Ramblings: Four Points for Frank; Fantilli Lights Lamp Twice; Bobrovsky and Sorokin Post Shutouts; Paul Returns for Tampa Bay – November 21
Michael Clifford
2025-11-21
The Tampa Bay Lightning got some good injury news as forward Nick Paul was in the lineup on Thursday night with the team home to New Jersey. Paul had been recovering from a surgery on his wrist and had yet to play this season. He started the game on the second line with Brayden Point and Jake Guentzel but as often happens with Tampa Bay, he was eventually moved down a line as the game wore on.
And, right on cue, Paul was a huge factor in the game on Thursday night as he scored the game-tying goal with 2:32 left on the clock to send the Lightning and Edmonton Oilers to overtime all knotted up at one goal apiece. It led to this incredible overtime sequence:
That was Jake Guentzel's 12th goal of the year as he finished with four shots, two PIMs, and two hits. Paul had three shots and four hits in 15:21 of ice time.
Andrei Vasilevskiy kept the Oilers to one goal on 23 shots for his eighth win, and he's now allowed just one goal against in each of his last three starts.
Trent Frederic had the lone goal for the Oilers as goaltender Calvin Pickard allowed two goals on 35 shots for the loss.
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Toronto forward Easton Cowan was on the team's top power-play unit for their game on Thursday at home to Columbus. Cowan had four points in 12 games before Thursday but had seen limited action and a quick demotion to the AHL.
John Tavares was able to score a game-tying goal in the third period for Toronto on Thursday night in their home game to Columbus, but the Blue Jackets got an overtime goal from Adam Fantilli to take a 3-2 win. It was Fantilli's second goal of the game as he now has six goals, four assists, and 25 shots in his last 10 games.
Zach Werenski had a big fantasy night, assisting on all three Columbus goals, adding six shots, and throwing in a block and a couple of hits for good measure. He now has eight points during his five-game point streak.
Jet Greaves held the fort in net for Columbus, stopping 27 of the 29 pucks launched his way. He is up to a .906 save percentage with seven wins in 13 starts.
Tavares finished the game with the one goal on five shots, an assist on a Dakota Mermis goal, and three hits. Tavares has 12 goals, 15 assists, 65 shots, and 21 hits in 21 games this season.
Joseph Woll had another solid game for the Leafs, but took the overtime loss by allowing three goals on 30 shots.
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Jake Neighbours was back in the lineup for St. Louis on Thursday night after missing 12 games with a lower-body injury. He was on the top line with Robert Thomas and Jimmy Snuggerud, and was on the power-play unit with Brayden Schenn and Jordan Kyrou.
Travis Sanheim went top shelf on a 2-on-0 in overtime to lift the Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-2 win over the Blues. It was Sanheim's fourth shot and he even put up a pair of blocks. It hasn't been a great production season for him with just seven points in 19 games but the Flyers are in the thick of the playoff race so I'm sure he's not too concerned.
Rodrigo Abols tallied his first marker of the campaign while Tyson Foerster scored his first goal since returning from injury four games ago. Travis Konecny managed a pair of assists and shots in over 20 minutes of ice time.
Dan Vladar held the Blues to just the two goals on 29 shots for his seventh win in his 12th start.
Justin Faulk scored twice for the Blues, totaling three shots, three blocks, and a pair of hits. Faulk is now up to six goals in 21 games, or as many as he had in his previous 142 regular season games. Shooting nearly 16% will do that for a guy.
Joel Hofer was solid in net for the Blues, but took the loss by allowing three goals on 28 shots.
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Chicago welcomed Tyler Bertuzzi back to the lineup on Thursday night after he missed a couple of games. He started the contest skating on the second line with Frank Nazar, but was back in his usual spot on the top power-play unit.
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Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 30 shots he faced for his second shutout and his 10th win of the season as Florida narrowly edged out New Jersey by a 1-0 margin. After a very tough start to the season, Bobrovsky has a .902 save percentage over his last five appearances and has given up just 11 goals in that span. Maybe he's starting to find his groove.
