With Saturday being the first day of NHL action since the 4 Nations Face-Off, I'll try to pay special attention to players who participated at the tournament – particularly those who played in the memorable championship game between Canada and the United States.

Let's start with what could be a major blow to fantasy teams. Matthew Tkachuk's injury from the 4 Nations tournament appears to be something serious – maybe even season-ending.

Renaud Lavoie is suggesting there's some concern that Mathew Tkachuk's season might be over. He did not confirm it, just said "we're waiting for important medical results, we're hearing his year might be over, we don't want it to be, but there's some concern." https://t.co/sX0EOAVrV5

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) February 23, 2025

Tkachuk was injured during the US/Canada round-robin match last Saturday, and he clearly didn't appear right during the championship game while being left on the bench for the later part of the game. In fact, he probably shouldn't have even dressed for that game, despite the stakes. Tkachuk didn't play for the Panthers on Saturday against Seattle.

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The Wild/Red Wings match that kicked things off on Saturday featured a few 4 Nations players with strong showings in their NHL returns:

Matt Boldy: 1 G, 1 A, +2, 6 SOG, 23:36 TOI

Dylan Larkin: 1 G, 1 A, 2 HITS, 19:55 TOI

Lucas Raymond: 1 G, 1 A, 21:09 TOI

Boldy and Larkin in particular played in the championship game on Thursday night, so they looked no worse for wear.

Brock Faber did not pick up a point, but he logged 30:05 on Saturday after playing 28:50 on Thursday! Both games went to overtime. 

Marc-Andre Fleury has now passed Roberto Luongo for the second-most games played by a goalie in NHL history (1,045 GP).

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In the Flyers' 6-3 win over Edmonton on Saturday, the Sean Couturier – Matvei Michkov – Owen Tippett line did much of the damage. Couturier and Michkov each finished with a goal and two assists, while Tippett scored a pair of goals. More impressively, this unit dominated the Oilers with an 87.5 SF% and a 73.9 CF%, while all three players finished with a plus-5. This line also combined for 13 shots, with Tippett leading the way with 6 SOG. This is a great sign for Michkov in particular, who has been a bit of a wild card in his first NHL season. After going seven games without a point, Michkov now has five points in his last three games.

Despite the loss, John Klingberg registered his first two points for the Oilers – a goal and an assist. However, Klingberg logged just 15 minutes of icetime on the third pair with Ty Emberson, while he has received very little power-play time in his six games with the Oilers. He's probably only an option in very deep leagues at this point. 

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Sidney Crosby was a game-time decision on Saturday, as he had missed his last two games for the Penguins just before the tournament. Not only did Captain Canada suit up, but he scored a goal.

BACK FROM THE 4 NATIONS AND BACK ON THE SCOREBOARD SIDNEY CROSBY DOESN'T QUIT 🔥 pic.twitter.com/a2PVTIBVNh

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) February 22, 2025

Unfortunately for Crosby and the Penguins, they were steamrolled 8-3 by a Capitals team that is picking up where they left off before the break. Jakob Chychrun scored a pair of goals on six shots on goal. With goals number 15 and 16, Chychrun is third among defensemen in goals, trailing only Cale Makar and Zach Werenski.

Pierre-Luc Dubois picked up three assists, giving him five points in his last two games. Logan Thompson made 29 saves in earning his 25^th win of the season, which ties him for third in that category. By adding Chychrun, Dubois, and Thompson, among others, is there a team that had a better offseason than Washington? Maybe we didn't realize it at the time.

Only three Capitals skaters did not register a point in this game. Nic Dowd, Lars Eller, and surprisingly, Alex Ovechkin. The Great 8 remains 16 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's record.

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Over his last six starts, Igor Shesterkin has a 1-5 record with an .817 SV% with no single game better than an .885 SV%. That's four really bad starts compared to no quality starts over those last six games. Shesterkin was pulled after allowing five goals in the first period to the Sabres. He had an upper-body injury before the 4 Nations, but he also had enough time during the break to recover. As bad as the Rangers had been playing earlier this season, this current stretch appears to be Shesterkin's worst of the season. With season numbers (2.98 GAA, .902 SV%) that now point to league average, Shesterkin can be benched in fantasy leagues until he shows signs of turning things around.

