Brock Boeser was supposed to be a healthy scratch on Saturday, but a morning skate injury to Dakota Joshua meant that Boeser was re-inserted into the lineup. Boeser had been held without a point with a minus-3 in the three games leading up to Saturday, although he had a nine-game point streak prior to that.

Bruce Boudreau has tried nearly everything to try to send a message to his underachieving lineup, with both Conor Garland and Andrei Kuzmenko already being healthy scratched for one game each earlier this season. A three-game point slump is usually not a reason to scratch a scorer, so the issues are more with Boeser's defensive play. This is an example of the real-life game and the fantasy game not perfectly intersecting, as a rosterable fantasy player being healthy scratched is not unheard of. For what it's worth, Boeser was a team-worst minus-14 entering Saturday's game, but he scored the game-tying goal and finished with a plus-1.

#Canucks have been outscored 22-11 with Boeser on the ice at evens this season. This scratch is likely a warning shot and far more about his defensive play than the three goals (one at evens) he has scored in his 18 games

— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) December 3, 2022

More on Boeser: According to Elliotte Friedman, Boeser's representatives have been given permission to talk to other teams. That action is usually taken when a team is trying to expedite a trade. Given the unsettled situation in Vancouver, it looks like Boeser's time as a Canuck could come to an end soon.

Speaking of Garland, he has not scored a goal since October 27, which is a span of 17 games.

Two more goals for Bo Horvat, including the game-winner in overtime. Only Jason Robertson and Connor McDavid have more goals than Horvat (18). Both of Horvat's goals were on the power play, which by the way, only McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have more of this season. It's a contract year, and Horvat is going to get paid. I'm just not sure it's going to be by the Canucks, although trading Boeser could improve those odds.

If there's a bangers hall of fame somewhere, perhaps Luke Schenn should be an inductee. With six hits on Saturday, Schenn is now the all-time leader in hits by a defenseman (2947), passing Brooks Orpik.

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With a goal on Saturday, Kirill Kaprizov has extended his point streak to 11 games. Over that span, he has racked up 18 points. In addition, Kaprizov has also scored goals in five consecutive games.

OH MY 🥵

Trevor Zegras (@tzegras11) and Kirill Kaprizov are both DISGUSTING in the shootout. pic.twitter.com/EtSj7bhPE0

— NHL (@NHL) December 3, 2022

Even though he has remained on the first-unit power play all season, Calen Addison has been dropped in many single-season leagues (just 9% rostered in Yahoo). Like many rookies, he had struggled with consistency, with one recent stretch of just one point over 11 games. However, you may want to pay attention again, as Addison is heating up with five points over his last five games, including a goal and an assist on Saturday. Three of those five points have been on the power play, which helps fill multiple boxes if you league counts points and power-play points separately. Nine of Addison's 13 points have been on the power play – a relatively high proportion.

Also with a goal and an assist on Saturday, Joel Eriksson Ek has nine points over his last five games. Eriksson Ek is often viewed as a defensive specialist, but he also receives first-unit power-play time (likely for faceoffs) and he is nearing the point-per-game mark (21 points in 23 games). He has also been shooting with regularity recently with 11 shots over his last two games.

As a team, Minnesota's top power-play unit receives far more power-play time than the rest of the team. Kaprizov, Addison, Eriksson Ek, Mats Zuccarello, and Matt Boldy have all received at least 70% of their team's power-play minutes. No one else on the team has received more than 27% of available minutes. Marcus Foligno is the only other Wild player to record any power-play points this season beyond the five mentioned above. Talk about a gap between the first and second unit. Not all first-unit and second-unit power plays are created the same.

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Like Kaprizov, Leon Draisaitl also has goals in five consecutive games. He finished with a four-point game on Saturday against the Canadiens, scoring a goal and adding three assists. Connor McDavid also added four points. Not surprisingly, these two are still 1-2 in the Art Ross race.

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In the long history of the Toronto Maple Leafs, no one has had a longer point streak than Mitch Marner. With a shorthanded goal on Saturday, Marner has extended his point streak to a team-record 19 games. Marner added a game-tying power-play goal in the third period to finish with two goals on five shots.

With a goal on Saturday, William Nylander has goals in four of his last five games. He's also taken 13 shots and is averaging over 20 minutes per game over his last two games.

Anthony Cirelli made his season debut on Saturday, recording an assist in 12 minutes of icetime. He wasn't used on a scoring line and did not receive any power-play time, so I'd only consider him for deeper leagues for the time being.

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If you haven't already, you should probably lower your expectations for goalie save percentages.

