The Buffalo Sabres are… maybe a playoff team this season? The Sabres are now 18-3-1 in their past 22 games, which has had positive effects on their players.

One area where the Sabres can be trusted more than in previous seasons is in goal. On Saturday, Alex Lyon pitched a 26-save shutout over the Islanders. Since December 9, Lyon is 9-0-0 with a 2.05 GAA, .927 SV%, and seven quality starts. He is rostered in less than half of Fantrax leagues and only about 20% of Yahoo leagues. Lyon just returned from a minor injury, so Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has picked up the slack. Since December 22, Luukkonen also has seven of nine quality starts. It would make sense for these two goalies to split starts, although they probably don't want to lose Colten Ellis to waivers. However, Lyon might be the easiest goalie of the three to trade given his age (33) and low cap hit ($1.5 million).

In the 5-0 win, Jason Zucker scored a pair of goals, giving him seven points over his last six games. Zucker is a regular on the Sabres' top power play and is quietly having an effective season (27 PTS in 32 GP). His advanced stats show potential second-half regression (19.1 SH%, 3.2 PTS/60, 57.1 Sec Asst %, 75.0% IPP), but at the very least he is a perfect Yahoo streamer (11% rostered).  

Bo Horvat returned to the Islanders' lineup on Saturday after being sidelined for the past three weeks with a lower-body injury.

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In the battle of prehistoric creatures, the Mammoth slayed the Predators by a score of 5-2. Mikhail Sergachev assisted on three of Utah's goals, breaking a four-game point slump. Sergachev is scoring at 0.69 PTS/GP – exactly the same pace as last season.

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Cole Caufield registered a hat trick on Saturday, extending his goal streak to five games. Over that span, Caufield has eight goals. Related to this recent run and his overall goal scoring (29 goals this season), the topic of conversation surrounding Caufield has been his omission from Team USA in the Olympics. The US, like Canada, has a stacked enough roster where a few star players will be left off. Perhaps an injury could result in Caufield appearing anyway. This isn't necessarily a fantasy hockey related debate, but remember that player comparisons are what we do all the time.

Absolutely ABSURD angle on this goal 😮‍💨

And absolutely ABSURD this guy isn't playing for Team USA at the Olympics 😫 https://t.co/TTbVvIVrMt pic.twitter.com/tyv6XoziYH

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) January 25, 2026

As for Garry Galley's comment on the clip about Caufield being Mr. Saturday Night, Caufield has scored 22 goals on Saturday since the start of last season, which is tied with Nathan MacKinnon for the most in the league.

In the Bruins' 4-3 win over Montreal, Charlie McAvoy recorded three assists. McAvoy has been on a run recently with 14 points over his last 12 games. McAvoy has also been effective with various peripherals with six power-play points, 15 hits, and 26 blocked shots over those 12 games. He is having a rebound season with 33 points in 40 games, which is already 10 points higher than his point total last season despite playing 10 fewer games so far.

Morgan Geekie scored two goals for the Bruins, giving him 28 on the season. Geekie's goal scoring has regressed recently, as he had a 12-game goal drought through late December and early January. However, he now has three goals in his last three games.

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If you bet the over on the Columbus/Tampa game, you cashed in. A total of 13 goals were scored, with the Blue Jackets skating away with an 8-5 win. Since the coaching change from Dean Evason to Rick Bowness, the Jackets have won five of six games.  

Mason Marchment led the way with three goals and an assist. Checking in on Marchment since he was acquired from Seattle, he has eight goals and 11 points in nine games in a Columbus uniform. That represents an upgrade in value as a result of the trade. He is benefitting from playing on a scoring line with Kirill Marchenko and Adam Fantilli, as well as some top power-play time. The Jackets play four times next week with a league-leading three light days, which lines up perfectly as a reason to add Marchment, who is rostered in just 16% of Yahoo leagues and 40% of Fantrax leagues.

Fantilli and Charlie Coyle each scored a goal while adding two assists in the win. The goal was Fantilli's first since December 16. During his 17-game goal drought, Fantilli still managed to put up eight assists. A 9.4 SH% and a 7.9 5-on-5 SH% means that he shouldn't slump like this going forward.

The Lightning had their share of scoring in this game. Nikita Kucherov finished with a goal and three assists, Jake Guentzel scored two goals with one assist, while Anthony Cirelli scored a goal with two assists. Kucherov has 11 points over his last five games, Guentzel has seven points over his last four games, while Cirelli has six points over his past three games.   

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Brandon Bussi stopped 34 of 35 shots in the Hurricanes' 4-1 win over Ottawa. Bussi now has five wins and six quality starts over his past seven games. More recently, Bussi has allowed just one goal in each of his last three games, although he faced fewer than 20 shots in each of the two games before Saturday. The only goalies who have a higher quality start percentage (73.9%) with as many games played as Bussi (23) are Andrei Vasilevskiy and Dan Vladar. Bussi has been quite the waiver-wire find, establishing himself as Carolina's top goalie this season.  

