We're now into the 2nd half of the 2011-12 NHL campaign.  Many things have changed in the 2nd quarter that are worth reviewing to help us project what we should expect to close out the rest of the year.  To start, we'll take a quick glance at the point standings at the end of the first quarter (end of November):

POINT LEADERS

1. Phil Kessel - 31

2. Claude Giroux - 29

3. Joffrey Lupul - 29

4. Kris Versteeg - 26

5. Thomas Vanek - 26

6. Nicklas Backstrom - 25

7. Jonathan Toews - 25

8. Jason Pominville - 25

9. Daniel Sedin - 25

10. Henrik Sedin - 25

Obviously, injuries have played a part in the demise of some players from the top of the heap, but a few things jump out right away:

• Kris Versteeg (and the rest of the Florida resurgence) has fizzled out significantly
• The hot start in Buffalo (Vanek / Pominville) is a memory
• Evgeni Malkin and Steven Stamkos have surged in the 2nd quarter to the top of the current point race. 

GOAL LEADERS

In terms of goals, the picture hasn't changed all that dramatically.  The top five are pretty consistent:

Then:

1. Kessel - 16

2. Stamkos - 14

3. Neal - 13

4. Giroux - 13

5. Toews - 13

Now:

1. Stamkos - 31

2. Kessel - 24

3. Toews - 24

4. Neal - 24

5. Gaborik - 23

It's worth noting here that while Giroux has kept up the point production, his goal totals have dried up.  He had just 5 in the 2nd quarter.  Meanwhile, Gaborik surged in the 2nd Quarter, adding 13 to his total.

TOP 2nd QUARTER PRODUCTION

So who were the leaders over the past quarter of action in the NHL?  A few names may come as a bit of a surprise:

1. Evgeni Malkin - 30

2. Pavel Datsyuk - 30

3. Matt Moulson - 30

4. Henrik Sedin - 28

5. John Tavares - 28

6. Ilya Kovalchuk - 27

7. Zach Parise - 27

8. Steven Stamkos - 27

9. Jason Spezza - 26

10. Jarome Iginla - 26

T10. Daniel Alfredsson - 26

The biggest surprise for me on this list is Matt Moulson.  The guy has flat out come on in the past month.  After the first quarter, he was sitting on just 12 points, good for 128th place in the NHL.  He's now risen to 9th place in the league in total points.  Taveres and Parenteau have also enjoyed quite a resurgence on the Island in recent weeks.

The Devil superstars have also made an impressive run as of late.   Kovalchuk went from 13 to 40 points, while Parise rose from 12 to 39.

RISE OF THE DEFENSE

Turning our attention to defense, here are your leaders for the 2nd quarter:

1. Erik Karlsson - 23

2. Dennis Wideman - 18

3. Kevin Bieksa - 18

4. Alex Edler - 17

5. Shea Weber - 17

6. Michael Del Zotto - 16

7. Dan Boyle - 15

8. Kimmo Timmonen - 14

9. Brian Campbell - 14

10. Mark Streit - 13

The biggest surprise on this list has to be Dennis Wideman (WAS).  At the end of the first quarter, he had a respectable 13 points, good for 20th in the league.  Since Mike Green went permanent IR, Wideman has assumed the role of point producer and has surged into 5th in the league among defenseman.

WHERE HAVE YOU GONE?

So that's the good news.  Now what of the bad?  Most of the major drop offs on the leaderboard can be attributed directly to injury (Letang, …).  Some falls do not have the luxury of that excuse.  Here are some of the biggest disappearing acts over the 2nd quarter:

• Marc-Andre Bergeron (D-TB) - Bergeron started the season on fire, ending the first quarter in 3rd among defensemen with 19 points in 22 games.  He has just 2 points since then.  2 points.
• Alex Burmistrov (WPG) - After a nice start to the season, Burmistrov has amassed a mere 5 point in the 2nd quarter
• Matt Duchene (COL) - 9 goals and 17 points in the first quarter was a decent start.  He's added just 3 goals and 4 assists since then.
• Ryan Smyth (EDM) - Smyth was one of the biggest stories to start the year with 12 goals in the first quarter.  Since then, he has just 3 tallies.

GOALIES

Finally, we'll turn to the net where there has been a significant swing in production.

Q1 Win Leaders:

1. Fleury - 13

2. Lehtonen - 13

3. Howard - 13

4. Thomas - 11

5. Crawford - 11

Q2 Win Leaders:

1. Anderson - 14

2. Howard - 14

3. Rinne - 14

4. Luongo - 11

5. Kiprusoff - 11

The biggest story here has to be the re-emergence of Craig Anderson in Ottawa.  He was among the worst at this position through December.  Over the past month, he has been unstoppable, going 9-1-1.  Similarly, Mikka Kiprusoff has breathed new life into his season since the weather turned cold.

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Who's Hot

Any Goalie facing the Penguins or Sabres.  With an insane number of injuries to both squads, particularly on offense, Pittsburgh and Buffalo seem incapable of scoring right now.  The Pens have gone 5 games without scoring more than 1 goal.  Ouch.

David Krejci (BOS)

It took him long enough to get going this season, but he seems to be back in playoff form at this point.  Krejci is now riding a 9 game point streak.  During that stretch, he's amassed 5 goals and 9 assists for 14 points.

Ilya Kovalchuk (NJ)

Kovalchuk is finally  starting to earn that outrageous salary.  He has registered 2 points in each of the last four games and has 5 goals in that span.  His shot totals are impressive, averaging about 7 a game right now.  #17 is back.

Curtis Glencross (CGY)