they will be without forwards Ryan Smyth and Marek Svatos after both players were injured in Saturday?s game against the Los Angeles Kings. The Avalanche are eighth in the Western Conference, and there isn?t a hard charging team to pass them, but the playoffs aren?t a lock in Colorado. Now the signing of Forsberg will be even more important down the stretch.