Once all was said and done, the Sabres skated away with an 8-2 win. Ryan McLeod, Tage Thompson, and Rasmus Dahlin each scored two goals, while Thompson and Dahlin added an assist to that total. Jason Zucker added three assists. Thompson has been showing Team USA what they missed out on with a scorching-hot 11 points over his last five games. Dahlin, who played for Sweden, has 11 points over his last six games. Zucker has eight points over his last five games.

Alex Tuch left Saturday's game with an undisclosed injury and will be further evaluated.

J.T. Miller assisted on both Rangers' goals. Since joining the Blueshirts, Miller has six points in six games, which have come in the form of three 2-point games. Miller has also averaged three hits per game with his new (old) team.

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Shane Wright assisted on both Kraken goals in their 2-1 win over Florida. Wright has dialed it up a notch recently with 11 points over his past nine games. Despite the recent surge, he is still averaging only 14 minutes per game, but he has been on a decent line with Jared McCann and Andre Burakovsky. Barring a major slump, Wright should now be in the NHL to stay.

Jordan Eberle returned to the Kraken lineup after missing 40 games with a pelvic injury. You can add him to the list of Seattle players that you can stream down the stretch.

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Thomas Harley, the surprise injury substitution for Canada, had a strong first game back for Dallas. Harley scored a power-play goal while taking four shots and blocking two more in leading the Stars with 24:25 in icetime. Since Miro Heiskanen's injury, Harley's offense has increased with seven points in six games. Three of those points have been on the power play, which shouldn't be a surprise now that he is on the top power play. Even though Heiskanen has averaged significantly more power-play time than Harley, Heiskanen has only one more power-play point than Harley (6 PPP). I wonder if the Stars make the switch to Harley on the top power play to allow Heiskanen to focus on being more of a shutdown defender. 

Jack Hughes scored both Devils' goals in a span of 1:40, also taking six shots in Saturday's game. Hughes has 12 points over his last nine games.

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After an eventful 4 Nations tournament, Brady Tkachuk did not suit up for the Senators on Saturday. Tkachuk is listed as having a lower-body injury. The Sens only play twice next week and don't play again until Wednesday, so Tkachuk might be worth benching in weekly leagues anyway – particularly pure scoring leagues where you can't take advantage of his shot and hit contributions. For what it's worth, Elliotte Friedman said that Tkachuk could play on Wednesday.

My Tkachuk replacement in one league happened to be Juraj Slafkovsky, who had actually been quoted as saying that he needs to play more like Tkachuk in order to have success in the NHL. As it turns out, I couldn't have asked for a more perfect Tkachuk replacement on Saturday. Slafkovsky finished with a goal, five shots, eight hits, and five for fighting with Ridly Greig. Over a larger sample, the hits are there with back-to-back 100-hit seasons, but as a sub-2.0 SOG/GP shooter, Slafkovsky will need to find a way to shoot the puck more. Slafkovsky is also on pace to finish with 47 points, similar to his output last season. He has some work to do before he reaches Tkachuk levels, but the good news is that there's plenty of time, since he's only 20 years old.  

After playing a little bit for Sweden, Linus Ullmark was pulled after allowing five goals on 15 shots. Ullmark's last really bad start was back in November, so he can probably be excused for this rough outing.

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After being healthy scratched for Thursday's 4 Nations championship match, Kyle Connor returned as a driven man on Saturday. Connor scored the shootout winner while firing 10 shots on goal and picking up an assist. Connor now has 10 points in his last seven games.

Connor's linemate Gabriel Vilardi scored two goals, which were his 25^th and 26^th goals of the season. Vilardi now has two goals in back-to-back games. He also has three consecutive 20-goal seasons, although the 26-goal total represents a career high.

Earlier in the day, Vladislav Namestnikov agreed to a two-year, $6 million extension with the Jets. He followed that up with an assist on Saturday, extending his point streak to five games. Namestnikov has seven points over that span.

