Congratulations if you were bold enough to stack your lineup with Arizona Coyotes on Saturday. Although it doesn't take a hockey expert or even a mathematician to predict that the Coyotes will finish at or near the bottom of the league, we can't predict with anything close to certainty when they will go off like they did on Saturday.

Nick Schmaltz's seven points (2 G – 5 A) is now the highest single-game total of the season, passing Mitch Marner and Mason Marchment and their six-point efforts earlier this season. Schmaltz also finished the game with a very un-Coyote-like plus-5, which wasn't even the best plus-minus on the team in this game! I'm not one to try to gloat, but I gave you a heads up on Schmaltz a week ago. I obviously didn't predict he would explode for seven points in a game, but if you added Schmaltz on my recommendation… you're welcome and glad I could help.

This will obviously be skewed because of Saturday, but Schmaltz now has 17 points (9 G, 8 A) in his last nine games. Remove Saturday, and Schmaltz was already hot (10 PTS, including 7 G, in 8 GP). He's also flirting with a point per game on the season (33 PTS in 36 GP).

On a personal note, I sent out several trade offers this week. One offer involved Schmaltz, because hey, I do take my own advice every now and then. Another offer involved David Perron. Both of these offers included the same player (Eeli Tolvanen). Guess which trade offer was accepted? Yep, the Perron one. I probably wouldn't have been able to use Schmaltz on Saturday anyway given when the trade finally cleared and league rules regarding number of players to start per week, but my point is that Schmaltz's stock will take a huge jump because of this one game. I may have to sweeten my offer if I still want to acquire Schmaltz, since he's no longer flying under the radar.

By the way, the Schmaltz owner had him on the bench on Saturday. Maybe he won't any longer after this.

And yes, I realize Perron missed Saturday's game with an illness. Not to worry. I'm still happy with the deal.

Time to acknowledge the other Coyotes scoring stars. Schmaltz's linemate Clayton Keller finished with two goals and two assists and a plus-3. He's been hot even longer than Schmaltz has with 24 points (10 G, 14 A) over his last 19 games. The desert isn't completely deserted when it comes to fantasy options.

Back to that plus-minus. Shayne Gostisbehere seems like the type of player who would be a major anchor in that category, but he and defense partner Dysin Mayo led the team with a plus-6! Ghost also finished the game with four points (1 G, 3 A). Saturday's effort helped pad his stat total to 35 points in 55 games, which is good for second on the Coyotes. Not many would have confidently predicted that Gostisbehere would be a better fantasy option than Jakob Chychrun, but he has been exactly that.

The Yotes have now won two in a row and three of their last four. Their other wins came against Colorado and Vegas. You have to admire the fact that they're not throwing in the towel on the season.

Ottawa's scoring was more evenly spread out than that of the Coyotes. Thomas Chabot led the way in points with three assists in 27 minutes of icetime. Over his last four games he has seven points (2 G – 5 A).

In case you think this is the first 8-5 game this season, there have actually been three others, all in 2022: Pittsburgh over San Jose on January 2, Chicago over Detroit on January 26, and Chicago over New Jersey on February 25 (source: Hockey Reference).

–

The Coyotes weren't the only team to score eight times on Saturday. Nashville took out San Jose by a score of 8-0. The top-scoring line probably wasn't from anyone in your starting lineup, though. The trio of Michael McCarron, Matt Luff, and Philip Tomasino combined for 10 points, with McCarron leading the way with four points. Tomasino is probably the only one of the three that is of interest in fantasy leagues, as the former first-round pick has keeper league value (Dobber Prospects profile).

Roman Josi also recorded four points – all assists. He also filled the statsheet with a plus-6 and seven shots. Only Cale Makar has more points among defensemen than Josi (59 PTS).

Juuse Saros posted a relatively easy 20-save shutout. Surprisingly, he entered this game with just one win and one quality start over his previous seven games. Over those seven games, he had posted a 3.33 GAA and .894 SV%, which isn't what we have become accustomed to from Saros. He has had his bouts of poor numbers over the past couple seasons, but he's an elite-level goalie when he's on his game.

Alex Stalock's first start of the season turned out to be forgettable. Stalock was given the mercy pull after allowing six goals on 28 shots. With both Adin Hill and James Reimer on the shelf, the Sharks are expected to turn to former Canadian university goalie Zach Sawchenko for tonight's showdown with the Ducks. For more starting goalie information, head on over to Goalie Post.

–

After scoring six goals over two periods, it looked like the Panthers were going to join the touchdown-with-two-point-convert club as well. However, Alex Nedeljkovic held the Panthers scoreless over the entire third period.

Aleksander Barkov assisted on three of those Florida goals. Over his last nine games, Barkov has six multiple-point games. He's been held without a point in the other three games.

Anton Lundell scored a pair of goals while firing seven shots in the win. He's trailing a few players in the rookie scoring race, but his plus-30 is far and away the best plus-minus among rookies and is in the top-10 overall.

–

Alex Ovechkin scored a goal and added two assists in the Capitals' 5-2 win over the Kraken. That gives him 10 points over his last nine games. Yes, he's producing even with everything going on with Russia and Putin. He's been a minus-8 over that span, though. I wrote more about Ovie in the Ramblings from two days ago.

