Ilya Sorokin aside, the Islanders have been a huge disappointment both in the standings and fantasy-wise. If you're looking for an immediate turnaround, you'll have to wait a little longer, as they've been placed on hold for at least the next two games due to COVID. The pause includes Sunday's game against the Rangers and Tuesday's game against the Flyers, if you're trying to plan ahead with your schedule. Keep in mind that the team's existing COVID absences along with the road-heavy opening schedule have contributed to the Islanders' recent struggles (eight losses in a row).

Unfortunately the Islanders were listed as a "Love 'Em" on our most recent Looking Ahead article (published on Friday) because of their original four-game week next week. However, Andrew does provide you with some other alternatives if you're looking to use the schedule to your advantage. There is an opportunity to stockpile some Islanders for some extra future games, but that all depends on when the games are rescheduled. Remember the Canucks games last season that ran concurrently with the playoffs, which was a situation that many could not take advantage of.

The best-case scenario is that the Islanders could still play three games next week. However, we all know how unpredictable COVID has been, so that's something we shouldn't count on.

Numerous Islanders are showing on the Frozen Tools Cold Players list, including the following:

Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Oliver Wahlstrom (0 PTS in last 9 GP)

Anthony Beauvillier (0 PTS in last 8 GP)

Mathew Barzal (0 PTS in last 5 GP)

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When the punishments don't meet the crimes…

Artemi Panarin was fined the same amount ($5,000) for throwing his glove at Brad Marchand as Tom Wilson was for punching Pavel Buchnevich in the head while he was laying face down on the ice.

— Larry Brooks (@NYP_Brooksie) November 27, 2021

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Jordan Eberle's two goals snapped a three-game drought without a point. He now leads the Kraken with 11 goals and is tied for the team lead with 16 points. He stands to surpass the 16 goals that he scored for the Islanders in his last two seasons (in 55 and 58 games). He has done this while maintaining the same shot pace (2.3 SOG/GP) over those two previous seasons, so he could exceed expectations in his first season in Seattle. Eberle's advanced stats are a mixed bag (a whole rainbow of colors on Frozen Tools), but his 22.4 SH% means that the goal pace could drop.

Coming full circle: In his fourth game, Chris Driedger earned his first win as a Seattle Kraken.

Leave it to a familiar face to bring an end to Florida's run of consecutive regular-season victories on home ice. #NHLStats: https://t.co/ugdFgHBNDg pic.twitter.com/HYYSuC616t

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) November 28, 2021

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Jesse Puljujarvi's goal on Saturday was his first goal in nine games. He had recorded just one point in six games entering Saturday's game. He and Zach Hyman also led the Oilers with six shots each.

Kris Russell might not be a name at the top of minds in fantasy leagues. However, he became the all-time leader in a certain roto category on Saturday. Russell has now passed Brent Seabrook as the all-time leader in blocked shots by blocking six shots on Saturday. Given the names on the list, the stat hasn't been recorded for a long period of time, but it is an accomplishment nevertheless. Besides, standing in front of a puck travelling at a high rate of speed requires a high level of courage.

2⃣0⃣0⃣0⃣ career blocks and an @NHL record for Kris Russell! pic.twitter.com/93OWtMkE7h

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 28, 2021

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Arthur Kaliyev broke an eight-game point drought with a goal on Saturday. He's garnering attention not only in keeper leagues but also single-season leagues because he was on the Kings' first-unit power play on Saturday.  

Sean Durzi was also on that first-unit power play, recording an assist on Viktor Arvidsson's first-period power-play goal. Since being recalled from the AHL, Durzi has points in each of his two games. He might not be long for that role or even for a spot on the NHL team, as Drew Doughty is expected to return next week. But he's worth keeping an eye on in case he stays. For more on Durzi, see his Dobber Prospects page.

Carl Grundstrom scored two goals for the Kings, and Anze Kopitar recorded three assists in the Kings' 4-2 win over Ottawa. But the scoring wasn't the main story in this game.  

