Let's start the Ramblings with an official puck drop. Who doesn't like a good boy or good girl?

WE'VE GOT A PUP DROP! 🐾@RipkenTheBatDog drops the puck on the #StadiumSeries! pic.twitter.com/ZZEO2HsZEE

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 19, 2023

I have to be honest – I had never heard of Carter-Finley Stadium, since I don't follow college sports as closely as professional sports. Yet between the marching band, Ripken the dog, and strong fan support, I was impressed with the setup for this outdoor game. Nearly 57,000 fans saw the hometown Hurricanes knock off the Capitals 4-1. Martin Necas led the way with a power-play goal and two assists, while Frederik Andersen stopped 24 of 25 shots to earn the win.

Teuvo Teravainen also scored for the Canes. After a slow start (no goals and eight assists in first 19 games), Turbo has been picking up the pace recently with three goals in his last six games. He's also taken a minimum of three shots over each of his last five games.

Tom Wilson rejoined the Capitals' lineup for this game, playing his first game since January 24. He scored Washington's only goal.

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Less than 24 hours after the Leafs/Blues/Wild trade was announced, Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari made their Leafs debuts on Hockey Night in Canada. Sheldon Keefe decided to add shiny new toy O'Reilly to a scoring line, starting him as the second line center with John Tavares moving to wing and Mitch Marner on the other wing. O'Reilly's first point as a Leaf was on Michael Bunting's second goal of the period (and game). ROR now has points in all four of his games since returning from a broken foot. Acciari did not record a point, but he made his presence known in the peripherals department with a team-high six shots as well as five hits.

In case you missed it, I wrote the Fantasy Take on the O'Reilly trade late Friday night. Touching on what I wrote, O'Reilly deserves a bump in value now that he's on a great scoring line. He's rostered in just under half of Yahoo leagues, so you might be able to find him in some of the shallower leagues out there. As for Acciari (8% Yahoo/20% Fantrax), don't sleep on him if you're in a bangers league. I've kept him on my salary cap multicat league all season because he has the highest hit total on my team. His profile will only increase now that he's the "other guy" traded to Toronto.   

With Ilya Samsonov battling the flu, Joseph Woll picked up his first win of the season, stopping 29 of 30 Montreal shots. The Leafs play again today (Sunday) in Chicago, so one of Erik Kallgren, Samsonov, or even Woll could start in what could be an easy matchup, in spite of the Leafs playing back-to-backs.  

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Cale Makar (concussion) returned to the Avalanche lineup on Saturday, but it was Bowen Byram who led the Avalanche blueline in goals. Byram scored a pair of goals in the Avs' 4-1 win in St. Louis, giving him five points in his last six games since returning from a lower-body injury. Byram has had more than his share of injuries through his NHL career, including multiple concussions. He was an absolute star in the WHL and I was fortunate to watch him live then, so I'm pulling for him. Don't forget about him in fantasy leagues, even if he's going to be overshadowed by Makar.

Makar did leave the game briefly after a collision, but he managed to return. He says he will play today (Sunday) against Edmonton, but you may want to have another option ready in case the concussion symptoms return.

Nathan MacKinnon is on fire right now. With two assists on Saturday, MacKinnon has nine points over his last four games, with multiple points in each of those games. MacKinnon is also shooting the puck with ease, as he has had at least six shots in each of those four games. He is the only player to average over five shots per game (5.3 SOG/GP, to be exact).

In his first start of the season, Justus Annunen stopped 19 of 20 shots to earn a win. Pavel Francouz is expected to miss at least the next three weeks, so look for Annunen to start another game or two during that span. After Sunday, the Avalanche have a layoff until back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday, so expect Annunen to start one of those games.  

Pavel Buchnevich left Saturday's day game with a lower-body injury and is not expected to play today (Sunday). Buchnevich has been out of the lineup two other times this season, most recently with an ankle injury, so not sure if that is related. Ivan Barbashev moved up to the first-unit power play in Buchnevich's absence.

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The Nashville Predators exploded for seven goals on Saturday, chasing Sergei Bobrovsky from the net in the second period after scoring four goals on 11 shots. The really bad start was Bob's first since New Year's Day, which was his first in 12 starts. Of course, that happened just two days after I said it was safe to start Bobrovsky again.

With a goal and two assists, Roman Josi has 11 points in his last eight games. He might not be making another run at 100 points, but he's still a top-tier defenseman in fantasy. Josi has also averaged four shots per game over his last five games, leading the league in shots by defensemen (221 SOG).

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Jack Hughes returned to the Devils' lineup on Saturday, missing just under two weeks after being announced as week-to-week with an upper-body injury. Hughes recorded two assists in the Devils' 5-2 win over Pittsburgh. For those wondering, Hughes will be back in the Top 100 Roto Rankings next month, provided he is not injured again by the middle of March.

Nico Hischier had an outstanding game, scoring two goals while adding two assists with a plus-3 and five shots. Hischier is on pace for 76 points over a full season, which would surpass his career high of 60 points from last season. If you thought Hischier would benefit from fellow center Hughes being out of the lineup, it's actually been quite the opposite. Hischier entered this game with just one point in his previous seven games. Both centers average nearly 20 minutes per game and appear on the first-unit power play, so they can easily coexist on separate lines. If the Devils acquire Timo Meier by the deadline as rumored, expect Hischier's value to climb even further.