Sam Reinhart scored the lone Florida goal, his 11th of the season, and totaled three shots, two blocks, and a hit. After starting the season with just three points in his first eight games, Reinhart has 9 goals, 5 assists, 39 shots, 14 blocks, and 8 hits in his last 12 games. Speaking of a player finding their groove…
Jake Allen was the hard-luck loser for the Devils, allowing just the one goal on 24 shots against.
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Ilya Sorokin faced 30 shots from the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night and stopped all 30 for his second shutout and seventh win of the season as the New York Islanders posted a 5-0 win. After giving up 16 goals in his first four games, Sorokin has now allowed just 22 goals in his last 10 starts.
New York's fourth line had a big game as Maxim Shabanov registered two goals, an assist, a block, and a hit while Calum Ritchie had a goal, an assist, and a pair of shots. Casey Cizikas had two helpers and a block.
Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal had the other goals. Barzal finished the game with three shots and now has 29 shots in his last 10 games after starting the season with 19 shots in his first 10 games.
Ryan Pulock had a decent multi-cat night with an assist, a shot, two blocks, and two hits.
John Gibson was in net for all five goals against on 26 shots. He has allowed at least four goals in seven of his 12 appearances this season.
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Alex Ovechkin scored twice late in Washington's road game in Montreal on Thursday night, capping off his first hat trick of the season in the Capitals' 8-4 win. He had scored earlier on the power play, his first power-play goal of the year. He now has eight goals, five assists, and 23 shots in his last nine games.
Rookie Ethen Frank had a monster game from the fourth line, scoring twice on four shots (one PP), adding two assists and a pair of penalty minutes in less than nine minutes of ice time. Line mate Sonny Milano also scored twice in 6:39 of ice time while Hendrix Lapierre had a pair of assists. That is four goals and four assists in 22:29 in total ice time between the three forwards.
Jakob Chychrun had the other goal, managing five shots, a block, and two penalty minutes. Rasmus Sandin had an assist, five shots, four blocks, and a pair of hits in a huge multi-cat night.
Charlie Lindgren held on for the win, stopping 24 of the 28 pucks directed towards his net.
Both Brenden Gallagher and Joe Veleno scored their first goals of the season while Nick Suzuki and Mike Matheson had the other tallies. Both Gallagher and Matheson added an assist to their season, and Matheson finished with two shots and four PIMs.
Sam Montembeault started the game but allowed three goals on 10 shots and was pulled. Jakub Dobes replaced him and allowed four goals on 25 shots. Over the Canadiens' last 10 games, their goaltenders have produced an .850 save percentage. The league average save percentage on the penalty kill is about .859.
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Not only did the Chicago Blackhawks lose their game at home to Seattle on Thursday night by a 3-2 margin, but forward Andre Burakovsky left the game late in the first period after taking a hit to the head. Whether people thought it was clean or not, I'll leave it up to them (it wasn't), but the fact remains that Connor Bedard is having a full breakout season with Burakovsky often on his wing, and now that's very much up in the air.
Jaden Schwartz, Tye Kartye, and Shane Wright all scored for the Kraken. Defenceman Brandon Montour had a pair of assists (one PP), three shots, a block, and a hit in the victory.
Joey Daccord was back in net for the Kraken and held the Blackhawks to two goals on 24 shots.
Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi each had a goal and an assist in defeat. Teravainen now has 65 points in his last 82 games dating back a calendar year. Goalie Spencer Knight allowed three goals on 27 shots for the loss.
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Colorado was hosting the New York Rangers last night and the Avalanche poured it on in the third period, scoring four times to manage the 6-3 win. Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar both had three-point nights, each posting two goals and an assist. MacKinnon leads the NHL in goals (16) and points (36) while Makar leads leads all defencemen in goals (8), assists (20), and points (28). The superstars for the Avs have been exactly that through the first quarter of the season.
Martin Necas had three helpers and a pair of shots, Brock Nelson scored one goal on four shots while adding an assist, and Ross Colton had the other tally, managing five shots overall. Over the last month, Colton has 3 goals, 7 assists, 31 shots, and 32 hits in 14 games.
