The Capitals had seven different goal scorers in their 7-4 win over the Rangers in their matinee game. One of those goal scorers was Alex Ovechkin. He now has four goals in five games since returning from injury and 17 goals in his past 16 games. He's also 23 goals away from the goal record. At this point it doesn't seem like a matter of if, but when. Can he get it done this season? He sure isn't slowing down.

Ovechkin's linemate Dylan Strome led the Capitals with a goal and two assists. The goal broke an eight-game goal drought for Strome, but he has five points in his last three games. He continues to lead the Capitals in points with 44.

The Rangers had four different goal scorers in that game, and one of them was Mika Zibanejad. He has goals in back-to-back games after being held pointless in his previous eight games. Maybe it's best to hold off on dropping him, in case you've been thinking about it. Things are starting to look up for him.

Zibanejad's linemate Chris Kreider also scored a goal for the Rangers. Kreider is starting to heat up a bit again with points in three consecutive games.

It was another Rangers loss, but at least some Rangers were able to contribute to fantasy teams on Saturday. Unless you're talking about Jonathan Quick, who allowed six goals on 27 shots; or Alexis Lafreniere, who is now without a point in eight games and without a goal in 12 games. Lafreniere seemed to be a good candidate to take another step forward in 2023-24, but instead he has taken a step back from last season. Currently he is on pace for just 45 points.

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Yaroslav Askarov is making an impact early in his career. The rookie goalie stopped 28 of 30 shots in the Sharks' 3-2 win over New Jersey. Playing for San Jose might seem like a recipe for disaster for a goalie, yet Askarov has posted quality starts in six of his seven games this season. That quality start percentage (85.7%) is the highest among goalies that have played at least as many games as he has. Askarov also has three consecutive games with a .930 SV% or better.

Vitek Vanecek is listed as week-to-week with a fractured cheekbone, so Askarov should remain in the NHL for the time being. Askarov appears NHL ready and is the Sharks' best goalie over Vanecek and Alexandar Georgiev even today, so it's difficult to fathom that he would be returned to the AHL once Vanecek can return to the lineup. Being the only goalie that is waivers-exempt might mean Askarov returns there anyway, so it behooves the Sharks to try to trade Vanecek or Georgiev before the deadline.

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Auston Matthews made a splash in his return to the lineup on Saturday, scoring a goal and adding two assists with five shots and a plus-5. The players most impacted by Matthews' return were his linemates Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies, who each finished with five points.

Marner scored a goal and added four assists, giving him 18 points over his last 11 games. Marner is fourth in league scoring with 56 points and appears on his way to his first 100-point season. Perfect timing, as it's a contract year. I'm sure you might be more dialed in on the Leafs than I am if you live in the GTA (I live in Vancouver, where the Canucks have their own issues), but I'm genuinely curious whether Leafs fans are all-in on signing Marner and have forgotten about his past playoff performances. Is this a good time to mention that Marner has a career 1.13 PTS/GP pace in the regular season, but only 0.88 PTS/GP in the playoffs? I'm not saying the Leafs can't win with Marner, but this has been interesting the way it has played out this season.

Leafs Mitch Marner ranks in the top 5 in several categories among forwards pic.twitter.com/fWVWYyKL2T

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) January 4, 2025

Knies busted his slump in a huge way, scoring a hat trick with two assists with six shots on goal and a plus-6 (!) which is the highest single-game plus-minus ranking for any player this season. Knies entered this game without a point in five games and without a goal in nine games. Based on Knies' recent production, it's apparent that he is better off with Matthews on his line, even though he will be bumped off the top power play for Matthews.

Back to Matthews. Elliotte Friedman reported that Matthews is not interested in a "one on, one off" scenario, so he should be in the lineup for today's (Sunday's) game against Philadelphia. A recurrence of the injury still sounds concerning given his uncertain answer to a question earlier this week about whether he can put this injury behind him. But given his statline and how he looked on the ice on Saturday, he looks like he is fine at the moment.

In a losing cause, David Pastrnak scored a pair of goals with five shots on goal. He also finished the game with a minus-4. That's not a Draisaitl Hat Trick, but that is surely an accomplishment. In terms of better stats, Pasta has taken at least five shots per game over his last five games, recording five points over that span. Pastrnak leads the league with 168 shots but has just 15 goals. In addition, Saturday was the first game that Pastrnak has scored multiple goals this season. Even though the Bruins have looked better, don't sleep on Pasta. He could be in for a huge second half.

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Believe it or not, second to Pastrnak in shots on goal is Zach Werenski with 160. I covered him in the Ramblings two days ago, so I won't repeat myself here except to say that Werenski added another seven shots on goal on Saturday. That gives him an insane 26 shots over his last three games! If his nickname isn't the Columbus Cannon, then it needs to be. Werenski also added two assists to give him 13 points over his last six games.

In the Blue Jackets' 6-4 win over St. Louis, Sean Monahan and Ivan Provorov each assisted three times. Monahan is up to an even 40 points in 40 games. I'll be honest in that I didn't see him returning to the point-per-game mark after he seemed to be slowed by major hip injuries. Yet here we are.

