The New Jersey Devils won their 12^th consecutive game in a Saturday matinee, and they were able to do so without much offense from their three main scoring threats in Jesper Bratt, Jack Hughes, and Nico Hischier (just one combined point). The Devils are firing on all cylinders right now and are a team that you now have to consider a tough matchup.

One of my league members was kind enough to point out that I missed out on a quality start from Akira Schmid. I didn't have time to swap my goalie when Schmid was announced as the starter right before the game, which some of you might be able to relate to. But since I was already ahead in most goaltending categories for the week (W, GAA, SV%), I'm not sweating this one. Regardless, AHL callup Schmid has now posted three consecutive wins and two consecutive quality starts, including a 25-save performance in the 5-1 win over Ottawa. Schmid is at worst a solid streaming option with some outstanding ratios (1.34 AA, .941 SV%) in his limited NHL duty.

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The Jonathan Huberdeau/Matthew Tkachuk revenge game lived up to its billing, ending in a shootout win for the Flames. Tkachuk scored the game-tying goal in the third period in those fantastic sky-blue Panthers reverse retros. He also added an assist against his former team.

Matt Tkachuk was a little happy to score against the Flames 👀 pic.twitter.com/CBbccYq0I1

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 19, 2022

Huberdeau did not record any points, but he scored an important shootout goal.

Jonathan Huberdeau scores in the shootout! pic.twitter.com/lYczX4Xrkj

— Ring of Fire CGY (@RingOfFireCGY) November 19, 2022

Because the first month of the season always has at least a few stats that don't make any sense, Adam Ruzicka now has the same number of points this season as Huberdeau. Ruzicka scored a pair of goals (one on the power play) and added an assist, giving him seven points over his last four games. As you might already know, Ruzicka has been moved up to a scoring line with Elias Lindholm and Tyler Toffoli. There's no reason for him to be moved off that line at the moment, so he should fall into the category of hot waiver-wire pickup (2% rostered in Yahoo/14% in Fantrax). Almost all of the advanced stats scream regression (eg. 33.3 SH%), so you know that Huberdeau will eventually pass him in points again.

Credit to Wild West writer Grant Campbell, who identified Ruzicka as a potential sleeper in the Fantasy Guide. I'll leave this quote from Grant, which will help you learn more about Ruzicka:

Sean Monahan's injury problems last season allowed Ruzicka to be called up from the AHL and take part in 28 games with the Flames, where he collected five goals and five assists on a TOI of 10:13 per game. In his last 44 AHL games, he had 22 goals and 19 assists, so there is an offensive element to his game. He's a dark horse, but Ruzicka could provide some decent production if his ice time gets to the 12-14 minute per game level.

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Nikolaj Ehlers will undergo sports hernia surgery next week and will be sidelined indefinitely. He is believed to be returning at some point this season (maybe in 2-3 months), so you're probably better off keeping him on IR if you can in a redraft league. Injuries never happen at an opportune time, but this one might be especially difficult to swallow for fantasy teams that have been waiting on Ehlers for years. For the first season in his career, Ehlers' %PP time has been above the 50 percent mark and it was supposed to stay there. In other words, this was supposed to be the year that he finally made it onto the first-unit power play.

Because of injuries to Ehlers and potential replacement Mason Appleton, Sam Gagner has received a turn on the top line with Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele. It didn't matter who was on the top line for the Jets on Saturday, as they were all shut out 3-0 at the hands of Tristan Jarry and the Penguins.

With a goal and an assist on Saturday, Bryan Rust broke a seven-game point drought. He had also been minus-8 over his previous three games, but he turned it around with a plus-3 in the game against Winnipeg. Rust has nearly fallen out of the Top 100 Roto Rankings and will need a few more games like this one to stay in there when they are next updated in December.

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Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made his 2022-23 season debut on HNIC, and he was probably hoping that it went better. Luukkonen allowed five goals on 23 shots in being tagged for the Really Bad Start against the Leafs. Buffalo is reverting to the team that they've been the past several seasons, as they've now lost eight consecutive games. Whether UPL or Craig Anderson is starting while Eric Comrie is injured, the Sabres are a team to avoid goaltending-wise for the time being.

With two assists on Saturday, Mitch Marner extended his point streak to 12 games. Over that span, he has 17 points, 14 of which are assists. Marner has been consistent all season, as seen below (tweet from before Saturday's game):

Most Games With a Point This Season:#LeafsForever Marner – 16#LeafsForever Nylander – 15#LetsGoOilers Draisaitl – 15#NJDevils Bratt – 15

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) November 19, 2022

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Mike Matheson made his season debut on Saturday, scoring a goal while leading all Canadiens defensemen with nearly 24 minutes in both total icetime and power-play icetime. The Habs don't have a lot of experience on defense, so it seems like they will lean heavily on Matheson in all situations. The Habs used a five-forward attack on their PP1 on Saturday, as they are lacking a true power-play quarterback. That might limit Matheson's offensive production, as he's never been a huge power-play guy himself. Still, there might be some opportunity for all-around coverage in roto leagues based on heavy icetime.

Cole Caufield powered the Habs with two goals, an assist, and six shots. His second goal was this game-tying buzzer beater.

GOAL CAUFIELD!!! 😱🚨 pic.twitter.com/wHr6Q6vSl0

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 20, 2022

If you need multiple points, just dial up Caufield’s linemate Nick Suzuki, who finished with two assists and has been hot with 16 points in his last 10 games.

