If you are lucky enough to be playing in a fantasy hockey championship battle next week, you should keep in mind that Nashville is one of five teams to play four games. Two Predators players stood out in Saturday's matinee game, a 6-1 win for Nashville over St. Louis. Both of these players might be available in your league.

Tommy Novak led the way in the win with a goal and three assists. Although Novak entered the game with just a single point in his previous four games, he now checks in with 38 points in just 44 games. Roman Josi is the only Predator with a higher point-per-game average than Novak (0.86 PTS/GP). Trades and injuries have vaulted Novak to a key role as a scorer and power-play performer (2 PPP on Saturday). Perhaps because a lot of fantasy teams have checked out, Novak is just 10% rostered in Yahoo leagues (35% in Fantrax). Claim him if you haven't already.

If Novak is somehow unavailable, look up the status of his linemate Luke Evangelista, who scored a goal and added two assists of his own on Saturday. Evangelista entered Saturday's game without a point in his previous five games, but he posted a four-point game prior to that. Evangelista is a 1 percenter in Yahoo leagues and is rostered in 22 percent of leagues in Fantrax, so he's probably more of a deeper league option than Novak. The Predators' matchups are a bit on the tougher side (@DAL, @WPG, vs. VGK, vs. CAR) as well, but they will need both Novak and Evangelista in order to keep their playoff hopes alive.

For more on the schedule, see the Schedule Planner on Frozen Tools as well as the Looking Ahead article for the coming week.

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David Pastrnak scored goals #54, 55, and 56, reaching 100 points for the first time in his career. He hasn't taken his foot off the gas pedal, scoring goals in four consecutive games with seven goals over that span. Since mid-March, Pastrnak has taken a minimum of five shots over each of his last ten games. He leads the league with 371 shots and should maintain that lead because he is 50 shots clear of the next-highest number at the time of this writing.

Now the (potential) bad. Patrice Bergeron was given Saturday off to rest nagging injuries, so I wonder if Pasta gets the day off today (Sunday) for load management now that he's reached 100 points. It's also the second game of back-to-backs, so just consider yourself warned. I hope I'm wrong, since I could use him in one league.

Bryan Rust's two goals on Saturday resulted in his first multigoal game of the season. Rust could reach 20 goals for the fourth consecutive season, but his point total is significantly down and he may even fail to crack 50 points. Some of that might have to do with the fact that he is no longer on the first-unit power play, which is where most of the Penguins' power-play offense is generated. Rust recorded 21 power-play points in 60 games last season, but he has just 11 power-play points in 75 games this season. Conversely, Rickard Rakell is on the first-unit power play and his overall points and power-play points have both increased from last season.

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Carter Verhaeghe has 40 goals. Yes, you read that right. Verhaeghe scored four goals on eight shots on Saturday, which actually broke a six-game goal drought. Prior to that, Verhaeghe's career high was 24 goals. A spare part from the 2020 Stanley Cup champion Lightning, Verhaeghe has developed his game considerably with the Panthers. In particular, he has improved his shot rate by over a shot per game, currently sitting in the top 20 of the league with 266 shots. He's also benefitted from some offseason departures in Florida, receiving over a minute and a half more icetime per game compared to last season.

Alex Lyon was a risky start earlier in the season when he was called up, but he's had an impressive run of games this week. Lyon has posted three wins in four days, allowing just four goals total over those three games while posting a .951 SV%. On Saturday, Lyon recorded a 21-save shutout of the Blue Jackets. This was a relatively easy start on paper, but at the start of the week no one would have thought Alex Lyon would carry them to a fantasy championship. The fact is, any week is susceptible to unexpected heroes.

Lyon will continue to carry the load as long as Sergei Bobrovsky is battling an illness, but the Panthers are paying Bob $10 million per season so he can win the big games. Florida has some winnable games next week against Buffalo, Ottawa, and Washington as they try to hang onto the second wild card spot in the East.

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Alex Tuch has also reached a career high in goals with 35. Tuch also posted a hat trick on Saturday to go with a plus-4 and six shots. He's also been hot lately with eight points over his last six games.

Morgan Frost scored two goals on Saturday, giving him four goals and an assist over his past three games. He's also taken five shots in two of those three games. The Flyers play again today (Sunday), so Frost is a player you could consider adding if someone like Owen Tippett isn't available. Frost is just 5 percent rostered at Yahoo.

Travis Konecny returned to the Flyers' lineup on Saturday after being sidelined since mid-February with an upper-body injury.

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Brady Skjei scored another goal on Saturday, giving him 17 goals on the season. As I write this, only three defensemen (Erik Karlsson, Dougie Hamilton, Roman Josi) have more goals than Skjei. That wasn't expected from Skjei, who had never reached double-digit goals in a season prior to this one. There isn't a lot to suggest that the increase in goals is sustainable, although he has received a bit of power-play time this season when previously he had received none with Carolina. Skjei's shooting percentage (10.1 SH%) has doubled over previous seasons, so a repeat of this goal total next season seems unlikely.

