Who's hot in the NHL right now? Five players who are on fire

After getting off to a bit of a slower start this season largely due to missing time with injury, Sidney Crosby is reminding everybody that he’s — well — Sidney Crosby.

The Pittsburgh Penguins captain has four goals and five assists for nine points over the last week, including three even-strength goals and one game-winner.

This included a hat trick against Columbus, followed shortly after by a three-point effort against the Arizona Coyotes.

Crosby’s three-point performance in the Penguins’ 6-3 win over the Coyotes — in which Crosby picked up a goal and an assist — was the 155th game of Crosby’s career in which he tallied three or more points, moving him to 14th on the all-time list and just one game shy of Bryan Trottier.

Joe Pavelski

Joe Pavelski needs to be on this list because since January 20, there hasn’t been a player — aside from the aforementioned Crosby — with as many points as Pavelski.

And better yet, Pavelski’s got his 10 points in just five games while Crosby’s got 10  in six.

Pavelski’s month of January as a whole was certainly worth noting, as he turned in five multi-point performances and played just two games in the entire month in which he didn’t record at least one point.

The Dallas Stars forward also rode a five- and then six-game point streak in January, which included a five-point game on January 12 against the Seattle Kraken.

Ville Husso

You’d be hard-pressed to find a hotter goalie in the NHL right now than St. Louis Blues netminder Ville Husso.

The 25-year-old Finnish-born goaltender burst onto the scene in St. Louis and has essentially stolen the starter’s job from Jordan Binnington.

Husso got his first start since early December on January 7 against the Washington Capitals and absolutely ran with the opportunity he was given. Husso won his next six games and posted a save percentage of well over .950.

He didn’t even lose a game until just recently when he tied his season-high in goals against by allowing three goals in a loss to the Winnipeg Jets.

Daily Faceoff’s Mike McKenna gave his thoughts on the Husso situation in a recent episode of the "Daily Faceoff Show," which you can watch here.

“I’d say that it’s complicated. We hear that about relationships all the time. I think it’s true for the St. Louis Blues. You have five years left at $6 million for Jordan Binnington. Husso’s an unrestricted free agent at the end of this year. If you ask Craig Berube, the head coach of the St. Louis Blues, he could care less about contract status. He just wants to win. I think that’s what’s going on right now.

“Husso’s been lights out. The Blues have been loose all season. Jordan Binnington, as mentioned earlier, has faced the hardest workload in the league. It’s been less for Ville Husso.

“But here’s the juxtaposition. Husso’s been lights out and Binnington has been good. But the team has played better in front of Husso, for whatever reason. This is a real thing that can’t be qualified by traditional stats or advanced analytics, that sometimes a team just players better for somebody.”

Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau

We’re running out of room — we’re pushing the boundaries of what’s usually allowed in this column — but we’d be doing our readers a disservice if we didn’t mention how much of the load Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau have been carrying for the Calgary Flames as of late.

Gaudreau has nine points in five games and was instrumental in the Flames’ Saturday evening win over the Vancouver Canucks, as he scored the game winning goal in overtime with a slap shot that beat Thatcher Demko cleanly.

The only other player on the Flames who has been able to match Gaudreau’s output over the last five games has been Tkachuk, who also has nine points.

Tkachuk’s points have come in the form of three goals and six assists, and both players have been a key reason for the Flames winning three of their last five games in somewhat commanding fashion.