If you somehow couldn't figure out what happened in the video below, all you need to do is read the caption. Or better yet, read Brady Tkachuk's lips. But what an absolutely dirty act from Brendan Lemieux – one that is clearly deserving of a suspension. Lots to leave here.

Brendan Lemieux ejected for biting Brady Tkachuk 😬. Tkachuk shows the evidence pic.twitter.com/VpjOGiNaWk

— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) November 28, 2021

Brady Tkachuk claims Brendan Lemieux bit him. 😳

Lemieux given a 5-minute major and is ejected for biting.#NHL #Senators pic.twitter.com/XRCjTTnfVe

— Tim and Friends (@timandfriends) November 28, 2021

After the game, Tkachuk didn't stop sharing his disgust. I'm guessing he doesn't send Lemieux a Christmas card this year.

Brady Tkachuk here #Sens pic.twitter.com/6c2bYKB0Ma

— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) November 28, 2021

Clearly the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Maybe a family history of bad blood?

pic.twitter.com/NGZCEk2jsc

— Mike Halford (@MikeHalford604) November 28, 2021

As originally reported by Elliotte Friedman, Matt Murray was waived by the Senators on Saturday. I dove into the Murray situation in yesterday's Ramblings.

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The Anthony Duclair injury was timely for me because it allowed me to move Josh Anderson from the bench to my starting lineup in time for his three-point game on Saturday. When he is scoring, Anderson can be a highly effective player in roto leagues. His statline: 2 G, 1 A, +4, 6 SOG, 2 HIT, 3 BLK. The only stat that was missing for me was a power-play point. After a slow start, Anderson now has goals in back-to-back games, along with seven points in his last seven games. He's worth keeping in your multicategory league starting lineup as long as the scoring doesn't dry up. Anderson leads the Habs with 59 shots and is tied for second on the team with 54 hits.

Playing on Anderson's line, Tyler Toffoli and Christian Dvorak also each scored a goal and added two assists with a plus-4.

If your league counts saves, Jake Allen was worth a start even though he allowed three goals. Not only did he pick up the win, but he also accrued 47 saves.

Evan Rodrigues may be the difference maker in winning your shot total this week, firing 12 of those shots on Allen. Jake Guentzel took nine shots.

In a losing cause, Sidney Crosby scored a goal, added two assists, and took five shots.

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After going goalless in his first 11 games, Roope Hintz is suddenly holding a hot stick. With his goal on Saturday, Hintz now has seven goals in his past eight games. Hopefully you didn't pull the plug on him during his cold spell. This is just stat correction doing its thing. This is also why you shouldn't put too much stock into what happens during the first month.

I told someone on Twitter to be patient on Tyler Seguin because he and the Stars were facing Arizona on Saturday. As it turned out, Seguin couldn't even cough up a point in this game, which means he has been without a point in three games and without a goal in six games. Heck, it was almost complete zeros for Seguin on the extended boxscore – not even a shot on goal or any other kind of peripheral stat aside from 12 faceoff wins.

Seguin's season production has been similar to Mark Scheifele, who I brought up yesterday. Seguin isn't on Dallas' top scoring line (the Hintz line with Joe Pavelski and Jason Robertson), which doesn't help his cause. He's also battled back from a major hip injury, so I wonder how much that is affecting him. All in all, he might not be what you hoped for as a potential comeback player, so act accordingly.  

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Pavel Buchnevich scored two goals, added an assist with a plus-4 and five shots in the Blues' 6-3 win over Columbus. Buchnevich now has four goals and six points over his past three games. As well, 13 of his 16 points this season have come in his past 11 games. That followed a slow start with the Blues in which he scored three points in his first eight games and also served a two-game suspension on top of that. Seems like he needed a bit of time to get used to his new surroundings.

Playing on Buchnevich's line, Vladimir Tarasenko recorded three assists. Tarasenko hasn't scored a goal in seven games, but at least he is maintaining a near point-per-game pace. Maybe he doesn't get traded out of St. Louis – at least not right away.