Making his first start in nearly a month, Antti Raanta barely broke a sweat (statistically speaking… don't @ me, Habs fans) in a 14-save shutout. Raanta is in the final year of his contract with the Hurricanes, and there's a strong possibility that he won't be back next season. Frederik Andersen's contract also expires after the season, while Pyotr Kochetkov appears to be NHL-ready in some capacity.

After I sung his praises last week, Nick Suzuki has hit a wall this week. Suzuki followed up a 10-point heater over four games with no points and a minus-6 in four games this week. I'm okay with dropping Suzuki if you need to make your team better in the here and now.  

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It's been projected for a while, but now it's official: The Leafs will face the Lightning in a first-round rematch of last season. Nervous yet, Leafs fans? Hopefully for their sake Ilya Samsonov starts Game 1 of the playoffs, as he's been the better goalie over Matt Murray. They picked up both in the offseason hoping at least one would be okay, and that guy has been Samsonov. His 31-save shutout on Saturday was his fourth of the season, tying him for fourth with a bunch of other goalies and only one shutout back of the league leader.

Speaking of Murray, he's the confirmed starter against Detroit today (Sunday). Do you feel lucky, punk? He might be good for a win, but if you're still feeling uneasy and want to check out the other options, head over to Goalie Post.

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Saturday seemed to have a higher-than-normal number of shutouts, as Andrei Vasilevskiy also pitched a shutout. The Big Cat's shutout was a 38-save effort against the Islanders, and also his fourth shutout of the season.

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It was nice to see Jonathan Toews back in the lineup on Saturday. Toews recorded an assist in 14 minutes of icetime in his first game in two months. Don't expect a lot from Toews, as he is getting over long COVID and playing for a Blackhawks team that is a shell of the championship teams that he captained. It's possible that he is playing his last few NHL games, as he is on the final year of his contract and could retire after the season.

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Mikko Rantanen chipped in three assists before this incredible shot, which was his 49^th goal of the season.

Mikko Rantanen scores bar down from his own blueline 🔥 pic.twitter.com/b90Je94i9p

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) April 2, 2023

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Even though the Wild could not win on Saturday, Matt Boldy scored another goal. He now has 10 goals in his last 7 games and 16 points over his last 11 games.

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Leon Draisaitl joined Connor McDavid and David Pastrnak in the 50-goal club, recording a hat trick on Saturday (no, not the DHT… the real hat trick). He also took a team-high nine shots. Draisaitl now has back-to-back 50-goal seasons as well as three 50-goal seasons in his career. With McDavid on his team, does Draisaitl get his due as one of the league's biggest stars? Draisaitl now has 30 power-play goals, the first time anyone has reached that number since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96 and four power-play goals away from the record held by Tim Kerr.

With a goal on Saturday, Darnell Nurse has three goals in his past four games and seven points in his last eight games. He also fired seven shots on the Ducks. Nurse has now reached a career high with 42 points, providing superb multicategory value with triple digits in shots, hits, and blocks. (Head over to Frozen Tools, and you'll see a Multicategory button. Then you can sort by SOG+HIT+BKS. You'll see Nurse in the top 10.) Just call Nurse the anti-Draisaitl, though, as he has only one power-play point all season. It doesn't seem fair that he barely gets a sniff of power-play time, but he's never been the big power-play guy from the point for Edmonton.

With a goal on Saturday, Zach Hyman now has four goals in his last five games.

the ducks fans were showing out in edmonton tonight 🤣 pic.twitter.com/3qMD1BbYNW

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 2, 2023

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Among the players least likely to be fantasy stars on Saturday, Noah Gregor had a hat trick of his own with a plus-3 and seven shots. Gregor has been heating up recently with seven points over his last five games. Gregor's icetime has increased marginally over the past few games, and he has moved up to a PP2 role from not receiving any power-play time. You can add him if you believe in riding the hot hand, but there isn't a whole lot to suggest that this is sustainable for a Sharks team that seems to be trying to improve its Connor Bedard odds (Saturday aside).  

I think I caught all the hat trick in this article today.

5 Hat Tricks were scored in the NHL on Saturday

It's the first time 5 Hat Tricks have been scored in the NHL on a single day since March 18, 1989

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) April 2, 2023

Erik Karlsson recorded four assists on Saturday, which means he's now at 95 points. He's going to get to 100, isn't he?

I'm sorry about the Ivan Prosvetov recommendation yesterday. That was a really bad start, and I'll leave it at that. I certainly took it on the chin on one of my teams.

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If this is an important day for the fate of your fantasy team, I wish you all the best. Remember that just about anyone is a fantasy option at this time of year. Try not to overthink it. Just click that Add button and hope for the best.

Follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.