From the HNIC intermission panel… save percentages down among many top goalies. #ZeroG pic.twitter.com/jXwd1SBMQF

— Ian Gooding (@Ian_Gooding) December 4, 2022

I'll pull Jacob Markstrom from this list. His play has been subpar to the point that Darryl Sutter is giving Dan Vladar more of a run than normal. Vladar has now started four of the last six games for the Flames, earning quality starts in each. He's also earned wins in each of his last two games, including a 27-save 5-2 win over Washington. The Flames play four games next week, so you could do worse if you decided to stream Vladar. Markstrom should eventually get the bulk of the starts again, although Vladar has been more of a factor than I thought he would be.  

Speaking of inconsistent goalies, Jordan Binnington was doing Jordan Binnington things on Saturday. That includes engaging in unnecessary activity, letting in goals, and being a gentleman about it all afterward.

Binnington might be launching a water bottle during a postgame interview later tonight pic.twitter.com/QFnYiZ35Xf

📢 advertisement:

— Liam McHugh (@liam_mchugh) December 4, 2022

act 2, Binnington gets pulled, barks at Pens bench on his way out pic.twitter.com/B6ZtlhkQ6n

— Liam McHugh (@liam_mchugh) December 4, 2022

Binnington was pulled after allowing four goals on 17 shots, giving him zero wins, zero quality starts, and three really bad starts over his last five games. His season prior to that has been three consecutive wins followed by five consecutive losses followed by six consecutive wins. The roller coaster is heading downhill right now, so you might be best to park him on your bench for now until he gets things sorted out.

For the Penguins, Kasperi Kapanen recorded a hat trick within the first half of the game. Kapanen now has multiple points in back-to-back games and at least three shots in each of his last three games. Prior to the past two games, Kapanen had been held without a point in his previous nine games.

I told you the other day not to give up on Bryan Rust, and hopefully you were paying attention. (Actually, you didn't have to do anything – just leave him in your lineup.) Rust broke a six-game point slump with a goal and three assists. Rust has also taken 11 shots over his last two games. Sometimes the points come all at once, so hopefully you hadn't moved him to your bench for this one.

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Adam Ruzicka's run continued on Saturday, as he scored a goal and added two assists with a plus-3. Ruzicka is now up to 13 points in 14 games, with much of that time spent on a scoring line with Elias Lindholm and Tyler Toffoli. Ruzicka was a healthy scratch for 10 of his first 11 games, so this is quite a turnaround for a player who had split time between the NHL and AHL last season. He's still rostered in only 3% of Yahoo leagues and 30% of Fantrax leagues, so there's still time to add him while he's cooking on a scoring line.

Darcy Kuemper left Saturday's game after taking a Tyler Toffoli elbow to his head, retaliating with the Billy Smith chop to Toffoli. Charlie Lindgren took over in net for the Capitals and would stand to take on the bulk of the starts should Kuemper be forced to miss time. Kuemper had quality starts in three of his past four game prior to Saturday's matchup with the Flames.

the elbow here pic.twitter.com/tm4woYIpYl

— Mike (@mikeFAIL) December 4, 2022

Martin Fehervary also left this game with an upper-body injury.

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Jack Eichel scored a goal just a minute into the game, but he left the game later with a possible leg injury. There was no update following the game on Eichel's injury, so fantasy teams may want to have an alternate plan for next week.

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Maybe Max Domi just needed a situation where he would receive more icetime. Domi scored two goals and an assist on Saturday, giving him two goals in back-to-back games. He also has two power-play points and five shots in each of his last two games. One stat of note is Domi's icetime: it's up over five minutes per game over last season! About two minutes of that is power-play time, of which Domi is a part of the first unit. Although I doubt he'll reach that number, Domi is on pace for 68 points. Having even-strength minutes with Patrick Kane will help, although being on a one-year ticket means that Domi could also easily be flipped at the trade deadline.

By the way, Domi has just one fewer point and five more goals than Kane in the same number of games. One was a high pick in fantasy drafts and universally rostered, while the other is rostered in just 22 percent of Yahoo leagues and 45 percent of Fantrax leagues.

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Because of the injury to Anton Lundell, the Panthers were one forward short for Saturday's game in Seattle. That didn't matter to Carter Verhaeghe, who scored his 13^th and 14^th goals of the season within 26 seconds of each other in the first period. Currently only eight players have more goals than Verhaeghe, who is averaging over a minute and a half per game in additional icetime over last season. Much of that is in power-play time, where he's already recorded more power-play points (5 PPP) than last season (3 PPP). The Panthers have lost some scoring depth from last season, which Verhaeghe seems to be benefitting from.

With three assists on Tuesday, Verhaeghe's linemate Sam Bennett has five points over his last two games.

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Teuvo Teravainen returned to the Hurricanes' lineup on Saturday after missing nearly a month. He did not record a point in 15:47 of icetime. Teravainen has struggled so far, as he has yet to score a goal and has just one power-play point all season.

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Follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.