In a losing cause, Adam Boqvist scored twice and added an assist. Two of those points came on the power play, where Boqvist is joining Zach Werenski on Columbus' first unit. Boqvist has goals in back-to-back games and points in three consecutive games. After a slow start interrupted by injury, Boqvist is giving some reason that he should be rostered in more than 5 percent of Yahoo leagues.

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Mikko Rantanen recorded a hat trick and added an assist in the Avalanche's 6-2 win over Nashville. Two of Rantanen's goals were on the power play, while he also fired six shots. The four-point effort puts Rantanen at over a point per game for the season (18 points in 15 games).

Devon Toews just casually putting on a hat after Rantanen's hat trick. 😂 pic.twitter.com/Xt7VqgPO48

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 28, 2021

It actually isn't Rantanen, but instead Devon Toews who is killing me this week in head-to-head. With two assists, Toews has a four-game point streak in which he has six points (1 G, 5 A). After making his season debut in early November following an offseason injury, Toews is also above the point-per-game mark (10 PTS in 9 GP). In other words, Cale Makar isn't the only blueliner that can score on this loaded Avalanche team.

Speaking of which, Bowen Byram returned to the lineup on Saturday, scoring a goal. If you have a subscription to The Athletic, there's a long read about the concussion issues he's been dealing with. Just hoping for the best here.

With no Nathan MacKinnon, Nazem Kadri continues to be white hot. Although his 10-game point streak came to an end on Friday, Kadri recorded helpers on two of Rantanen's goals. Over the past month, Kadri has recorded an unreal 23 points (6 G, 17 A) in just 12 games, including 10 power-play points. It seems highly unlikely that Kadri will maintain this level of production once MacKinnon returns, which could happen sometime on their five-game road trip in early December. Maybe it's worth attempting to trade Kadri at some point to find out if you can obtain an elite-level player in return. I've seen him go for David Pastrnak, Artemi Panarin, and even teammate Rantanen (as well as some lesser players) in 1-for-1 deals in Yahoo.

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Kyle Connor and Pierre-Luc Dubois have been carrying the Jets goal-scoring wise. Entering Saturday's game, the two had combined for over 40 percent of Winnipeg's goals. Connor added to that goal total with two goals, giving him 14 on the season. Surprisingly, he had not scored a goal in his previous five games.

Connor's linemates received a much-needed boost as well. Blake Wheeler assisted on both of Connor's goals, which snapped Wheeler's five-game point slump. Wheeler still doesn't have a goal in 16 games (in other words, all season), so he's not necessarily out of the woods in removing himself from the disappointment conversation. He's always been more about the assists than goals anyway, but at age 35 he may simply have to rely on a sharpshooter like Connor to keep himself employed in all fantasy leagues.  

Mark Scheifele recorded an assist on Connor's second goal, which is his first point in four games. I discussed Scheifele more in yesterday's Ramblings.

Which line is the most productive scoring line over the past month, according to Frozen Tools? Try Calgary's top line with Matthew Tkachuk, Johnny Gaudreau, and Elias Lindholm. There are at least a couple of surprises in the top 5, though (sorted by goals for).

ELIAS LINDHOLM – JOHNNY GAUDREAU – MATTHEW TKACHUK	CGY	F	13
EVGENY KUZNETSOV – TOM WILSON – ALEX OVECHKIN	WSH	F	11
GUSTAV NYQUIST – BOONE JENNER – OLIVER BJORKSTRAND	CBJ	F	10
JESPER BRATT – ANDREAS JOHNSSON – DAWSON MERCER	N.J	F	10
PATRICE BERGERON – BRAD MARCHAND – DAVID PASTRNAK	BOS	F	8

Tkachuk and Lindholm scored the Flames' goals in their 4-2 loss to Winnipeg.

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For more fantasy hockey discussion, follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding