Auston Matthews was back in the lineup for Toronto after taking a few games off, which is not a moment too soon for fantasy managers and Maple Leafs fans alike. Winger William Nylander skated prior to morning skate but did not suit up on Thursday night. That he's skating is a good sign, and hopefully he won't miss too many more games.  

Toronto hosted the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night and staged a big comeback, falling behind 2-0 in the first period, and 4-1 early in the second, before storming back and scoring five of the next six goals to win 6-5. Matthews had a big game in his return with a hat trick (one PP), an assist, five shots, and a block. He now has eight goals and 13 points in his last 13 games, totaling 54 shots in that span. It certainly looks like the Matthews of old.

Both Matias Maccelli and Oliver Ekman-Larsson had a goal and an assist. Maccelli now has six points in seven games since being put back into the lineup. Maybe the coach will leave him in now, but who knows.

Troy Stecher had the other tally while goalie Dennis Hildeby relieved Joseph Woll, who was pulled after the fourth goal, and stopped 21 of the next 22 shots to earn the win.

Mark Scheifele had a big game for the Jets with two goals (one PP), an assist, eight shots, and a hit. Gabriel Vilardi had a goal and an assist while Alex Iafallo and Dylan DeMelo also scored.

Eric Comrie was in net for the Jets and gave up six goals on 30 shots.

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Walt Ruff reported that Carolina winger Seth Jarvis was skating as an extra at morning skate on Thursday. He didn't play on Thursday night, but it seems as if his return the lineup should happen soon.

After giving up a 2-0 lead to fall behind 4-2, the Montreal Canadiens scored five of the next six goals to take a 7-5 win in Carolina over the Hurricanes. Juraj Slafkovsky, Sammy Blais, and Lane Hutson each had a goal and an assist while Josh Anderson, Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Oliver Kapanen all scored. Slafkovsky finished the game with two shots, five blocks, and three hits, and he has 21 points in his last 20 games, including eight goals, 36 shots, 21 blocks, and 26 hits. That is some multi-cat stat stuffing right there.

Jakub Dobes got the start in net for Montreal and allowed five goals on 26 shots but earned the win.

Sebastian Aho had a monster game for Carolina, figuring in on all five goals with two goals, three assists (two PP), three shots, a block, two PIMs, and three hits. That brings him to a point-per-game pace on the year with 16 goals and 24 assists.

Both Nikolaj Ehlers and Andrei Svechnikov managed a goal and two assists while Alexander Nikishin had one of each. Goaltender Brandon Bussi allowed six goals on 21 shots in the loss.

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The day after he was announced as part of the Canadian men's Olympic team, New York Islanders forward Bo Horvat left the game halfway through the period with an injury. It was an innocent play where he was bumped in the neutral zone, but it was enough to remove him from the matchup. We are still waiting on an update.

To make matters worse, the Islanders got absolutely trounced in that game 7-2 by the Utah Mammoth. Dylan Guenther led the way with a hat trick and a power-play assist. That gives Guenther 20 goals on the season and he's now on pace to eclipse 70 points. He has done that averaging under 17:30 per game and doesn't turn 23 years old until April.

Both Clayton Keller and Mikhail Sergachev had a goal and two assists in the win, both with two PP points, while Nick Schmaltz had two goals and an assist (PP). Those three points put Schmaltz on pace for a career-high 64.

Karel Vejmelka was back in net for the Mammoth and stopped 20 of 22 shots in the win.

Matthew Schaefer and Calum Ritchie scored for the Islanders. David Rittich was pulled after giving up five goals on 14 shots.

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The Ottawa Senators battle back from a 2-0 first-period deficit to edge out the Washington Capitals by a 4-3 margin. Fabian Zetterlund, David Perron, Ridly Greig, and Nick Jensen scored the goals as Perron finished with five shots, two PIMs, and four hits in a great multi-cat night. After registering just four points in his first 20 games, Zetterlund has 9 goals and 14 points in his last 19 games.

Jake Sanderson also had a solid multi-cat night with an assist, two shots, three blocks, and a hit.  

Leevi Merilainen did enough to hang on for the win, holding the Capitals to three goals on 29 shots.

Tom Wilson had another great fantasy performance with a goal, an assist, three shots, a block, and three hits. Dylan Strome (PP) and Aliaksei Protas had the other tallies.

Logan Thompson allowed four goals on 32 shots in the loss.

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Nikita Kucherov managed a goal, two assists (one PP), two shots, and a block as Tampa Bay beat Los Angeles 5-3. Brayden Point scored twice (one PP), Anthony Cirelli totaled a goal and an assist, while Gage Goncalves had the other tally. After a very slow start to the season, Point now has six goals and 13 points in his last 11 games, which is a lot more of what we've come to expect from him.

Darren Raddysh's excellent season continues with two assists, a block, and two PIMs as goalie Jonas Johansson took the win with 17 saves on 20 shots.