Dmitri Voronkov scored a pair of goals on Saturday, giving him 15 goals in just 31 games. He has also piled up 14 points over his last 11 games. Is that sustainable? Well, Voronkov is shooting 23.4%, which is nearly double his shooting percentage from last season while only increasing his shot total slightly. It wouldn't be the worst idea to sell high, although Voronkov is establishing himself as a fixture in Columbus.

The Columbus top line of Monahan, Voronkov, and Kirill Marchenko has been one of the league's most productive even-strength lines this season.

Line Combination	Team	Goals For
MARK SCHEIFELE – KYLE CONNOR – GABRIEL VILARDI	WPG	27
NIKITA KUCHEROV – BRAYDEN POINT – JAKE GUENTZEL	TB	25
SEAN MONAHAN – DMITRI VORONKOV – KIRILL MARCHENKO	CBJ	24
ONDREJ PALAT – JESPER BRATT – JACK HUGHES	NJ	22
VINCENT TROCHECK – ARTEMI PANARIN – ALEXIS LAFRENIERE	NYR	21

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With Kirill Kaprizov still out of the lineup, the line of Marco Rossi, Mats Zuccarello, and Matt Boldy took care of most of the scoring for the Wild on Saturday. Rossi assisted on all four goals, giving him eight points over his last three games. In just his second full season, Rossi is nearing the point-per-game mark (37 PTS in 40 GP) while his power-play time has increased from the first quarter to the second quarter. Zuccarello scored two goals and added an assist, while Boldy scored a goal with two assists.

Joel Eriksson Ek scored the Wild's other goal, breaking a 17-game goal drought. Although his season was interrupted with a lower-body injury through much of December, JEE's last goal entering Saturday's game was about two months ago. Despite the lack of goal scoring, Eriksson Ek is back on the Frozen Tools hot list with four points over his last three games.

Filip Gustavsson shut out the Hurricanes by stopping all 20 shots he faced. Gustavsson now has four wins and five quality starts over his last five games.

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With a shootout win over Colorado on Saturday, Jakub Dobes has wins and quality starts in both of his NHL games, allowing just one goal combined. He is the first goalie in the long and storied history of the Montreal Canadiens to accomplish that feat.

Because games always turn out the way we expect them to, the Habs have beaten Florida, Tampa Bay, Vegas, and Colorado – the last four Stanley Cup winners – on their road trip that just ended on Saturday. However, on that same road trip, they lost to Columbus and Chicago, who are both out of a playoff spot.  

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The Red Wings grabbed a regulation win out of Winnipeg, which has been very difficult to do. Lucas Raymond scored a goal and two assists, Moritz Seider picked up three assists, Dylan Larkin scored two goals, Patrick Kane picked up two assists, and Alex DeBrincat scored a goal. All of these players are on the Frozen Tools hot list for recent hot streaks over the past 4-5 games. That coincides with the hiring of Todd McLellan on Boxing Day, so he is having an immediate impact on a team that had trouble scoring under Derek Lalonde this season.  

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With a goal and an assist, Leon Draisaitl extended his point streak to 14 games. Over that span, Draisaitl has 26 points, including goals in four consecutive games. The goal was his 29^th of the season, which leads the league. Only Nathan MacKinnon has more points than Draisaitl (59) this season.

Connor McDavid has no points in two games and no goals in seven games. Time to panic? I'm just kidding. McDavid had six shots on goal on Saturday.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has goals in three consecutive games.

Adam Larsson left the game for Seattle, which meant Brandon Montour logged 29:40 of icetime, including 13:02 in the third period alone.

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Yesterday, I listed a few Predators whose scoring has declined from last season. Another one is Ryan O'Reilly, who is on pace for 55 points this season after reaching 69 points last season. However, O'Reilly had a hat trick on Saturday, which consisted of two power-play goals and an empty-net goal. O'Reilly has recently bounced back from the slow start by scoring seven goals and 11 points over his last 11 games.

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With two assists, Tanner Pearson has five points over his last four games. Pearson was recently added to Vegas' top line with Jack Eichel and Mark Stone. Pearson hasn't scored at a high pace for the past few years, but he might be worth a stream or add in deeper leagues while he is skating on this line.

Even though the Sabres are working on another losing streak (three in a row), Jason Zucker has been scoring more goals. With a power-play goal on Saturday, Zucker has scored six goals over his past four games. He logged a season-high 21:44 while playing on the top line and top power play. If nothing else, the Sabres could flip him at the deadline, since he is on a one-year contract. However, the Sabres desperately need veteran leadership. As for fantasy, feel free to add him while everything is going well, although both history and advanced stats suggest he will cool off at some point.

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Congratulations to Finland and the United States, who each won their semifinal matches on Saturday at the World Juniors. They will face each other tonight (Sunday) in the gold medal game.

The Finland/Sweden game went to overtime, where the Finns scored on a late power play.

Finland's game-winning goal was a 'no-looker' on the power play#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/tUrHhPw8lf

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 4, 2025

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Don't forget about the Midseason Guide, available for download on January 16.

Follow me on X @Ian_Gooding and Threads @goodsfantasyhockey