There was some significant injury news in the Eastern Conference so let's hop right to it.

First off, the Montreal Canadiens announced that Nick Suzuki, who hadn't missed a game since 2019, will be out 2-4 weeks with an upper-body injury. He blocked a shot off his hand during the loss to San Jose on Tuesday night and though he finished the game, it looks like it might cost him several more.

As a result of the Suzuki injury, Owen Beck was called up from the AHL and they had an interesting name as the top-line centre:

Oliver Kapanen prend les premiers exercices avec Cole Caufield et Juraj Slafkovsky.

— J-F Chaumont (@JFChaumontLNH) October 22, 2026

Oliver Kapanen was very successful last year between Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov, so let's see if he can recreate that kind of magic with Cole Caufield instead.

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On a bit of a good news/bad news front, the good news for Pittsburgh forward Ben Kindel is that his episode from the airplane earlier in the week seems as if it's behind him. Here is what happened, according to the team:

Kindel had a vasovagal episode, which is a sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure that reduces blood flow to the brain.

— Wes Crosby (@OtherNHLCrosby) October 22, 2026

That Kindel may be able to practice as early as next week if further testing all goes well is just tremendous news.

On the bad news front, the team also announced that forward Bryan Rust will be out at least six weeks. Rust has missed at least 10 games for three straight years and it looks like he's going to make it four. In light of the Kindel and Rust news, here were the new Pittsburgh lines, at least as of the start of the game on Thursday:

It was obvious that they would have to, but some very different lines and pairs for the Penguins at morning skate:

Novak-Crosby-Rakell
Koivunen-Lapierre-Malkin
Kuzmenko-Lizotte-Chinakhov
Soderblom-Dewar-Robertson

Stastney-Karlsson
Solovyov-Letang
Carlile-Korczak

— King Jemison (@king_jemison) October 22, 2026

This is a great opportunity for Tommy Novak, who was moved both to the top line and top PP unit.

Egor Chinakhov missed the game on Thursday, too, and Rutger McGroarty entered the lineup for him.

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The Ottawa Senators provided a reasonable update on goalie Linus Ullmark:

Linus Ullmark has been placed on injured reserve. That means he'll be out at least a week #Sens

— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) October 22, 2026

Ullmark left the game on Wednesday night with a non-contact injury, and those are always scary, but it seems like they avoided the worst and he may be back before the end of the month, and if not, early September.

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An update on San Jose Sharks forward Alex Wennberg:

Wennberg now considered more week to week at this point, Warsofsky says. He'll be reevaluated once the Sharks return to San Jose. Big loss

— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) October 22, 2026

It seems as if this would be Michael Misa's time to shine. For now, Mason Marchment is still getting top PP time, but Wennberg plays 20 minutes a night, and all those minutes can't go to Macklin Celebrini. It will be interesting to see what Misa does in Wennberg's absence.  

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Jack Hughes posted a goal, an assist, and two shots in New Jersey's 4-1 win at home to Anaheim on Thursday night. It is probably worth noting that Hughes is on a 92-point pace and he's shooting under 8% (average of 11.8% over the last two years) and the team is shooting just 10.7% with him on the ice (average over 12% across the last two years). If he stays healthy, he probably crosses 100 points.

Anthony Mantha, Nico Hischier (PP), and Arseny Gritstyuk had the other goals. Jesper Bratt posted a pair of assists and is now up to nine points in 10 games. Gritsyuk totaled four shots and a hit, giving him 24 shots and 10 hits in 10 games.

Nico Daws faced just 17 shots from Anaheim and stopped 16 of them for the win.

Tim Washe scored the lone Ducks goal. Ville Husso got the start in net and gave up three goals on 28 shots in the loss.

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Boston put the boots to Nashville on Thursday night via 6-0 win. David Pastrnak had a massive night with two goals, two assists, and three shots. He is up to 16 points in 11 games, and that gives up 110 points over his last 82 regular season games.

Casey Mittelstadt, Elias Lindholm (PP), Mark Kastelic, and J.J. Peterka also scored for Boston. Charlie McAvoy had a huge fantasy performance with four assists (one PP), a shot, two PIMs, and a hit. Despite the late start to the season, he has six points in his first five games.

Mikey DiPietro got the start in goal for Boston and stopped all 28 shots faced for the win and the shutout, the first of his career.

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After an emotional win over Florida on Wednesday night, a letdown seemed inevitable for Ottawa, and though they played well, San Jose came into town and skated away with a 6-2 win. Both Collin Graf and Jacob Trouba posted a goal and an assist while Ivar Stenberg, Tyler Toffoli, Zach Ostapchuk, and Nolan Allan also scored. Allan finished with three shots, two blocks, and four hits in a great multi-cat night.

Kiefer Sherwood posted a pair of helpers (one PP), three shots, two blocks, and five hits.

Yaroslav Askarov was great in net for the Sharks, stopping 40 of 42 shots in the win. He also made what will be one of the saves of the year:

Ask about Askarov (and this fantastic save he made in the second period). pic.twitter.com/Jyf2x8Crfj

— Julian McKenzie (@jkamckenzie) October 23, 2026

Not bad.

Tim Stutzle and Jordan Spence had the goals for the Senators. Stützle finished with five shots, a block, and five hits. He has 22 shots and 27 hits to go with his 15 points across 11 games to start the year.

Samuel Ersson was in goal for the Sens and gave up four goals on 26 shots.

Igor Chernyshov blocked a point shot in the first period, left the game, and did not return. Graf spent most of the time on the top line after the Chernyshov injury.

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Nick Robertson scored twice while Evgeni Malkin and Hendrix Lapierre each posted a goal and an assist in Pittsburgh's 4-0 shutout win over Florida. Robertson now has six goals in 11 games to start the year, but he is shooting nearly 29% and doesn't have an assist yet, so let's not get too excited for fantasy purposes just yet.

Kris Letang had a solid multi-cat night with an assist, a shot, two blocks, and two hits in 16:55 of ice time. Arturs Silovs registered the shutout by stopping all 26 shots directed at his net.

Cooper Black, the record-setting 6'8" rookie goalie, was in net for Florida and allowed three goals on 20 shots.

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Troy Stecher scored in the final 30 seconds of Toronto's game at home to the New York Rangers on Thursday night to lift the Leafs to a 5-4 win. In fact, Toronto's depth did a lot of the damage in this game as Brandon Duhaime totaled a goal, two assists, two shots, and five hits, Teddy Blueger had a goal and a helper, and both Easton Cowan and Kirill Marchenko (PP) both scored. Marchenko finished with five shots, two blocks, and four hits in 18:23 of ice time. He has six goals, six assists, 34 shots, 20 hits, and four blocks in 12 games. He is off to a tremendous start with his new team.

Jake McCabe had a great multi-cat night with an assist, five shots, and four blocks.

Sergei Bobrovsky did enough to hang onto the win, stopping 21 of 25 shots faced.

Mika Zibanejad posted a goal and an assist, and each of Oliver Bjorkstrand, Tye Kartye, and Alexis Lafreniere scored once each in the loss. Adam Fox tallied an assist on all four goals, and that put him in the lead for assists among defenceman by the end of his game with 14.

Dylan Garand was busy, but couldn't hold the fort long enough, giving up five goals on 36 shots against.