Postponements due to COVID meant that a normally busy Saturday of 10 games was whittled down to just five games. The highly anticipated Canucks/Leafs game was officially postponed, as both teams had additional players enter COVID protocol on Saturday: Jack Campbell, TJ Brodie, and Travis Dermott for the Leafs; Tyler Myers for the Canucks. Sunday matchups of Toronto at Seattle and Arizona at Vancouver were also postponed.  

In addition, the Bruins and Predators were the latest teams to be shut down until after the holiday break. Now we're up to five of the league's 32 teams that will not play next week: Boston, Calgary, Colorado, Florida, and Nashville. Have fun projecting the ideal week next week for your fantasy team. Hopefully your team's core players don't consist of a combination similar to Brad Marchand, Elias Lindholm, Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Roman Josi.

I won't try to interpret next week's schedule in detail here, since further postponements or even a league-wide pause could happen. Everything is literally hour by hour right now. But assuming the league decides not to implement an early Christmas break, you'll want to keep in mind that next week is a short week with games only scheduled from Monday to Thursday. Check your league settings to find out whether next week is combined with the following week to form one scoring period, or if it is a standalone scoring period.

If you wish to look at next week's schedule to plan ahead anyway, you can do so at the Frozen Tools Schedule Planner. I will mention that postponed games are removed very quickly by Frozen Tools so that the schedule that shows isn't misleading.

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Time for the rest of Canada to do what they've always wanted to do on a Saturday night, watch the Ottawa Senators hockey club

— James Creightön (@ThatFishCreigh) December 18, 2021

Now with the national audience all to themselves in the HNIC early game, the Senators got off to a slow start, allowing two goals in the first eight minutes. They eventually found their form and took the lead. Alex Formenton scored a shorthanded goal and added an assist in the second period, giving him five points in his last five games. Formenton is earning these points without much power-play time, but he's on a solid even-strength line with Tim Stutzle and Connor Brown.

After losing their first two games under Mike Yeo, the Flyers are 4-0-1 in their last five games. Maybe coaching changes work as intended, even in the short term.

With his first-period goal, Claude Giroux now has eight points in his last nine games. Giroux's linemate Oskar Lindblom scored a goal and added an assist, giving him four points and a plus-5 in his last three games.

Joel Farabee returned from a shoulder injury, scoring the game-tying goal.

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The Hurricanes are getting it done even with a bunch of players in COVID protocol. They were able to dress a full roster on Saturday and earn a 5-1 win over Los Angeles. Frederik Andersen held the fort in stopping 32 of 33 shots he faced. The workhorse goalie now has five consecutive wins and quality starts in four of those games.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored a goal and added an assist, giving him five points in his last three games. This after he had been held without a point in his previous five games. KK's linemate Jesper Fast also had a goal and an assist, giving him multiple points in back-to-back games. Teuvo Teravainen, who was also on that line, has nine points in his last eight games, including a goal on Saturday.

Even though he's not in a top-6 role or receiving any power-play time, Jack Drury has scored goals in each of his two NHL games. Great start for the rookie. For more on Drury, see his Dobber Prospects profile.   

Martin Necas left Saturday's game with an upper-body injury.

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In positive injury news, Evgeni Malkin was on the ice with a contact jersey on Saturday. Don't expect him to return before Christmas, but he could be back in the lineup shortly after that. If you've been holding onto him all this time, you may not have to wait much longer.

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With Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and now Jesse Puljujarvi in COVID protocol, Warren Foegele stepped onto the Connor McDavid line and delivered. Foegele scored a pair of goals, giving him goals in back-to-back games. Prior to that, Foegele had gone 20 games without a goal. If he's skating with Derek Ryan and Zack Kassian (his most common linemates in Edmonton), then you can forget about him in fantasy leagues. But add him to the McDavid line and the lethal Edmonton first-unit power play (where he scored one of his goals) and his fantasy stock rises.

The Oilers are one of three teams "currently" scheduled to play three games next week (Dallas and Montreal are the others), so Foegele is worth a short-term add if the Oilers aren't shut down.

As hot as McDavid has been all season, his empty-net goal was his first goal in seven games. I guess he can't do it all.

Leon Draisaitl recorded three assists, which means he has registered at least three points in 10 games this season.  

With a goal for the Kraken on Saturday, Ryan Donato now has a goal in three consecutive games.

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The Red Wings' top line came through in a big way on Saturday, scoring all five of their goals. Dylan Larkin scored a hat trick and added an assist, while Tyler Bertuzzi scored the other two goals.

With the four-point effort, Larkin has now pushed himself above the point-per-game mark (29 PTS in 27 GP). He's also scored goals in three consecutive games. This goal streak matched the date that Bertuzzi returned to the lineup from COVID protocol. I've mentioned this in the past, but Larkin's production is tied in a significant way to Bertuzzi's presence on his line. With Bertuzzi out of the lineup for most of last season, Larkin struggled to what was barely over a 40-point pace (23 PTS in 44 GP).

Bertuzzi himself is close to a point per game (21 PTS in 23 GP), although his game log shows a lot of feast-or-famine results. Those include two four-point games and a three-point game. The Red Wings next cross the border after the Olympic break (February 26), so you should have no issues keeping the unvaxxed Bertuzzi in your lineup until then.

Speaking of which… who knew that good advice could be included in trash talk.

"Go get vaccinated, go get vaccinated." – Mason Geertsen's chirps to Tyler Bertuzzi tonight 💀 pic.twitter.com/IuHeo2THPy

— Josh (@joshlangerr) December 19, 2021

Before the game, the Wings placed Filip Zadina, Alex Nedeljkovic, and coach Jeff Blashill (among others) into COVID protocol.

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At age 37, Joe Pavelski continues to deliver. Pavelski scored two goals while adding two assists on six shots on goal in nearly 23 minutes of icetime. Pavelski centers one of the most productive even-strength lines along with Roope Hintz (3 A on Saturday) and Jason Robertson (1 G on Saturday). With 26 points in 28 games, Pavelski is producing at a similar pace to last season, throwing cold water on the idea that last season was a fluke. As well, his advanced stats only show possible mild regression, as his 19.0 SH% isn't that far out of range to his shooting percentage in recent seasons.

For more top even-strength lines of the season, see Frozen Tools.

Tanner Kero was stretchered off and taken to hospital after receiving a heavy hit from Brett Connolly. Hopefully he is okay. Here is Pavelski discussing Kero's hit after the game, where you'll see a lot of emotions coming out at once.

An emotional Joe Pavelski speaking on the Tanner Kero incident. Gave him flashbacks of his scary injury in the 2019 Playoffs. pic.twitter.com/Fr64IPUSaK

— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) December 19, 2021

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I know this is a tough time for a lot of people, and for more reasons than just hockey games and fantasy leagues. Important stuff like work, holiday gatherings, and physical/mental health are all top of mind right now. So I just want to end my Ramblings for this week by saying that I hope you stay both safe and sane with everything happening right now. And of course, thank you for spending time with us.

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