Saturday's loss to the Jets was a costly one for the Wild, as both Kirill Kaprizov and Filip Gustavsson left the game with injuries. Kaprizov was cross-checked to the back twice, while Gustavsson left with a lower-body injury. After a poor start, Gustavsson was finding his game under new coach John Hynes with an 8-2 record with a .932 SV% and 1.87 GAA since the coaching change. Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to start today's (Sunday's) rematch with the Jets, which will be his 1000^th career game. He will be only the fourth goalie to reach that milestone.

With a power-play assist on Saturday, Marcus Johansson has seven points over his last six games. He also picked up 20 minutes in icetime, which has happened for him twice in the last four games. If Kaprizov is injured for any length of time, Johansson could pick up more minutes, including power-play time. Keep in mind that the Wild also have Mats Zuccarello on the shelf. I've added Johansson in one deep league based on his recent run. He's definitely a streaming option for Sunday, since he's only 3% rostered in Yahoo and 14% rostered in Fantrax.

Nino Niederreiter scored two goals on Saturday, which is the second time in three games that he has scored a pair of goals in a game. Over his last three games, Niederreiter has five points and is averaging over three shots per game. Since he is hot and also playing on Sunday, he's another potential streaming option, although he is rostered in more leagues (20% Yahoo/40% Fantrax) than Johansson.

With another win and quality start on Saturday (stopping 34 of 36 shots), Connor Hellebuyck leads the league with 18 quality starts. He's had only three really bad starts all season, so he's as reliable a goalie as you'll find.

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Did you bet the over on the Carolina/Toronto game? The easy forecast for every Leafs game is a 6-5 score, given both their scoring abilities and their defensive woes. Just after I typed that, the Canes scored an empty-net goal, followed by a late Leafs goal for a 3-2 game. Probably still not enough for the over.

Sebastian Aho continues to be red hot. The empty-net goal gives Aho seven goals in his last 10 games. The three points (1 G, 2 A) gives him 12 points over his last four games, including three consecutive 3+ point games.

The late goal didn't prevent Pyotr Kochetkov from earning his seventh quality start in his last eight games. Over those eight games, Kochetkov has allowed more than two goals just two times. When Frederik Andersen is ready to return, Kochetkov should be able to challenge him for starts. At the very least, he's here in the NHL to stay barring an Ilya Samsonov-esque collapse in his game.

In his return to Toronto, Michael Bunting scored a power-play goal. On his new team, Bunting has seen regular action on the first-unit power play, which he only received in Toronto when there was an injury to one of the Big 4. Bunting has already set a career high in power-play points with 12. He's still rostered in under half of Yahoo and Fantrax rosters, if you have room in a mid-sized league.

The Carolina Hurricanes X account does some more expert trolling.

Bad night to be the city of Toronto pic.twitter.com/JAlkHm1VSv

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) December 31, 2023

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When Artemi Panarin records a hat trick, the fans throw bread-like objects onto the ice.

Dreams really do come true pic.twitter.com/tXxoCPf6DC

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) December 31, 2023

Panarin is now the third player to reach 50 points this season. At age 32, Panarin is currently on the highest point-per-game pace (1.43) of his entire career. He is currently on pace for 117 points and making a case for the Hart Trophy.

Panarin's linemate Vincent Trocheck also had a superb game, scoring a goal and adding three assists. Trocheck is not quite at a point-per-game pace, but he is on the best point pace of his career as well (0.94 PTS/GP). Trocheck is also a strong multicategory contributor, as he is on pace for 100 hits, nearly 200 shots, and 900 faceoffs won. Only Sidney Crosby has won more faceoffs than Trocheck (391 FOW), who also has one of the league's top faceoff success rates (62.4 FO%).

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In his first start of the season, Yaroslav Askarov stopped 27 of 29 shots he faced in picking up a shootout win over the Capitals – the first win of his career. Nashville's first-round pick in the 2020 draft, Askarov was recalled earlier in the week with Kevin Lankinen battling an illness. So that he can pick up more game experience and due to waiver rules, the 21-year-old Askarov will likely be sent back to the AHL once Lankinen is ready to return. Expect Askarov to be playing full-time in the NHL within two seasons, as Lankinen's contract expires after this season and Juuse Saros' contract expires after next season.  

Due to Charlie Lindgren's injury, Hunter Shepard was recalled from the AHL and started Saturday's game. Shepard made 33 saves in picking up a quality start. Nothing to do with fantasy hockey, but Shepard has one of the more interesting mugshots in hockey. I'm trying to figure out who he looks like. Someone who could play Willy Wonka? A Monty Python character? I don't know, but he definitely looks older than the typical looking 28-year-old these days. I know, not the high-level analysis that you came here for.

Hunter Shepard #ALLCAPS

Shepard will start in Saturday's home game versus Nashville, Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press reports.https://t.co/j1LzMsjAp0

— Dobber Sports News (@DobberNews) December 30, 2023

Anyway, Darcy Kuemper has struggled a bit, so maybe this isn't the last we see of Shepard this season, depending on the severity of Lindgren's injury.

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Timo Meier hasn't had a banner season, and now he could be dealing with another injury. Meier left Saturday's game against the Bruins, and the Devils did not provide an update after the game since he was still being evaluated. Meier had been held without a point in his previous two games, but he had scored four goals in his previous three games. The Devils are now off until Wednesday, so it's possible that he might not miss any time if this is a minor issue.

In the Bruins' win over Jersey, Kevin Shattenkirk and David Pastrnak each scored a pair of goals. Assuming Nathan MacKinnon doesn't have a five-goal game today against San Jose, Pasta will finish with the most goals (58) of any player in the calendar year of 2023. MacKinnon will finish with the most points (133) in 2023.

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Sidney Crosby scored his 20^th goal of the season on an empty-net goal. He has now reached 20 goals for the 16^th time in his career, making him the 22^nd player in NHL history to record that many 20-goal seasons. Another amazing stat: Crosby (no longer Sid the Kid) has been a point-per-game scorer in every one of his NHL seasons, dating back to the 2005-06 season. He's now 36 but hasn't slowed down significantly.

Evgeni Malkin is still piling up the points as well. With a goal and an assist in the Penguins' win over the Blues, Malkin has five points over his last three games. He is also near the point-per-game mark (31 PTS in 34 GP).

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After an un-McDavid-like start to the season, Connor McDavid has 34 points in his last 17 games. That's a two-point-per-game average over that stretch. That includes a goal and an assist on Saturday in Los Angeles. Now 26 years of age, McDavid is already at 600 NHL games. Here's how he stacks up against the all-time greats.

Connor McDavid joined several elite lists in his 600th career game.

For more #NHLStats from the @EdmontonOilers captain's milestone game ➡️ https://t.co/2VmbgWRjg8 pic.twitter.com/IMrK7SfORQ

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 31, 2023

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Since this is the last Ramblings of 2023, Happy New Year to you! 2023 just flew by, didn't it? Thanks for spending time with us this year, and all the best to you in 2024. Don't forget about the 2024 Midseason Guide, which will be available in less than two weeks (January 12). For more information and to make your purchase, click here.

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