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J.T. Compher led the Red Wings with two goals in their 5-1 win over Winnipeg. Compher broke a three-game streak without a point with the two goals. Compher also took four shots in this game while playing on a line with James van Riemsdyk and Emmitt Finnie.

New year, new JvR. With an assist, van Riemsdyk has 13 points over his last 12 games dating back to January 1. He has also been on Detroit's top power play for stretches, so he is finding reasons to be rostered. His overall icetime is a concern, as he has played fewer than 12 minutes per game in each of his last three games.

John Gibson on a heater:

– .937 save percentage in January
– leads all goalies with 9.36 goals saved above expected this month
– won his past 8 starts
– won 17 of his past 19 starts#LGRW

— Michael Amato (@amato_mike) January 25, 2026

I had Gibson on one of my rosters earlier this season but I dropped him! Prior to his run of 17 wins in 19 games, Gibson was 4-7-1 with a 3.59 GAA and .865 SV%. Can you blame me for dropping him? My goaltending was in a state of disarray with Ilya Sorokin struggling and Pyotr Kochetkov injured. Currently my goalies consist of Sorokin, Bussi, and Akira Schmid in a 14-team league, so I'm fine and not going through all the what-ifs in my head that can happen after a decision gone wrong. All of this is to say that goaltending can be fickle.

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Jordan Kyrou scored a pair of goals in the Blues' 5-4 shootout loss to Los Angeles. Kyrou is salvaging something from a largely disappointing season by scoring seven points over his last seven games. With only Vancouver holding fewer points than the Blues in the Western Conference, Kyrou's name will probably be mentioned in trade rumors leading up to the deadline.

Alex Laferriere scored a goal and added an assist with four shots in 20 minutes of icetime in this game. With the two points, Laferriere broke a five-game point drought. You may want to keep Laferriere on your radar for next week, as Los Angeles is the one team that gets the five-game week. Laferriere is available in about two-thirds of Yahoo leagues.

I might consider dropping Drew Doughty in one of my leagues if not for the five-game week next week. Doughty has not registered a point since December 27, which is 12 games ago. He is also a minus-14 with just eight hits and six blocked shots over that span. Now 36 years of age, Doughty might be experiencing wear and tear from long, hard NHL minutes through the years. His invite to Team Canada seemed to be based on past achievements, yet he may still step up his game for the Olympic tournament as he has for big games in the past. In the fantasy realm, I'm putting Doughty on probation, which is to say that he is droppable if he is still goose egging my roster a week from now.

By the way, check your league settings in the event that your scoring period is extended further than a week, or at least check how your league's schedule is affected by the Olympic break. The NHL season pauses on February 6, which is less than two weeks away. This has been an unusual season with a condensed schedule and a break lasting nearly three weeks.

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Brad Marchand made a difference in his return to the Panthers' lineup on Saturday. Marchand's second goal of the game was the overtime winner in a 4-3 win over Minnesota. Marchand also registered an assist while taking six shots on goal. Marchand had been out since January 8 with an undisclosed injury. Make sure he is back in your lineup.

Like Marchand, Matt Boldy was also activated off injured reserve for this game. Boldy scored a goal while adding an assist, as did Kirill Kaprizov.

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In a couple of my leagues, I was hoping for a quiet, low-scoring game between Edmonton and Washington. I should have known better than to get my hopes up with these two teams in what turned out to be a run-and-gun affair. The Oilers tapped into some of their 1980s-level numbers in a 6-5 overtime win.

Hopefully you didn't have to face Evan Bouchard this week. Bouchard unleashed big bombs in multiple categories with a hat trick, three assists, eight shots, two blocked shots, and a plus-5 in 29:25 of icetime. He is now tied for the league lead in points among defensemen with Cale Makar and Zach Werenski (55 PTS). Bouchard is now on pace for 85 points, which would be his best season yet. However, he is not on Canada's Olympic team, likely because the selection committee was worried about his defensive shortcomings. Maybe he should be there instead of Doughty. Debate away.

Oilers Evan Bouchard

Joins Bobby Orr as the only defencemen in NHL history with 6 points & 8 shots on goal in a game

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) January 25, 2026

Not to be outdone (by much), Connor McDavid picked up two goals, three assists, nine shots, and a plus-5 in 28:43 of icetime. McDavid also scored the overtime winner. With the five-point night, he is the first player to hit 90 points this season.

Leon Draisaitl chipped in three assists, while Zach Hyman scored a goal and added an assist.

It wasn't all good for Oilers players, though. Connor Ingram was pulled in the second period after allowing three goals on 12 shots. Ingram had strung together five consecutive quality starts prior to Saturday.

Justin Sourdif continued his red-hot play of late. With a goal and an assist, Sourdif has eight goals and 15 points in his last 11 games. A 34.8 SH% during this run, along with Sourdif's unproven NHL track record, likely means he will cool off at some point. In the meantime, he's worth adding at least in the short term. At the very least, the 23-year-old Sourdif appears to be a legitimate NHL player, justifying the Capitals' decision to trade a second-round pick and a sixth-round pick for him last summer.

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