For the Blues, Robert Thomas scored two goals along with an assist, while Pavel Buchnevich scored a goal and added two assists. Thomas has eight points over his last five games with goals in back-to-back games, while Buchnevich has six points over his last five games.

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Brent Burns played in his 900^th consecutive game on Saturday, making him the sixth player in NHL history to do so. Burns picked up an assist with three shots but finished with a minus-2.

Pontus Holmberg led the Leafs in their 6-3 win with two goals and an assist. This output seems like an outlier for Holmberg, who last scored a goal on December 10 and entered this game with eight points in 43 games.

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Kirill Marchenko and Boone Jenner both returned to the Blue Jackets' lineup from injury on Saturday. Marchenko had a broken jaw, while Jenner was playing in his first game of the season following shoulder surgery. Both picked up an assist in the Jackets' 5-1 win over Chicago.

Kent Johnson scored a pair of goals, while Zach Werenski scored a goal and added two assists. Johnson is hot with 12 points in his last 11 games, and Werenski is just one point back of Cale Makar for the scoring lead among defensemen with 62 points.

The highlight of the night:

Touching moment. Today is baby Johnny Gaudreau's first birthday. During the timeout, the crowd at Nationwide sang happy birthday to him. Fantastic. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/YJO4h5tdMS

— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) February 23, 2025

A nice moment, but also sad as we are reminded again that Johnny Hockey has left us, and more importantly, a son won’t get to see his father again.

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Juuse Saros put a rough 4 Nations tournament behind him, stopping 31 of 32 shots he faced in Nashville's 2-1 win over Colorado. Saros finished with a 3.96 GAA and .870 SV% over two games in the 4 Nations. The win is just his 12^th of the season, so it seems like he'll miss out on registering at least 30 wins for a fourth consecutive season.

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Filling in for the injured Charlie McAvoy on the top power play, Mason Lohrei should be considered a waiver-wire target in many leagues. Lohrei picked up two assists on Saturday, one of which was on the power play. Lohrei also took four shots in this game. He almost didn't dress for this game, as he missed the morning skate due to illness.

With an assist, David Pastrnak extended his point streak to 14 games. During that streak, Pasta has piled up 27 points.

John Gibson left Saturday's game after two periods with an upper-body injury. With Gibson on the trade block, any long-term injury would be untimely for the Ducks.

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On Saturday, Barrett Hayton picked up his first career hat trick, which included two power-play goals. The hat trick was also the first ever for the Utah Hockey Club. The goals were Hayton's first in nine games, although Hayton has 14 points in his last 14 games.

This kind of flew under the radar maybe because Utah doesn't grab a lot of headlines, but Sean Durzi returned to the lineup after being out since mid-October with a shoulder injury. Durzi picked up an assist and took four shots on goal in 21:37 in icetime. He did not see any power-play time, although Utah had only 46 seconds of total power play time. Expect Durzi to be on the second power play behind Mikhail Sergachev.

Team Canada defenseman Drew Doughty scored a goal and two assists in the Kings' 5-3 win over Utah. Doughty entered this game with just a single point in his previous six games this season, but perhaps the top-caliber play of the 4 Nations helped get his game into a higher gear. Doughty also finished the game with three hits, four blocked shots, and a plus-3.

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After being listed as a game-time decision, Elias Pettersson was in the lineup on Saturday against Vegas. Pettersson still doesn't look 100%, as he was held off the scoresheet with just a single shot on goal in just under 16 minutes.

Jake DeBrusk scored his 20^th goal of the season, which makes him the first Canuck to reach that total. Of his 20 goals, 14 have been on the road.

With nine hits on Saturday, Kiefer Sherwood has reached 300 hits in a season faster than any other player since the hits stat has been recorded. The record for hits in a season was set by Jeremy Lauzon last season (388 hits), and Sherwood is on pace to smash that record.

With Shea Theodore out for a while, Noah Hanifin was on the top power play for Vegas on Saturday.

Since joining the Golden Knights, Brandon Saad has three points in five games. Saad scored the game-winner in Vegas's 3-1 win over Vancouver.

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