Ramblings: Draisaitl Hat Trick, In More Ways Than One… But Flames Score Nine, Fleury Wins Wild Debut, Dadonov Still Hot (Mar 27)

Ian Gooding

2022-03-27

Brock Nelson has been hot for so long that he's managed to reach 30 goals for the first time in his career. Nelson has 11 goals in his last 12 games, including a goal on Saturday. Not surprisingly, his 30 goals lead the Isles.

Not to be outdone, Anders Lee has 11 goals in his last 11 games. These Islanders are already being scooped up in fantasy leagues, but I also cited the Islanders' high number of games remaining as a reason to add these players and others from that team. The higher-than-normal production is simply a bonus. Lee finished the game with a goal, assist, and a minus-2 – good for a Draisaitl Hat Trick. When this game finished at about lunchtime on the west coast, I was hoping this DHT wouldn't be the only one of the day. Sure enough, there would be more.   

Beyond Nelson and Lee (25 goals), no one on the Islanders has more than 12 goals this season. And you thought they had a balanced offense.  

With an assist on Craig Smith's goal, Charlie Coyle now has 22 points in his last 28 games. The majority of his minutes during that time have been on a line with Smith and Trent Frederic. Turns out that you don't need top-6 minutes to score in Boston.

In the 6-3 win over the Islanders, both Taylor Hall and Brad Marchand finished with a goal and two assists and a plus-2. From January 1 on, Hall is a near point-per-game player with 35 points in 39 games. Before the new year, Hall had just 14 points in 26 games.

Brayden Point also finished Saturday with a Draisaitl Hat Trick (1 G, 1 A, -1).

Nikita Kucherov has just one goal over his last 12 games. He has recorded seven assists over that span to still make himself useful in fantasy lineups. I wouldn't be surprised if his production is good but not great until the playoffs, when he will turn it up a notch.

Alec Martinez returned to the Vegas lineup on Saturday. To balance things out cap-wise, Reilly Smith was placed on LTIR.

Dylan Strome extended his point streak to five games with a goal. After starting the season with just three points in his first 14 games (along with numerous healthy scratches), Strome has posted 36 points over his last 39 games. The coaching change from Jeremy Colliton to Derek King seems to have had an effect. It would have been easy to write off Strome after a disappointing 2020-21 season (17 PTS in 40 GP), but the RFA-to-be is making a case for a raise on his $3 million cap hit this offeseason.  

Dominik Kubalik's goal on Saturday snapped a nine-game goal drought. He entered this game with just one goal in his previous eight games.

Now that offense is on the upswing and even sometimes reminiscent of the 1980s, three-goal leads in the third period shouldn't be considered safe. The Blackhawks started that period with a 3-0 lead, only to watch the Golden Knights fire off three goals within the first four minutes of the period to tie the game. After the teams traded goals, Vegas would finally win this one 5-4 in overtime.

That overtime winner was scored by none other than Evgenii Dadonov, who now has five goals and eight points over his last four games. The Golden Knights can't possibly trade him now, can they? I'm not going to predict how Vegas will sort out their cap situation, but in the meantime Dadonov is a very viable fantasy option. More on him and his current situation in yesterday's Ramblings.

By the way, Dadonov also finished the game with a Draisaitl Hat Trick: 1 G, 1 A, -1.

Marc-Andre Fleury made his Wild debut on Saturday, stopping 23 of 25 shots in a 3-2 overtime win. Cam Talbot has picked the right time to up his game, pitching a shutout the day Fleury arrived (Monday) and then posting another win on Thursday. Talbot has four wins and four quality starts over his last four games, allowing just five goals over that span. I wouldn't be surprised if the two veteran goalies (Talbot's the youngster at 34) split starts the rest of the way, with Dean Evason riding the hot hand in the playoffs. Seems like a solid insurance policy for a Wild team that seems ready for the playoffs with a strong physical element and now experienced goaltending.

Kirill Kaprizov scored a pair of goals, giving him 35 goals and 80 points already. He's on pace for over 100 points in his second NHL season.  

Zach Werenski left Saturday's game after taking a hard hit from new Wild acquisition Jacob Middleton. It's hard to tell how much time Werenski could miss, although your best bet would probably be to bench him for next week.

In two games as a Florida Panther, Claude Giroux has picked up four assists – two in each of his two games. It may not last beyond this season, but I think he's going to like playing alongside Aleksander Barkov.

Fantasy Take: Florida Adds Giroux to Deep Forward Attack

Drake Batherson returned to the Senators lineup on Saturday after missing 28 games with an ankle injury. He recorded an assist along with five hits while resuming his role on the top line with Brady Tkachuk and Josh Norris. Batherson has been a point-per-game player this season (35 PTS in 32 GP), so don't wait to get him back into your lineup.

The Senators were outshot 49-22 by the Panthers in their game. Yet they found themselves with a 3-0 lead before Florida tied the game late in the third period and won in a shootout. Anton Forsberg earned his paycheck, stopping 46 of 49 shots he faced. I'll have to admit, I didn't find Forsberg particularly appealing because of the team he plays for and a potential timeshare. Yet he seems to have run with the starting job in Ottawa, racking up five quality starts in a row. Now that he's past journeyman status and has the contract extension in his hand, he's at least in the starter conversation next season.   

