This is the obvious one. Nathan MacKinnon leads the NHL with 68 points, seven more than Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl in second place. Also of note, he’s first in points per game at 1.58, narrowly ahead of the Art Ross winner last season, Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov at 1.57.

The Blue Jackets 'mucked' it up with Tortorella's Flyers to win by shootout on Marchenko's borrowed move from Texier: 3 takeaways

The Columbus Blue Jackets will look to stretch their winning streak to six games when they play host to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.

The Oilers will host the conclusion of the season series Feb. 7 before eight players from the respective clubs -- also including Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen (Finland), Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm and forward Viktor Arvidsson (Sweden) -- convene for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

A case of mistaken identity, thoughts on the Calgary Flames surprising season as well as that of the Columbus Blue Jackets (including defenseman Zach Werenski) and a visit from Vegas Golden Knights Spanish broadcaster Jesus Lopez is all featured in this week's episode of "NHL Unscripted with Virk and Demers" podcast presented by iHeartPodcasts.

Denton Mateychuk and Luca Del Bel Belluz, both recent callups from the AHL, each had a goal and an assist to help lift the Columbus Blue Jackets over the Seattle Kraken 6-2

There may be no closer race this season than which blue-liner deserves to take home the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s Defenseman of the Year at the conclusion of the 2024-25 campaign.

The Blue Jackets 'mucked' it up with Tortorella's Flyers to win by shootout on Marchenko's borrowed move from Texier: 3 takeaways

The Blue Jackets have scored at least four goals nine times in this stretch, which continued with a 4-1 home win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday. Adam Fantilli and Kent Johnson scored 4:06 apart in the first period before James van Riemsdyk scored twice.

Zach Werenski climbs higher, the Blue Jackets are watching the standings closer and the San Jose Sharks were overmatched: 3 takeaways

From an EDGE stats standpoint, Marchenko checks many boxes that explain his full-fledged breakout season after leading Columbus in goals last season (23 in 78 games); he’s their best in the category again and on pace for 32 goals (18 in first 45 games). He is among the forward leaders in the following categories:

We are firmly into the second half with a neck-and-neck-and-neck race for the top of the fantasy podium. Connor Hellebuyck will surely start getting some additional rest later in the season, so the race at the top right now is between Nikita Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon.