RALEIGH, N.C. -- For most of Eric Staal's career, the Carolina Hurricanes have been looking for the just-right forward to play on the top line with the team captain.

For the next five seasons, Carolina has its man.

When the Hurricanes signed Alexander Semin to a five-year, $35-million extension Monday, they did so knowing the two players had built an undeniable chemistry over the first 30 games of the season. At times in recent years, Staal labored as a variety of players took turns on Carolina's top line.

Eric Staal

Center - CAR

GOALS: 14 | ASST: 21 | PTS: 35
SOG: 97 | +/-: 19

That "chance" was signing Semin to a one-year free-agent deal last summer. Semin, an elite scoring forward in Washington for six seasons, had fallen out of favor with the Capitals. His points-per-game had declined for three straight seasons. But Carolina quickly proved to be a place where he could thrive again.

"(It's) a good team for me. It's new life," Semin said. "This is a good place to play hockey."

In particular, Semin has built a strong relationship with Muller.

Sergei Bobrovsky is coming up big for the surging Columbus Blue Jackets because he is playing big -- or bigger, at least, than he was during his first two NHL seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Taller in his butterfly after some technical tinkering, Bobrovsky has backstopped the Blue Jackets into the Western Conference playoff race with a near-perfect month of March, earning his first two career shutouts and a couple of weekly NHL accolades along the way.

The 24-year-old started the month on an 8-0-2 run before his first hiccup of the spring saw him pulled 10:15 into a road loss against the Nashville Predators on March 23. Despite that blip, Bobrovsky lowered his goals-against average to 2.17 and raised his save percentage to .927 with the streak, putting him near the top of the NHL in both categories.

It was a relatively simple play, but it took world-class skill to execute.

The Washington Capitals had trailed the Florida Panthers by two goals late in the third period before rallying to force overtime in a game on Feb. 12. Just seconds into the extra session, Troy Brouwer collected the puck and skated to the right in his own zone.

He left the puck for Nicklas Backstrom as he skated in front of the Swedish center at the top of the right faceoff circle. Backstrom slowly skated the puck to the left and towards the blue line, while Brouwer charged up the right side of the ice, basically like a running back on a wheel route.

Backstrom held the puck for a full two seconds, and then deftly lifted a beautiful pass through all four Florida defenders in the neutral zone. It landed perfectly on Brouwer's stick with him breaking in alone on the goaltender for the winning goal.

"I knew I was going to pass it to him when he dropped it to me. That's when I knew," Backstrom told NHL.com "He was coming with good speed, and I was just trying to wait him out until he got in a good position. Yeah, it was a nice play."

Every Tuesday during the season, NHL.com fantasy hockey expert Matt Cubeta will provide you with an in-depth analysis of fantasy forwards in his weekly segment: "The Front Line." From updated rankings to players you should keep a close eye on and much more, Cubeta will be your fantasy forwards expert all season long.

On Feb. 26, I moved Ovechkin up five spots in my forward rankings to the No. 13 overall slot. Several readers criticized the move, saying he didn't deserve the bump. He did. For starters, on Feb. 23, Ovechkin recorded a hat trick and an assist in a 5-1 victory over the Devils -- sure, that's nice. But look a little further back and you could see how he was slowly rounding into form.

On Feb. 3 (the Capitals' ninth game of the season), Ovechkin notched a power-play assist, a plus-1, two penalty minutes and five shots on goal -- nothing too special, but a solid fantasy line nonetheless. He carried over that strong performance into a five-game point-scoring streak in which he totaled three goals and four assists while averaging 4.6 shots on goal per game. This gave fantasy owners a glimpse of hope that Ovechkin might be returning to his dominant fantasy ways. Unfortunately, after the five-game streak, the Washington captain was then held without a point for three straight contests while posting a minus-3 rating.

Boston College will look to defend its title when the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship opens this weekend.

Five teams received automatic bids for winning their respective league tournaments: Canisius from the Atlantic Hockey Association, Notre Dame from the CCHA, Union College from the ECAC, UMass-Lowell from Hockey East, and Wisconsin from the WCHA.

Another 11 teams received the at-large invitation based on the final PairWise rankings. 

The winner of each regional advances to Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh for the 2013 Frozen Four, with the semifinals set for April 11, and the championship game at 7 p.m. ET on April 13.

Brian Gionta

Right Wing - MTL

GOALS: 10 | ASST: 7 | PTS: 17
SOG: 79 | +/-: 4

This edition features Montreal Canadiens captain Brian Gionta:

Brian Gionta's 2011-12 season was limited to 31 games due to bicep surgery. The Montreal Canadiens captain would have to watch from the press box as his team stumbled and slumped all the way to a last-place finish in the Eastern Conference.

One year later, Gionta is healthy, playing in every game, and helping the Canadiens rise toward the top of the Eastern Conference standings.

At the 2011 NHL Draft, the Philadelphia Flyers made three franchise-altering moves, dealing away centers Mike Richards and Jeff Carter and signing goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to a nine-year contract.

The struggles of Claude Giroux and the gradual erosion of the defense corps has combined to leave Philadelphia on the outside of the Stanley Cup Playoff picture. (Photo: Getty Images)

Bryzgalov was supposed to be the franchise goaltender the Flyers had spent the last quarter-century searching for, while offensively the hope was a few players would be able to step into the scoring void left by the two departing all-stars.

The 2011-12 season saw things go backward for the Flyers. They finished as the second-highest scoring team in the League, carried by their top line of Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell and Jaromir Jagr, along with major contributions from depth players like Wayne Simmonds, Maxime Talbot and Sean Couturier. Bryzgalov, expected to play at the same high level he had displayed with the Phoenix Coyotes, struggled for most of the season, and the Flyers were eliminated in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The common belief was that in 2012-13, Bryzgalov would shake off his first-season troubles and return to being a top-tier netminder, while the Flyers' offense would continue to sizzle. A number of prognosticators considered the Flyers contenders for the Atlantic Division title and a top-four playoff seed in the East.

However, they enter their game Tuesday against the New York Rangers (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN) 13th in the Eastern Conference, five points out of a playoff spot, and their 16 regulation losses are tied for the second-most in the League.

The Carolina Hurricanes have signed Alexander Semin to a five-year contract extension, which the team announced is worth $7 million per season.

The 29-year-old signed a one-year, $7 million deal with the Hurricanes this past summer and has lived up to the contract. He has eight goals and 22 assists in 30 games and has been a big reason for captain Eric Staal's 14-goal, 35-point season.

"We're very happy to retain Alex," Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford said. "Alex is an elite player and has been a major contributor to the Hurricanes having a very strong top line."

Semin spent seven seasons with the Washington Capitals before coming to Carolina. As a member of the Capitals, he scored at least 28 goals four times with a career-best 40 goals in 2009-10.

OTTAWA -- Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson spoke with reporters Monday night to offer an update on his condition.

Karlsson was sidelined with a partially cut Achilles tendon during a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 13. The injury required immediate surgery to repair, likely ending the season for the 2011-12 Norris trophy winner. The Swede had six goals and four assists through 14 games prior to the injury.

The Tampa Bay Lightning named Jon Cooper the franchise's eighth head coach Monday night.

Cooper, 45, was coaching Tampa Bay's affiliate in the American Hockey League, the Syracuse Crunch. Syracuse currently has the best record in the AHL at 39-18-3-5.

"We are very pleased to introduce Jon as our head coach today," Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman said. "He has had success at every level he has coached and is extremely familiar with our organization, as well as our players. He has a tremendous record at all levels and we feel he is ready to make the move to the NHL."