Scott Wedgewood earned his league-leading 12th win by stopping 16 of the 19 pucks New York threw at him.
JT Miller managed a pair of PP goals for the Rangers, totaling three shots, and a couple of hits, while Adam Edstrom had the other goal. Adam Fox assisted on both the PP goals while adding two shots and two blocks. Fox is up to 18 points in 22 games while adding 2.1 shots and 1.6 blocks per game.
Igor Shesterkin allowed four goals on 33 shots in net for the Rangers.
Gavin Brindley took a hard hit midway through the first period, left the game, and did not return.
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Jack Eichel had a three-point night (two goals, one assist) with five total shots as Vegas went into Utah and defeated the Mammoth 4-1. It snaps a drought for Eichel has he had zero goals and five assists in his previous 10 games.
Braeden Bowman also had a multi-point night with a goal on two shots, an assist, and two PIMs. He has three goals and four points in five games since being called up.
Ben Hutton scored the other Golden Knights goal as defensive teammate Shea Theodore posted three assists, three shots, and a block.
Goalie Akira Schmid stopped 25 of 26 shots in the win. He is up to a .905 save percentage with nine wins in 10 starts.
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Dallas scored twice in the final 10 minutes of their road game in Vancouver to skate away with a 4-2 win. Mavrik Bourque, Jason Robertson, Colin Blackwell, and Mikko Rantanen all scored for the Stars. In calendar 2025, Robertson has 38 goals, 40 assists, and 211 shots in 67 games. His 38 goals is fourth behind David Pastrnak (41), Leon Draisaitl (39), and Morgan Geekie (39).
Miro Heiskanen managed an assist, a shot, and three blocks in the win. He is now up to 0.9 points per game, a three-year high and his highest since 2022-23 when he had 73 points in 79 games.
Jake Oettinger was excellent in net for Dallas, stopping 34 of the 36 shots against for the win.
Elias Pettersson and Linus Karlsson both scored for the Canucks. Pettersson finished with six shots, his first game with more than four shots this season, and the first time he reached six shots since January 27th, a span of 42 games.
Kevin Lankinen allowed four goals on 24 shots for his fourth loss in his last five games. He has allowed at least four goals against in 7 of his 11 starts.
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Ottawa put in a great defensive effort on Thursday night, going into Anaheim and holding the Ducks to just 25 shots and two goals in the Senators' 3-2 win. Going into the game, the Ducks were 2nd in the league in goals per game (3.65) and shots per game (30.2), so this really showed the defensive chops the Senators have when their goalie, in this case Linus Ullmark, holds their end of the bargain.
Shane Pinto (PP), Drake Batherson, and Nick Cousins had the goals for the Sens. Pinto is up to 30 goals in his last 70 regular season games after starting the 2024-25 season with just 1 goal in his first 20 games.
Jake Sanderson had a solid multi-cat night with an assist, two shots, two blocks, and two PIMs.
Mason McTavish and Beckett Sennecke scored for the Ducks. McTavish totaled four shots, a block, two PIMs, and two hits in a very good multi-cat night. Goalie Petr Mrazek earned the loss
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The San Jose Sharks won again on Thursday night, taking a 4-3 shootout win at home to Los Angeles. After starting the season 0-4-2, the Sharks have gone 10-4-1 in 15 games over the last month. They are 1 of 5 teams with a points percentage of at least .700 in that span, trailing Colorado, Dallas, Ottawa, and Tampa Bay. That stretch of games also sees them lead the league in save percentage at .917. Who'd have thunk it?
Adam Gaudette, Philipp Kurashev, and Ty Dellandrea scored for the Sharks in regulation while Adrian Kempe, Anze Kopitar, and Joel Armia replied for the Kings.
Sharks goalie Yaroslav Askarov held the Kings to three goals on 34 shots for his seventh win in 13 starts. He is also up to a .905 save percentage, which is pretty good work considering he started the month of November with an .844 save percentage. He has allowed just 11 goals in his last 7 games.
Anton Forsberg was in net for the Kings and allowed three goals on 24 shots, plus the only shootout goal, for the loss.