Forsberg didn't even lead goalies in saves on Saturday. That distinction went to Jake Allen, who had to make 49 saves in stealing a 4-2 win from the Leafs. Maybe that was the goalie you needed, Toronto? (I'm kidding.) The shot differential in this game turned out to be 51-18. That's hockey sometimes. Allen has quality starts in three of his last four games.

Speaking of the Habs, Jeff Petry is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury and could be facing a long-term absence. With the Canadiens officially eliminated from playoff contention, I wouldn't be surprised if Petry is shut down for the season. Although he had been playing better under Martin St. Louis (11 points in 21 games during Quarter 3) after a rough start (5 PTS in first 34 GP), Petry is likely droppable at this point. Petry is also reported to have requested a trade from Montreal, so it's possible that he has played his last game as a Hab.

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Oh nothing… just Thatcher Demko with another miraculous save.

Here's a longer video of the sequence, which if you are a Canucks fan and you were watching this live, you could hardly breathe. How the Stars didn't convert here is beyond me.  

Demko posted yet another quality start, this one a 35-save effort in a 4-1 Canucks win. Only Connor Hellebuyck has appeared in more games than Demko, who by my observation has started to feel the effects of a heavy workload. It's still going to be mostly Demko, although Jaroslav Halak made a strong case for more playing time earlier this week with a 32-save 3-1 win in Colorado.

Elias Pettersson scored a pair of goals, giving him five points in his last five games.

Seth Jarvis scored a pair of goals on Saturday, giving him six points over his last five games. Jarvis also scored two goals last Friday.

Andrei Svechnikov also scored two goals on Saturday, breaking a nine-game goal drought. Svechnikov helped his cause by taking six shots in the Canes' 7-2 win over St. Louis.

I was interested to see whether Max Domi would work his way onto one of Carolina's true scoring lines, but that hasn't been the case. Playing alongside Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Derek Stepan, Domi has logged just 10:41 and 11:25 in his two games as a Hurricane. I've decided to move on.

Leon Draisaitl scored a hat trick in the Battle of Alberta matchup, and not just a hat trick of the three-goal kind. Draisaitl earned that hat trick that bears his name on Frozen Tools – the Draisaitl Hat Trick. But it wasn't just some ordinary 1 G, 1 A, -1 effort like the ones mentioned earlier. Nope. This was the super deluxe triple-patty with cheese from the man himself: 3 G, 1 A, and minus-4! The kind of menu item that costs you $40 at the game but won't leave you starving for more like one of those plain old hot dogs. In case you're wondering how on earth such a statline could happen, three of Draisaitl's four points were on the power play. At least that was working for the Oils on Saturday.

Oh right, I should also mention that Draisaitl is tied with Auston Matthews with a league-leading 47 goals. That's probably more meaningful to your fantasy team and maybe even your Rocket Richard predictions anyway.   

Connor McDavid was also a minus-4, the lowest single-game total of his career. That in spite of recording two assists.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins finished with a goal, three assists, and somehow a plus-1. Three of his four points were also on the power play. Nuge broke a three-game point drought and a six-game goal drought.

The trade deadline has come and gone, but the Oilers still have the same goaltending problem. I realize nine goals isn't all on the goalies, but there can't be a whole ton of confidence in the city of Edmonton for either Mikko Koskinen or Mike Smith down the stretch. The Oilers' plan for success will have to consist of outscoring their defensive woes. Hey, I think I said that about the Leafs a few weeks ago.

If you needed assists, Johnny Gaudreau came through for you. Johnny Hockey finished with five helpers, making him the third player (after McDavid and Draisaitl) to hit 90 points. Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm (2 G in this game) both finished with a plus-4, moving them both to a league-leading plus-49. The Gaudreau – Lindholm – Matthew Tkachuk line seems unstoppable at the moment, with Tkachuk finishing with two goals and two assists and a plus-4 of his own.

At age 32, Chris Tanev has a career-best 24 points, including a goal and two assists on Saturday. Tanev has also not missed a game during his two seasons in Calgary, which is something that seemed impossible when he was with the Canucks. Tanev has been an NHL player since 2010-11, yet his career high for games played is still only 70 GP. Maybe the key is not blocking as many shots, as his total in Calgary has decreased from what it was during his final season in Vancouver (about 0.5 BLK/GP less). Even if he's blocking fewer shots, he's still having a damn good year.

Perhaps overlooked because of the Battle of Alberta goalfest (14 goals total) among the late slate of games was a hat trick from Timo Meier, who is now up to 30 goals on the season. Meier has five goals and seven points over his last four games. Only four players have taken more shots this season than Meier (256 SOG). As well, his hit total (115 Hits) is similar to that of Alex Ovechkin (119 Hits). Meier continues to be a multicategory league superstar that is far surpassing his draft-day value.

Follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.

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