Ryan Hartman, he of a 31-point career high, is off to a fantastic start with nine goals and a 59-point full-season pace. On Sunday he was moved to center a line with Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Fiala (and at times Kirill Kaprizov). That's a pretty sweet reward for his productive start. He even saw PP time.

But, as you've probably figured, it's not at all sustainable. Neither the goals nor the points. He's a 9% shooter and he's currently going at a 14.8% clip. His shot volume is way up (3.4/game vs. career best of 2.2/game), and ditto for his ice time (17:09 ATOI), which will help push him to career highs. But those career highs will be in the high 30s or perhaps even 40 – not 59. His 12.6 5on5 S% also indicates that his point totals are three or four too high. Now 27, if he can end the season with 20 goals and 40 points (both career bests), then I'd look at that as a stepping stone that may see him potentially becoming a steady 45-point player. A guy that can be a threat from the third line, see secondary PP time, and sub in when needed in the top six.

Kevin Fiala responded to being put in the doghouse Saturday with a bigger game Sunday. He posted two points and fired five shots on goal. On Saturday he coughed up the puck on a couple of occasions and was planted on the bench for much of the third period – getting completely pulled off the power play. His slow starts are starting to become notorious. Last season he had 14 points in the first 28 games. Then he had 26 in 22 to finish. In 2019-20 he had eight points in 17 games to start, and then 46 in 47 after that! I have Fiala in two of my three leagues, and would love nothing more than for him to figure it out and start things off in Game 1 instead of Game 20. Hopefully the two points Sunday kickstarts something.

Don't look now but Alex Goligoski is fantasy relevant again. His ice time is down, his PP time is about flat, but his numbers have spiked. Puck luck has definitely played a role (11.9 5on5 S%), but he's been piling on the points. With two more Sunday he had six in his last three games (and plus-5) and 12 in his last 13. He normally partners with Jared Spurgeon, but Spurgeon is sidelined day-to-day (LBI) so on Sunday he was with Jon Merrill. Goligoski took Spurgeon's PP time on Sunday, and he picked up a PPPt.

*

Tampa Bay plays with such a short bench that I wonder if their starts really start to slow down in the second half. I guess Nikita Kucherov returning would help, but this is a team that isn't nearly as deep as in years past. On Sunday they had five forwards see 12:16 or less ice time – in a game that included five minutes of OT. That meant Anthony Cirelli saw 24:31 and Alex Killorn 2:25

In the case of Cirelli, he is averaging 20:15 this year and his career high is 18:28. Much of this is added PP time. His current pace is for 58 points, which is definitely attainable for a player of his skill level, but I would think closer to 53 is a more likely target.

Worth watching: Alex Barre-Boulet was back in the Tampa lineup and was placed on a line with Ondrej Palat and Steven Stamkos. ABB scored a goal and has five points in 10 contests.

*

Aaron Dell has had a rough go of things in Buffalo. First, he loses his backup role to a journeyman goalie. Then, when Craig Anderson gets injured and Dell gets called up, he gets hammered in each of his two starts. Sunday was the second time in two starts that Dell coughed up five goals. This time he gave one up – the game winner – with under a second remaining in regulation.

Despite the weak team on paper and all the off-ice issues, the Sabres are still exceeding expectations. A big part of it is Rasmus Dahlin. We sometimes forget that Buffalo wasn't a one-superstar team with Jack Eichel. No, Dahlin is also a franchise player and now he's showing it. With two points Sunday he has eight in his last 11. He has been more productive since being paired with Mark Pysyk than he was when he was alongside Will Butcher. Less babysitting. If he can stay with Pysyk, the production will continue.

Buffalo line combos with Victor Olofsson back in the lineup:

Time	%	EV – FORWARDS	GF	GA	+/-	SF	SA	SF%	CF	CA	CF%
11:54	21.7	SKINNER – THOMPSON – OLOFSSON	1	1	0	4	8	33.3	8	11	42.1
11:37	21.2	OKPOSO – GIRGENSONS – ASPLUND	0	0	0	4	5	44.4	7	9	43.8
11:26	20.8	EAKIN – HAYDEN – BJORK	0	0	0	5	10	33.3	7	15	31.8
9:33	17.4	CAGGIULA – HINOSTROZA – COZENS	1	0	1	4	3	57.1	8	7	53.3

Asplund gets knocked off the top line, and Arttu Ruotsalainen gets knocked to the press box.

