Jack Hughes returned to the Devils lineup on Thursday after missing the past month with an upper-body injury. He didn't make the kind of splash that was hoped, as he was held without a point and was a minus-3 in the Devils' 5-3 home loss to Calgary. Hughes did take four shots in 20 minutes of icetime while playing at even strength with Tyler Toffoli and Alexander Holtz. Having Hughes on their line should benefit both players.

Jesper Bratt assisted on three goals, extending his point streak to six games with nine points over that span.

Playing on a line with Bratt and Nico Hischier, Ondrej Palat scored a pair of goals. Palat was held without a point in his first game since returning from injury, but he has chipped in five points in the three games since. Prior to the injury, Palat had just two points over his previous 16 games. Palat is rostered in just 1 percent of Yahoo leagues and 12 percent of Fantrax leagues, so he might be worth adding in deeper leagues now that he's starting to heat up.

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Mikhail Sergachev underwent "successful" surgery on a fractured tibia and fibula in his left leg on Thursday. Given how he was stretchered off the ice on Wednesday, that's about what was expected. Sergachev was making his return to the lineup after being out since just before Christmas with a lower-body injury, so this injury is a horrible blow to the Lightning and those rostering him. Although the Lightning did not announce a timeline for Sergachev, expect him to miss the rest of the regular season given how long it takes to recover from this type of injury (I know because I have personal experience). He could be back for the playoffs, depending on whether the Bolts make it and how far they go.

If this is in fact it for Sergachev as far as the regular season goes, he would finish with 19 points in 34 games. More notably, he's also lost power-play time to Victor Hedman, receiving just 34.7% of the available minutes compared to nearly 50% last season. His power-play production has had a corresponding decline with just 7 PPP compared to 27 PPP last season. Hedman is having a strong bounce-back campaign, as he has already surpassed last season's production (50 PTS) in 26 fewer games.

Lightning fans are probably feeling uneasy already, having lost games on back-to-back nights to the New York teams. At least Brandon Hagel has continued to score, as he registered a goal for the third consecutive game. Hagel now has a five-game point streak with seven points over that span.

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It's been over a decade since the Canucks and Bruins met in one of the most intense Stanley Cup Finals in recent memory. Even though Brad Marchand is the only player remaining from either team that played in that 2011 series, there's still a lot of hate on display among both fanbases. Since both teams are sitting at the top of their respective conferences, could there be a potential rematch this spring? The odds are low given the number of teams and unpredictable nature of the playoffs, but this matchup would generate no shortage of interest on both sides of the border.

In the meantime, we'll have to settle for two regular-season matchups. One of them was played on Thursday with a result that unfortunately reminded Canucks fans of the result of that 2011 series. Linus Ullmark had an easier game than he probably expected, stopping all 17 shots in a 4-0 win for the Bruins. Ullmark has to of course alternate starts with Jeremy Swayman, but make sure he's in your lineup when he's starting (check GoaliePost for that information). Ullmark has six wins and six quality starts over his last eight games.

Elias Lindholm's second game as a Canuck wasn't nearly as successful as his first, where he scored a pair of goals. Both Lindholm and Elias Pettersson were on the ice for all four Bruins goals, each finishing the game with a minus-4. Two of those goals were shorthanded goals allowed in the first period, which was not a good look for this supposedly fortified power play with Lindholm. Not sure if this is related, but Pettersson has failed to record a shot in the two games with Lindholm on his line. Regardless, expect better results from the Elias pair going forward.

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If you wanted to go with another potential Stanley Cup Final matchup on Thursday, you could try Carolina and Colorado. The Eastern Conference team took this one as well, with the Hurricanes winning 5-2.

Martin Necas earned a natural hat trick, scoring three goals in the span of 14:59 during the first period. After some so-so stretches this season, Necas has been flexing with seven goals over the seven games he has appeared in since returning from an upper-body injury.  Necas has been averaging five shots per game over that seven-game span, significantly higher than the sub-3.0 SOG/GP he has averaged throughout his career. If he can continue to shoot the puck, bigger things might be in store.

Teuvo Teravainen registered three assists, giving him eight points over his last five games. In case you're thinking he's trending downward, Turbo is just four points shy of last season's total while playing in 18 fewer games.