With 2 assists tonight, Canadiens Nick Suzuki is currently tied for the most multi-point games in the NHL this season with 9.#GoHabsGo

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) November 20, 2022

Travis Konecny has been hot with 10 points over his last eight games, but he was forced to miss this game with an upper-body injury.

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Jeremy Swayman returned to guard the blue paint for the Bruins, stopping 17 of 18 shots in what seemed like an easy 6-1 win over Chicago. Could Swayman still force Linus Ullmark into a timeshare? On Friday I discussed how red-hot Ullmark has been to start the season. Even though Swayman's return should cut into Ullmark's start and win total, having a reliable goalie like Swayman could help Ullmark with the quality of his starts – more rest between starts, and less likelihood for injury. Call me an optimist, but it runs counter to the argument that goalies are only valuable when they start nearly all the time.

Charlie McAvoy has points in four of the five games he has played in since his return. On Saturday he assisted on four goals and fired six shots. Because of his earlier-than-expected return from offseason shoulder surgery, McAvoy appears primed to smash his ADP in single-season leagues (135 Yahoo/166 Fantrax). I was lucky enough to draft him at 156 in one league… three picks after I drafted Ullmark.  

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On Monday, our Top 10 article on buy-low players by Tom Collins was published. This is not the first time I've mentioned this particular article here because I think it is worth paying close attention to, whether you are looking for buy-low opportunities or you simply need to know whether to hang onto struggling players. I should also mention that the Top 10 article is an interesting read every week, whether you agree with all the names on the lists.

#9 on that buy-low list is Pavel Buchnevich, who had quite a night on Saturday. If you applied Tom's advice and acquired Buchnevich immediately, you were handsomely rewarded with two goals and three assists along with a plus-4. Buchnevich scored a goal and added an assist in the Blues' first game, then we didn't see him on the statsheet until November 10 – nearly a month later. Of course, his season was interrupted by injury, but he also had a five-game point drought in there. After Saturday's game, Buchnevich has climbed back into the point-per-game range (12 PTS in 12 GP). That buy-low window might no longer exist, but at least I know now not to drop Buchnevich (I have him on two teams).

After a rough start to the season, the Blues have now won six in a row, and Buchnevich is not the only Blue to turn things around. Jordan Kyrou recorded three assists on Saturday, doubling his assist total for the season. After a lame start, Kyrou has been much better of late with seven points in his last four games. By the way, Kyrou was #4 in that same buy-low article. Yes, we know what we're talking about here.

Also credit to our Saturday DFS writer Steve Dotzel, who identified the Blues as a team to target. They scored six goals on the Anaheim tandem on John Gibson and Anthony Stolarz.

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Only five of Nathan MacKinnon's 26 points this season have been goals. That seems like a surprise, considering he can score goals like this:

NATHAN MACKINNON IS THAT GUY pic.twitter.com/rrxan7v3QG

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 20, 2022

Alexandar Georgiev pitched a 32-save shutout against the Capitals on Saturday. That gives him eight consecutive quality starts. Among goalies that have played more than one game, only Connor Hellebuyck has a quality start percentage higher than that of Georgiev (81.8%). Georgiev had never been a starting goalie prior to this season, but he seems up to the task so far.

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The Mathew Barzal goal watch is now over! Not only did he break the ice with his first goal of the season in the second period, but he added a second one later in the same period. Don't let the lack of goals fool you, as Barzal has been a point-per-game player this season (21 PTS in 19 GP). I wrote more about Barzal in the Friday Ramblings.

Jamie Benn continues to be hot, scoring a goal and adding two assists in the Stars win over the Islanders. That gives him nine points in his last four games, and it also pushes him over the point-per-game mark on the season. Also see below for how hot he has been over the entire month of November. The Stars are an offensive machine this season, and Benn appears to be taking full advantage. That being said, he has some sell-high opportunity, particularly in non-bangers leagues where his value won't be as high. For more on Benn, click the link in the previous paragraph for the Friday Ramblings.

NHL's scoring leaders in November:
T-1. Jamie Benn, Jason Robertson, Erik Karlsson; 17 points.
T-4. Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov; 16 points.
T-6. Mikko Rantanen, Leon Draisaitl, Nathan MacKinnon; 14 points.

— Saad Yousuf (@SaadYousuf126) November 20, 2022

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Ho hum, just another Connor McDavid highlight. He also finished the game with an assist and six shots.

he's a freak he's the fastest kid alive pic.twitter.com/NBulvVrvmV

— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) November 20, 2022

Rather than discuss the usual exploits of McDavid further, I'll toss a lesser name that you might have followed as a prospect at one time. Klim Kostin was noticeable in this game, but not because of his scoring. Kostin was a physical presence with four hits, padding his hit total further from his six hits from Wednesday. He's not on a scoring line (Jesse Puljujarvi and Ryan McLeod), but he appears to be a name to pay attention to if you need help with hits. Kostin was acquired from the Blues at the start of the season and was recently called up from the AHL. If he can stick around and can find his way onto the McDavid or Draisaitl line, he could really be a player of interest.

In a losing cause, Mark Stone scored a pair of goals, including one on a penalty shot. Stone now has three goals over his last two games, as well as identical 4 SOG and 2 HITS statlines over those two games. He seems to be clicking with Jack Eichel, and more importantly, remaining injury-free.  

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Follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.