Sometimes, an NHL player can have a hot week despite their team being on a cold streak and vice-versa.

Take Utah Mammoth center Logan Cooley, for example. He had seven points in four games this past week despite the team going 1-3-0 and suffering a lower-body injury against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.

Dylan Strome, meanwhile, had an assist in four games this past week, while the Washington Capitals had a perfect 4-0-0 week.

But for these players featured in this week's edition of who's hot and cold in the NHL, they played important roles in their squad's successes or struggles since Nov. 24.

Hot: Nikita Kucherov, RW, Tampa Bay Lightning

The Lightning are third in the NHL after starting the season 1-4-2. Kucherov's reliable heaps of offense lead the way.

In four games over the past week, Kucherov generated a league-leading nine assists and 10 points. He's on a five-game multi-point streak and a nine-game point streak, totalling 17 points since Nov. 15. The 32-year-old's season stats now include 21 assists and 32 points in 23 games.

You can see, then, why Kucherov is so crucial to Tampa Bay's blueprint for success. When he's feeling it, Kucherov can be a threat as a goal-scorer as easily as he can be a threat as a playmaker. He supplies exactly what's asked of him, even when what's asked of him is quite a lot. 

Cold: Brady Skjei, D, Nashville Predators

Two seasons ago with the Carolina Hurricanes, Skjei posted 13 goals and 47 points in 80 games. This year, with the sad-sack Predators, the 31-year-old blueliner has been largely invisible – including this past week, when he generated zero points and a minus-2 rating in four games. 

Skjei has only six points and a minus-16 rating in 25 games this year. Those are hardly the numbers the Preds wanted from him when they signed him to a seven-year contract worth $7 million per season two summers ago. But going through five percent of the season without even a secondary assist has to be particularly concerning for Nashville management.

Hot: Wyatt Johnston, C, Dallas Stars

The Stars have gone 8-1-1 in their past 10 games, and they're on a four-game win streak.

In the past week, Johnston put the team on his back. On Sunday against the Ottawa Senators, he recorded a hat trick and his second four-point game of the week to give him five goals and nine points in four games.

The 22-year-old Johnston – who began a five-year contract worth $8.4 million annually – now has 16 goals and 30 points in 26 games, putting him in a tie with star Jason Robertson as the top goal-scorer on the Stars. 

Johnston is well on his way to surpassing his career highs of 33 goals and 71 points, set last season. And although Robertson and star right winger Mikko Rantanen have more points than Johnston, the youngster is establishing himself as one of Dallas' most dangerous producers.

Cold: Cam Talbot, G, Detroit Red Wings

The Red Wings have done well with Talbot for most of this year, as he began the past week with a 9-2-0 record.

But since then, Talbot has gone 0-2-1, allowing 11 goals on 67 shots for a 3.69 goals-against average and a .836 save percentage. His save percentages in his three games were .800, .821 and .895. In that third game, a 3-2 shootout loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday, Talbot had 0.44 goals saved above expected, according to moneypuck.com, but in the two starts before that, that stat was in the negatives.

The 38-year-old Talbot isn't in danger of losing playing time to veteran John Gibson, whose numbers this season are considerably worse than Talbot's. But the Wings do need Talbot and their defense to ratchet up their games if they're to withstand the competition in the Atlantic Division and hang onto a playoff berth. 

Hot: Andrei Vasilevskiy, G, Tampa Bay Lightning

Not only did Kucherov have an outstanding week, but Vasilevskiy did as well for the Lightning. He had a 3-0-0 record, .955 SP and 1.33 GAA since Nov. 24, when he shut out the Philadelphia Flyers. 

Vasilevskiy stopped 85 of 89 shots he saw this week, and it doesn't get much better than that for a goalie. The Lightning have a workhorse and a dynamic force in net who ranks fifth in goals saved above expected, at 13.6. While his stats weren't immune from the Lightning's rough start to the season, his 2.32 GAA and .918 SP make it seem like it never happened.

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