–

Jack Campbell's rough patch continues. With five goals allowed on 28 shots, Campbell posted his seventh really bad start in his last 12 games. He has posted just three quality starts over that span. In six of those RBS, Campbell has allowed five goals. Maybe the Leafs defense is letting him down in some situations, but the star goalie from the first quarter is now searching for his game. Maybe he finds it before the end of the season, but the best place for him right now is on your bench.

Here are Campbell's stats by quarter, which show a noticeable decline.

Qtr	GP	W	L	OTL	GAA	SV%	QUAL	QUAL%	GSAA
1	15	10	3	1	1.63	0.944	12	80.0	13.76
2	10	7	2	1	2.27	0.931	7	70.0	6.57
3	12	6	3	2	3.72	0.882	3	25.0	-10.41
4	2	0	1	0	5.90	0.811	0	0.0	-5.28

The Leafs' next two games are back-to-backs (@CBJ, vs. SEA), which Campbell and Petr Mrazek should split. You'd think this is a golden opportunity for Mrazek to claim the job, but he has posted three really bad starts compared to one quality start over his last five games (but also three wins over that span). Wins are a possibility, but the game plan for the Leafs is to hope their top scorers can put up gaudy numbers while the goaltending is as permissive as it is.

When the Leafs have Auston Matthews, they know that the scoring part is taken care of. Matthews scored a pair of goals in the second period, which were his 38^th and league-leading 39^th goal of the season. Matthews is on pace for just under 60 goals, so his first-ever 50-goal season seems well within reach (barring injury or a major slump).

At least the John Tavares goal drought has ended as well, as the Leafs captain scored his first goal in 15 games. To put it another way, Tavares did not score a goal during the entire month of February. At least the assists have been there with 11 in his past 13 games.

Nick Robertson also scored his first regular-season NHL goal. He had previously scored in the 2020 play-in bubble, if you think you remember him scoring before. He received even-strength time with Tavares and William Nylander, but no power-play time.

With a goal and an assist, J.T. Miller extended his point streak to nine games. Over that span, Miller has 17 points (6 G, 11 A).

Elias Pettersson assisted on an empty-net goal for his first point in three games. Yet over his last 11 games, Petey has 15 points (6 G, 9 A). He's finally right again. Hopefully you didn't sell low.

–

Two-time 30-goal scorer Brendan Gallagher scored his first goal in 18 games while picking up an assist. He had only two assists over that goalless drought, and they were both in one game. The goal and assist were also his first points in five games. Between injuries and the Habs' poor play, Gallagher's fantasy stock has sunk to the point where he's rostered in only 25 percent of Yahoo leagues (after being drafted in 96 percent of leagues). He's down about a shot per game from his peak of between 200-300 shots a few seasons ago. He has averaged 3.5 SOG/GP over his last six games, so perhaps he'll be the next Hab to turn the corner under Martin St. Louis.

Nick Suzuki has scored a goal and added two assists in back-to-back games. That also gives him 12 points over his last seven games. He's another player that is thriving under the coaching change. With this recent surge, his current numbers (40 PTS and 14 PPP in 56 GP) practically mirror his numbers from last season (41 PTS and 13 PPP in 56 GP). Unless your league counts plus/minus, you can't really consider this a down season from Suzuki.

Mike Smith has allowed four goals in three of his last four starts, including Saturday against the Habs. Which goaltending situation would you rather have right now – the Leafs or the Oilers?

Evander Kane scored again, giving him goals in back-to-back games along with 13 shots over that span. He now has eight goals in 17 games as an Oiler. Ken Holland's gamble is paying off so far.

–

Since Groundhog Day, no player has scored more goals than Elias Lindholm (13 goals). With his pair of goals on Saturday, Lindholm now has goals in three consecutive games and eight points over his last four games. His numbers have really taken off since being moved to Johnny Gaudreau's line not long after Darryl Sutter was rehired by the Flames last season. Also, only Devon Toews has a better plus-minus than Lindholm (+42).

Erik Gudbranson scored another goal, giving him four goals over his last 10 games and a career-high five goals. Numbers that help no one except maybe the odd bangers leaguer. Also, another example of how random goal-scoring from the blueline can be. Somewhat related: I was in attendance at the Canucks skills competition several years ago when Gudbranson won the hardest shot. So that explains something.

–

Jake DeBrusk scored again on Saturday, giving him eight goals over his last eight games. He reportedly hasn't rescinded his earlier trade request. Given the fact that he is now on the Patrice Bergeron – Brad Marchand line, is it possible that his fantasy value could now decrease if he is in fact traded at the deadline?

I'll finish off with a couple of Columbus Blue Jackets highlights. First, an Elvis Merzlikins jump.

Impressive hurdle by Elvis Merzlikins pic.twitter.com/LkQPjfuVkY

— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) March 6, 2022

Rick Nash's #61 was the first number retired by the Blue Jackets franchise. Rather than showing the banner raising, I’ll show you how you probably remember him. He seemed like a one-man army for the Blue Jackets on many nights.

Rick Nash's Blue Jackets mixtape is electric pic.twitter.com/ysZOrHft1G

— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) March 5, 2022

–

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