You might not have projected it before the season, but Buffalo's top line of Tage Thompson – Jeff Skinner – Alex Tuch is fantasy relevant. Yes, all three players. Tuch has scored at a point per game since he arrived. Skinner is already 20 points ahead of his production from all of last season. Then there's Thompson, who sent the hats flying in Buffalo on Saturday with three goals to give him 19 on the year. That means he's on pace for 32 goals and 63 points. It's easy to dunk on the Ryan O'Reilly trade from a Buffalo standpoint, but you may recall that Thompson was a piece in that trade. O'Reilly may have won a Stanley Cup after he left, but he's only reached 63 points twice in his career.

The improvement in overall scoring for the Sabres is more modest than significant (2.65 GF/GP compared to 2.39 GF/GP last season), but it has had an impact elsewhere in the lineup. With an assist on Saturday afternoon, Rasmus Dahlin has 11 points in his last 12 games. Dahlin is already nine points ahead of his total from all of last season. Last season was a shortened one, so it's only in eight fewer games. Still, you don't have to make that awkward decision on whether to drop Dahlin from your single-season lineup.

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Since Jay Woodcroft took over as coach, the Oilers are now 5-0. Could they have a Bruce Boudreau-to-the-Canucks undefeated run in them? If you think that's a reason to start Mike Smith or Mikko Koskinen, you won't like what I'm about to say. The Oilers face the Wild on the second of a back-to-back today (Sunday), where Smith should get the start (Koskinen played and won Saturday). Then the Oilers go on this season's version of the road trip through hell – the old Southeast Division tour through Tampa Bay, Florida, and Carolina. It gets a lot easier the following week with stops in Philadelphia and Chicago before returning home to face Montreal.

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Vladimir Tarasenko missed Saturday's game with an undisclosed injury. That meant that the slumping Jordan Kyrou (1 PT in previous 5 GP) moved up to the Blues' de facto top line with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich. Kyrou wasted little time making an impression, earning a clever assist on this goal from Buchnevich.

Jordan Kyrou with the ol' pass-off-the-blocker trick. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/zT0s1qyjzy

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) February 20, 2022

With two goals in this game, Buchnevich has multiple points in each of his last three games and nine points over his current five-game point streak. Buchnevich also fired seven shots in this game. Thomas assisted on both of Buchnevich's goals, which gives him seven points over his current four-game point streak.

Brayden Schenn isn't on the top line, but he's been scoring anyway with 15 points in his last 11 games. On Saturday he provided a goal, three shots, and four hits.

Ville Husso has started 9 of the last 11 games. He's posted a 7-1-1 record with a .939 SV%

Sure looks like that goalie controversy in STL is over. The crease is his.

— /Cam Robinson/ (@Hockey_Robinson) February 20, 2022

Is it time to drop Jordan Binnington? Depends on what else is out there, of course. Ville Husso has been far, far better this season – I'll say that much. I'll also add that Binnington has allowed 5, 7, and 6 goals in each of his last three starts dating back to mid-January. But as I've said before, if Husso falters for a few games, it's back to Binnington because, well, follow the money.

William Nylander scored a pair of goals, the first time he had hit the twine in his past nine games. He also entered the game with just one goal in his past 13 games. He has points in five of his last six, which keeps him close to the point-per-game mark.  

After the game, the Leafs sent the recently demoted Nick Ritchie and a conditional second-round pick to Arizona for Ryan Dzingel and Ilya Lyubushkin. Read the Fantasy Take here.

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Demoting Jeremy Swayman to allow space for Tuukka Rask wouldn't have been fair for Swayman. Of course, Rask's return was short-lived, so Swayman has assumed his place on Boston's roster again. Swayman has posted three consecutive quality starts, including a 29-save 3-2 overtime win over Ottawa. I'd still expect Bruce Cassidy to lean toward Ullmark the majority of the time, although I wouldn't be surprised if he decides to ride the hot hand either – whoever that may be.

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Adrian Kempe continues to score. The Kings forward has now scored two goals on back-to-back nights, this time against the Coyotes. Kempe has also taken five shots in those back-to-back games. Kempe now has a team-leading and a career-high 23 goals, as well as 17 points in his last 18 games. One key has been playing on Anze Kopitar's line, which has helped many Kings players gain fantasy relevance through the years. Kempe has been one of my better waiver-wire pickups this season. With 38% rostership in Yahoo and 60% rostership in Fantrax, you're running out of time to add him.

Kopitar assisted on both of Kempe's goals and finished the game with three assists. That gives him multiple points in back-to-back games.

Drew Doughty had an identical statline to Kempe in a number of categories: 2 G, 1 A, 5 SOG, 2 HITS. Doughty also has a five-game point streak, although it dates back to January because of the Kings' recent "week off."

With an assist, Shayne Gostisbehere snapped a five-game point drought.

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I brought this up on Friday as a concern with Tyler Toffoli after his first two games with the Flames. Seems like it still is a concern.

First 3 games in Calgary for Tyler Toffoli:

12:18
12:19
12:16#Flames

— Nick Alberga (@thegoldenmuzzy) February 20, 2022

The Flames did not receive a power play in this game, so we couldn't gauge how Toffoli would be used there. Maybe Darryl Sutter needs time to learn about his new player… oh wait, he coached him in LA.

In spite of another Seattle loss, Philipp Grubauer looked impressive. He stopped 35 of 37 shots he faced in earning his first quality start in four games. I've already moved on from Grubauer, but I thought it would be worth nothing.

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Saturday wasn't memorable for the Canucks, but this Conor Garland goal is at least worth a look:

Wow, Conor Garland. 🤯

🎥: Sportsnet#Canucks #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/ezyf6hWdzk

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) February 20, 2022

At least one silver lining for the Canucks is the fact that Elias Pettersson scored a goal and added two assists. That gives him multiple points in back-to-back games, as well as eight points in his last five games. Pettersson recently stated that he feels back to normal now, so he should be okay to use in your lineup for the rest of the season.

With five goals allowed on 14 shots, Thatcher Demko got the hook early in the second period. That was just his second Really Bad Start since mid-November – a span of 27 games.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson left this game with some kind of lower-body injury. He was reportedly seen limping after the game, but no word on the severity of the injury was provided. He had upped his offensive production recently with seven points in his last five games before Saturday.

With three assists on Saturday, Trevor Zegras has multiple points in back-to-back games. Ryan Getzlaf missed this game with an injury, which could mean more icetime for Zegras should Getzlaf miss more time. The Ducks got out to a big lead early in this game, so there was no reason to play Zegras a ton.

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Finally, congratulations to Finland on winning the Olympic men's hockey gold medal! Once it was announced that NHL players wouldn't be participating, this Olympic men's hockey tournament wasn't going to be the same. In the end, I wouldn't be surprised if the women's hockey final had more viewers because of the Canada-US rivalry and its tournament of best-on-best. However, it's nice to see the hockey-loving Finns, captained by NHL veteran Valtteri Filppula, win their first men's hockey gold medal.

HISTORY MADE! For the first time ever, @leijonat has won a gold medal in #Olympic #icehockey! Congrats!🇫🇮🥇#Beijing2022 #Olympics #Finland #Suomi #gold #goldmedal #winterolympics #Beijing #hockey #jääkiekko @OlympicTeamFI pic.twitter.com/9cIuZb4FKe

— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) February 20, 2022

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