*

After beginning the season with four points in seven games, Artemi Panarin is at 15 in 11 thanks to his three assists Sunday. He has 22 SOG in his last five games. And when he goes, so do his linemates. Kaapo Kakko is now on a four-game points streak on the heels of his 10-game point-less streak. Somebody seems to have finally figured it out…

Alexandar Georgiev has had five starts and three of them were categorized as "RBS" (Really Bad Starts – games with a SV% below 0.850). In Sunday's game he got the hook after 18 shots (four goals allowed). While the 25-year-old showed flashes of being good early in his career, the fact is that his numbers have steadily tumbled. His career GAA is now 0.909 in 102 games, which is a mediocre (or slightly worse) backup.

*

Andrew Mangiapane continues to fly, notching another goal on Sunday after two Saturday and two Thursday. He has 15 on the season in just 19 games. Yes, his 31.3 S% is too high, but last year he was at 19.8% and in 197 career games his S% is 18.1%. His line, along with Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman, is starting to become that elite third line that all teams crave. It reminds me of the Coleman – Yanni Gourde – Barclay Goodrow line in Tampa last year. This line dominated the Bruins, out-chancing them 16-7 (69.7 CF%), so you can expect it to remain intact. Mangiapane's goals will start to slow as his shooting comes back down to earth, since he's on pace to score more than 60. But he's off to such a great start that he only needs 25 in 63 games to reach 40. I'll make a conservative prediction for his final totals: 38 goals, 21 assists, 59 points.

With the shutout Sunday, Dan Vladar's SV% has now actually crept above Jacob Markstrom's: 0.945 to 0.942. The Flames under Coach Sutter are becoming defensive juggernauts. And with that third line, the emergence of Oliver Kylington and the rebounding top line – don't count the Flames out as a surprise contender.

*

Joseph Woll, in the NHL getting game action about two years too early, picked up his first career shutout. Granted, it was against the offensively-inept NY Islanders and he faced only 20 shots, but what a huge confidence booster for a young prospect goaltender who hasn't really had much go his way since turning pro. The 23-year-old has a career 0.890 SV% in 50 AHL games, and he coughed up four goals on 23 shots in his first NHL start. He has two wins in two NHL starts though, and is starting to get comfortable. With a better team in front of him, as the Leafs clearly are, he is proving to be more than capable. With Petr Mrazek signed for two more years beyond this one, Woll will be Toronto's No.3 for the foreseeable future.

Ondrej Kase, who obviously has struggled with injuries since entering the NHL and managed just three games last season, is starting to return to form. Not yet playing on a scoring line, he nonetheless has four goals and five points in his last seven games. Since October 27 he has 40 SOG in 13 games, or just over three per game. We have (and had) low expectations for him, but we easily forget that those expectations were quite high after he got 38 points in 66 games as a 22-year-old sophomore with Anaheim.

Brock Nelson left the game with a lower-body injury, resulting in Anthony Beauvillier getting moves to J-G Pageau's line with Zach Parise.

With Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock sidelined, prospect Robin Salo has been logging major minutes. He's up around 22 per game and was out there in the final minutes on Saturday. I'm a big fan of the 23-year-old and think he has great two-way upside. He's logging more ice time than Noah Dobson in his two games, so you know where Barry Trotz rate Salo's talent in the grand scheme of things.

*

After a 40-save shutout tonight, Marc-Andre Fleury quietly has a .941 save percentage in his past 8 games. The time to buy-low on him has probably passed. #Blackhawks

— Michael Amato (@amato_mike) November 22, 2021

I noticed that Dominik Kubalik has played his way down the lineup a bit in this one. He was demoted to the third line, while newly-returned Brandon Hagel got bumped to Line 2 alongside Dylan Strome and Jonathan Toews.

*

Jaden Schwartz had himself a four-point night Sunday. The effort gave him 15 points in his last 12 games. Although he's being used to faceoff against the other team's top lines, he is not being used exclusively in a defensive role. He's being used offensively, and his numbers have spiked as a result. I see this kind of usage continuing and if he stays healthy then I think his first 70-point season is in the cards. That being said, he's a certified Band-Aid Boy and so 60 points in 70 games would be a better expectation.

It took long enough, but Calle Jarnkrok picked up his first points of the season with two on Sunday. He played with Schwartz and Yanni Gourde, so if you feel like that will continue then he'd be a sneaky pickup early.

*

Shane Gostisbehere – 14 points

Philadelphia's offensive D: Keith Yandle, Ryan Ellis, Ivan Provorov combined – 15 points

*

And finally – it was great to see Karel Vejmelka get his first NHL win. I knew that to grab the W he would have to do it all himself. Steal it. And that's what he did. He kicked aside 37 of 38 shots and even when they (for some odd reason) initially waved off the OT winner, Vejmelka saved a breakaway by Anze Kopitar. The Yotes were busy celebrating and the ref said "no goal" and the Kings kept playing, with Kopitar getting a breakaway – so it was a 'bonus' stop by Vejmelka. In terms of his confidence, which had really taken a beating, he needed that win more than anything.

*

See you next Monday.