Ramblings: Robertson, Arvidsson Hat Tricks; Skinner Comeback Continues; Gibson Subpar Again (Mar 5)

Ian Gooding

2022-03-05

Nikolaj Ehlers returned to the Jets' lineup on Friday after being out since January 18 with a knee injury. He picked up an assist while taking six shots in the Jets' 4-3 overtime loss. In what is a continual pet peeve for fantasy leaguers, Ehlers was once again used on the second-unit power play. Although Winnipeg's second unit is generally better than that of most teams, it looks like Ehlers will have to continue to make the most of his time on the second unit.

Also for the Jets, Paul Stastny scored a pair of goals, giving him goals in back-to-back games and points in three consecutive games.

Jason Robertson made his 100th NHL game one to remember. Robertson scored three goals, including the game-winner in overtime while taking seven shots in nearly 20 minutes of icetime. Robertson now has five goals in his last four games and is over the point-per-game mark for the season (51 PTS in 46 GP). Top goal scorers find ways to put the puck in the net, and here's one example of that.

Robertson didn't have the league's only hat trick on Friday, and he wasn't the only player to score his hat trick goal as the overtime winner. Viktor Arvidsson did the same on Friday in the Kings' 4-3 come-from-behind win over Columbus. Although he entered this game with only an assist in his previous four games, Arvidsson has been on a highly productive line with Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore.

Speaking of Moore, he has seven points in his last seven games. He is just 10% rostered in Yahoo leagues and 26% rostered in Fantrax leagues. If you throw out his first two months of the season, Moore has 30 points in his last 34 games. That coincides with the move to the line with Danault and Arvidsson.

The Blue Jackets looked like they were well on their way to victory after they scored three goals in the span of 46 seconds late in the second period. The dapper Patrik Laine scored the first of those goals, which gives him 15 goals in his last 14 games. Should you try to trade Laine while he's this hot? Even though he's known as a sharpshooter, he is shooting at over 20%, which is higher than his career average of around 15%. He is back to taking nearly three shots per game, which is closer to his career average than the < 2 SOG/GP from last season. He's had luck on his side, but he's also helped his own cause. He's not a must-sell high, but don't budget for a goal per game the rest of the way.

Zach Werenski returned to the Blue Jackets lineup after a four-game absence. Brad Larsen made the most of Werenski's return, sending him out for 32:51 in what turned out to be a 64-minute game. Do the math and that's still over half the game. Although Werenski didn't record a point, he took five shots and finished with a plus-2.

There's never been a lack of effort from Sidney Crosby, and that is definitely still the case.

Jordan Staal scored a pair of goals while taking four shots. That gives Staal five goals in his last seven games. Staal is a player that I seem to add in the short-term every season when the matchup is right. If you need someone to finish your weekly head-to-head matchup on a positive note, Staal and the Canes have a home game against Seattle on Sunday.

Jon Gillies' ineptitude has resulted in 21-year-old Nico Daws starting three times this week. Daws has been tagged with back-to-back losses, although he looked impressive earlier in the week posting a 26-save win over Vancouver. If you're desperate for goaltending help, you could take a flier, although upcoming games against St. Louis, Colorado, and Winnipeg could be rough.

Igor Shesterkin is a machine right now. Since the calendar flipped to 2022, Shesterkin has a 12-2-1 record with a 1.67 GAA and .950 SV%, with 14 of his 16 games classified as quality starts. The Rangers are 19th in the league with 2.93 GF/GP (I thought they'd be higher), so they owe a ton of their success this season to their netminder. He's definitely in the Vezina discussion and could even be fantasy hockey's most valuable goalie by the end of the season.

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The Jeff Skinner comeback season continues. Skinner scored another two goals in the Sabres' 5-4 win over Minnesota, giving him goals in back-to-back games. Skinner also fired seven shots in this game, giving him 13 shots over his last two games.

A onetime high-volume shooter (six consecutive seasons with at least 200 shots), Skinner is once again in the top 20 in the league with 177 shots so far. He's back to taking over three shots per game after dipping to below two shots per game last season. He's also back into the double-digits when it comes to shooting percentage. The advanced stats (13.0 SH%, 9.0 5-on-5 SH%, 2.6 PTS/60) suggest a bit of regression, so don't be surprised if the goal scoring tails off somewhat over the final quarter. Yet he's shown enough this season to make his way back into the fantasy conversation.

In the Minnesota loss, Kirill Kaprizov scored a pair of goals and added an assist. That extends his point streak to four games.

Victor Hedman filled the statsheet on Friday, assisting on all three of Tampa's goals along with five shots and three hits.

In his 11th game of the season, Brian Elliott recorded just his third quality start of the season. He has a respectable 2.46 GAA, but he has only had to face 30 or more shots three times this season. Still, if you need a win, he's a worthwhile streaming option simply because of the team he plays for.  

John Gibson barely cleared being tagged with another really bad start on Friday, allowing five goals on 34 starts. What I mean by that is that his game save percentage was .857, while the Mendoza Line for a really bad start is .850.

If you go back seven games, Gibson has had four really bad starts while allowing a minimum of three goals in each of those games. The actual numbers look even more hideous over those last seven games: 2-5-0, 5.17 GAA, .843 SV%. Gibson tends to start strong but then fade as the season wears on, so the recent slump shouldn’t be a massive surprise. Until he rights the ship, he should be on your bench. Even though the Ducks don't play back-to-backs until next weekend, expect Anthony Stolarz to see a start sooner than that.

With a goal on Friday, Trevor Zegras has nine points in his last seven games. He's in the middle of what is a very tight Calder Trophy race with four players (Zegras, Lucas Raymond, Michael Bunting, Moritz Seider) within two points of each other.

Nicolas Roy scored a pair of second-period goals, breaking a 15-game goal drought. He lined up with Jack Eichel in this game, so Roy might be worth paying attention to if he stays there. Since both Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty are out of the lineup for the foreseeable future, there is an opportunity.

Michael Amadio scored a goal and added two assists in the Golden Knights' victory.

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

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