Both Quinton Byfield and Andrei Kuzmenko put up a goal and an assist in the loss, while Corey Perry registered a trio of helpers. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper was back in net for the Kings after missing more than two weeks, and took the loss by giving up four goals on 23 shots.

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Kris Letang played overtime hero as the Pittsburgh Penguins earned a 4-3 win at home to Detroit. Sidney Crosby scored twice (one PP) while Blake Lizotte had the other tally. Crosby also assisted the Letang OT winner, giving him 23 goals and 20 assists on the year. It is his 18^th season with at least 20 goals and 20 assists.

Bryan Rust had a good multi-cat night with an assist, two shots, two blocks, and two PIMs. Goaltender Arturs Silovs had winning honours, stopping 24 of the 27 pucks directed his way. Alex DeBrincat, Andrew Copp, and James van Riemsdyk all scored for Detroit. Cam Talbot was in net and gave up four goals on 30 shots.

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Chicago got out to a 4-1 lead over Dallas and managed to hang on for a 4-3 win. Ilya Mikheyev scored twice as both Artyom Levshunov and Teuvo Teravainen both tallied PP goals in the victory. Ryan Donato had a pair of assists (one PP), a pair of shots, and four hits in his first multi-point game in nearly two months.

Mikko Rantanen, Jason Robertson, and Matt Duchene all scored for the Stars. Robertson assisted on the Duchene goal as well, and he's now the only American forward with at least 175 goals and 200 assists since the start of the 2021-22 season. Just throwing that out there.

Spencer Knight was the winning goalie, allowing three goals on 25 shots, while Jake Oettinger was the losing goalie, allowing four goals on 21 shots.

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Matty Beniers scored twice as the Seattle Kraken earned a 4-1 win over Nashville. Those two goals put him on a 50-point pace, which would be his first time since his rookie season accomplishing that feat.

Jamie Oleksiak and Jared McCann had the other Kraken markers. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer held the Predators to one goal on 25 shots. After struggling for years in Seattle, Grubauer has a .920 save percentage in 10 starts (13 games) this season.

Roman Josi (PP) was the lone Nashville goal scorer, and goaltender Juuse Saros gave up three goals on 22 shots for the loss.

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In yesterday's Ramblings, I looked at some of the top-performing fantasy skaters on a per-minute basis across calendar 2025, including Macklin Celebrini, Darren Raddysh, and Mortiz Seider. Let's finish that train of thought and look at the 2025 calendar year among goalies.

Data is from Evolving Hockey and NHL.com. We are limiting the sample to goalies that made at least 29 starts, which gives us 50 goalies.

Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood (Colorado Avalanche)

In our 50-goalie sample, only two goalies won at least two-thirds of their starts, and to no one's surprise, they were the goalies from the Colorado Avalanche:

It isn't just that they have won a lot of games, which is the hallmark of their team scoring a lot of goals. It is that Wedgewood's goals against average and save percentage were both legitimately great while Blackwood's weren't quite as good but still considerably above the median rates of our 50 goalies (about 2.70 GAA and about .903 SV%). That they often rotate starts is always a nuisance because you may not get more than one start from either in each fantasy week, but with how good the Avalanche are in front of them, their starts are worth considerably more than any goalie anywhere else in the league.

Casey DeSmith (Dallas Stars)

As mentioned, the 50 goalies had a median GAA of around 2.70 and a median SV% of around .903. Out of those 50 goalies, just seven were better than those two numbers while winning at least 60% of their starts. Two were from Colorado and two were from Dallas, with backup DeSmith being one of them:

It is notable that DeSmith posted both a better GAA and better SV% than Jake Oettinger did in 2025. So far in the 2025-26 campaign, DeSmith has started 15 of the 41 games, putting him on pace for 30 starts. At this pace, he'll be good for at least one start a week moving forward, and with this performance, he's one of the better backups to have on a fantasy roster.

Jet Greaves (Columbus Blue Jackets)

While not a fantasy stat, Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx) can help identify goalies who are succeeding in tough situations by accounting for the team in front of them. Our sample of goalies had five winning at least 50% of their starts while requiring 35-or-fewer shots against for every GSAx. One of them is Columbus' young starter:

Greaves is now the genuine starter for Columbus and a weak defensive team in front of him can lead to some bad games, but for a guy who is 24 years old and wasn't even drafted, he was pound-for-pound one of the best goalies in calendar 2025. That is certainly a very good sign for his future fantasy value, and the hope is the team in front of him improves. This kind of performance on a genuine playoff team would mean a top-10 fantasy goalie.

A quick shout out to Jake Allen. He was a big reason the New Jersey Devils survived their injuries early in calendar 2025 and made it to the 2025 postseason, plus he's had a very good 2025-26 campaign thus far. He is from my hometown, so I always like to be able to highlight when he's excelling, which has been often over the last 12 months.