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Sam Reinhart scored again on Thursday, registering his league-leading 21^st power-play goal. His 38 goals trails only Auston Matthews in that category. Expect Reinhart to lead the league in power-play goals at the end of the season, as the next-highest player has 13 PPG. For a player with an ADP just under 100, Reinhart is delivering tremendous returns. In a contract year, Reinhart stands to receive a raise on his current $6.5 million AAV.

Matthew Tkachuk scored a goal and added two assists in the Panthers' 4-2 win over Washington. Tkachuk now has 30 points over his last 17 games after a slow (by his standards) start of five goals and 24 points in 34 games. Hopefully you didn't sell low, as it appears he's back to last season's form. Tkachuk is also back to a point-per-game pace (54 PTS in 51 GP).

The bad news for Alex Ovechkin is that with just 11 goals this season, he won't win the Rocket Richard Trophy. The good news for Alex Ovechkin is that he scored a goal on Thursday, giving him goals in three consecutive games.

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Two games, two goals for Andrei Kuzmenko in a Flames uniform. He's on the top power play while skating with Jonathan Huberdeau at even strength with his new team, with his overall icetime increasing to 15-16 minutes with Calgary. Expectations may not be as high for Kuzmenko defensively as they were under Rick Tocchet, which may allow him to better thrive offensively with his new team. So far he appears to be a great fit with Calgary, which means he's a worthwhile pickup in the leagues he is still available (just under half of Yahoo leagues). If you've held onto Kuzmenko in keeper leagues, this trade might be what you need to recoup some value.

Andrei Kuzmenko

First player to score 2 goals within his first 2 games with the #Flames since….

Elias Lindholm in October 2018

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) February 9, 2024

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Connor Ingram was pulled after allowing three goals on six shots against Vegas on Thursday (technically four, as Vegas scored a fourth goal that was overturned after review). One sign that Ingram's play this season may not be sustainable over future seasons: he is tied for the league lead with 9 RBS (really bad starts). One of the goalies he is tied with is Mackenzie Blackwood, who has played a similar number of games and has just two fewer quality starts (17) than Ingram. It seems like either feast or famine for Ingram, whose numbers are being propped up by his five shutouts, which is among the league leaders. Selling high for a goalie that is more brand name might not be a bad option.

Ingram's better-than-expected play has meant fewer starts for Karel Vejmelka than expected. Vejmelka stopped all 28 shots he faced in relief, even though the Coyotes could not pull out a win. Ingram has had two really bad starts over his last three games, so perhaps we see a bit more of Veggie than we have for much of the season.

Barrett Hayton returned to the lineup on Thursday after being out since mid-November with a hand injury. Hayton did not record a point in 12 minutes, all at even strength while on a line with Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley. Speaking of Cooley, his four-game point streak came to an end on Thursday.

With a goal on Thursday, Jonathan Marchessault has nine goals and 13 points over his last nine games. Marchessault's linemate Nicolas Roy assisted on the goal, extending his point streak to six games. Roy has registered 10 points over those six games. Much of this has happened for Roy since Jack Eichel's injury, as he has been moved from the Keegan Kolesar – William Carrier checking line to a scoring line with Marchessault and Ivan Barbashev. Roy isn't rostered in many leagues (12% Yahoo/23% Fantrax), so he might be worth a look at least while Eichel is still sidelined.

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Pushing for the Central Division lead for much of the season, the Winnipeg Jets have now lost five games in a row. During that stretch, they've scored just four goals. Needless to say, they've had a few players that have hit the cold list.

Cole Perfetti (0 PTS in last 6 GP)

Neal Pionk (0 PTS in last 5 GP)

Nino Niederreiter (0 PTS in last 5 GP)

Gabriel Vilardi (0 PTS in last 4 GP)

Nikolaj Ehlers (0 PTS in last 4 GP)

Kyle Connor (1 G, 0 A in last 6 GP)

Oh, and Sean Monahan doesn't have a point in his two games as a Jet, though he took five shots on Thursday. Although you should probably continue to start Connor or Mark Scheifele or even Ehlers, the rest might be worth benching until they show signs of breaking out of their funk.       

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