Saturday March 24

The action was at near full capacity on Saturday has 24 teams vied for points in 12 games league-wide. Former Islanders finally started producing again accounting for 3 goals and 4 assists in only 3 of those games. Some names that had been absent for a long time made impacts. Here is a quick breakdown:

• Eric Brewer's assist in St. Louis' 3-2 SO win over host Detroit game him a single season high 22. With 7 games left Brewer is only 2 points short of tying his career high (29) and 3 of surpassing it. After a hot run following the trade deadline Brewer has cooled off. Including Sunday's loss to Columbus Brewer has only 1 point in his last 4 games and 2 assists in just his last 7 overall. Mathieu Schneider added the secondary assist on the goal that forced overtime. The assist, his 39th, rounded his season points total up to 50. For the first time in his career Schneider has scored 50+ points in consecutive seasons. He has accomplished the feat six times in his 18 year career.
• Looking to not repeat the mistakes of Friday night the Maple Leafs handily defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 on Saturday in Toronto. Bryan McCabe assists on the bookending goals. The assists, numbers 40 and 41, give McCabe consecutive seasons with 40+ assists.
• Slumping New Jersey pulled off a 4-3 SO win over host Florida on Saturday. Olli Jokinen scored his 36th not really a big surprise. He is only 2 goals short of tying his career high, last season's 38, while accounting for 79 points in 75 games. The real surprise of the night, though, was the 2 goals by the Devils' Jim Dowd. Dowd twice tied the game up including the tally that forced OT. The goals were only his 2nd and 3rd of the season and his first since November 7th ending a 55 game goalless drought. He now has 7 points in 59 games with New Jersey this season. As far as FIW can tell this was Dowd's first ever 2 goal night.

Keep posted as the Sunday updates will be here soon.