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Johnny Gaudreau missed Saturday's game with a lower-body injury, ending his ironman streak at 349 consecutive games.

Joonas Korpisalo is generating a lot of interest in the trade market because he's been hot for a while. Korpisalo had 15 really bad starts combined over the previous two seasons, but he's had just two this season, with the last one being on December 7. Since then, Korpisalo has had 10 quality starts, including a 28-save performance in a 4-1 win over Dallas. Although Elvis Merzlikins is considered to be the goalie with the higher upside, Korpisalo has been flat out better this season and is starting more often as a result. Wins are hard to come by for the Blue Jackets, but Korpisalo has at least won back-to-back games. He's just 10 percent rostered in Yahoo, but he is at least worth a stream when the matchup doesn't seem daunting.

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Jake DeBrusk returned to the Bruins' lineup on Saturday, resuming his spot on a line with Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron. DeBrusk scored a power-play goal while adding an assist in the Bruins' 6-2 win over the Islanders.

Mathew Barzal left Saturday's game with an undisclosed injury, and there was no update on his status after the game. Since Bo Horvat's acquisition, Barzal has eight points in seven games with Horvat on his line the vast majority of the time. Horvat has three goals and an assist in seven games as an Islander, but he's been held without a point in his last three games.

Barzal had his leg off the ice which is good so I think he avoids any significant stress to his knee or ankle ligaments

Wonder if it's a quad contusion and he's more day-to-day https://t.co/rAagp6LYNu

— Dr. Harjas Grewal (@Harjas_Grewal) February 19, 2023

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I had openly thought on here in the past that a trade might be what Anthony Beauvillier would need to reach his full potential. So far, the trade to Vancouver has been paying dividends. Beauvillier scored two more goals on Saturday, giving him four goals and two assists in his last five games. Beau is checking all the boxes in terms of deployment: scoring-line even-strength usage with the team's top scorer, and first-unit power-play time with one of the league's better power plays. He's not going to replace Bo Horvat as an all-around player, and the Canucks are already overflowing with wingers, but so far there hasn't been much of a dropoff from losing Horvat. And yes, add Beauvillier if he's available. Just 9% rostered in Yahoo and 26% rostered in Fantrax.

Speaking of that leading scorer, he had a five-point game. Elias Pettersson finished with two goals (both empty-net shorthanded goals, but they all count) as well as three assists and a plus-4. Petey is on fire with 15 points in his last eight games, and with 71 points has already reached his career high in his five NHL seasons. He's now a top-10 scorer with a similar point total to the likes of breakout stars Jason Robertson, Tage Thompson, and Jack Hughes. The Canucks are having a rotten season, but one silver lining is that Pettersson has established himself as a superstar. 100 points might not be out of the question.

EP40's quest for 100 points for a huge boost tonight. Needs 29 with 24 games to go and a bunch of games left vs bottom-feeders

— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) February 19, 2023

"Would you like a banana?"

"No thank you."

1 goal = 1 🍌 for Andrei Kuzmenko#Canucks pic.twitter.com/lDsEX2ONZQ

— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) February 19, 2023

Arturs Silovs has made his NHL debut at least a couple years earlier than I thought he would, and it's possible that he remains with the Canucks for the rest of the season. The 21-year-old Silovs recorded his first NHL win on Saturday, stopping 35 of 37 shots from the Flyers. Following a trying debut against the Rangers on Wednesday, Silovs received a second consecutive start on Saturday and made good on the opportunity.

Thatcher Demko suffered a setback in practice earlier this week, with an update on the injury expected on Monday. Spencer Martin has been sent to the AHL, leaving Silovs and Collin Delia to battle for starts. He's at least made enough progress in the Canucks organization for them to deal Mikey DiPietro, so there's some promise even if he's being called up a bit too early and will feel the effects of a porous Canucks defense. For more on Silovs, see his Dobber Prospects profile.

Luke Schenn was added in a lot of leagues because he leads the league in hits (258). Yet he found his way onto the scoresheet in other ways on Saturday, recording three assists with a plus-5 in addition to six hits. Many teams are believed to be interested in Schenn as a rental, but would the Canucks part with him for a draft pick when they seem averse to trading players on expiring contracts? It's worth mentioning that he might receive less icetime on a contending team, potentially reducing his hit totals.

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Los Angeles jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first period against Arizona, but the Coyotes clawed back to eventually tie the game in the third period. Even though the Kings eventually won in a shootout, kudos to the Coyotes who seem to battle hard every night in spite of the obvious tank job from above.

Kevin Fiala scored two more goals and added an assist, giving him back-to-back three-point games. Fiala, who seems to produce no matter who his linemates are, is on a point-per-game pace for the second consecutive season. He has very similar numbers to those from Minnesota last season, only that he's already reached 20 power-play points for the first time in his career.

Kevin Fiala stickhandles through the opposition and around Vejmelka for a BEAUTY, 5-1 Kings in the first!#GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/e9fcnICG3G

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) February 19, 2023

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Jonathan Huberdeau update: Two assists on Saturday. If he's actually fired up by the Allan Walsh tweet, then that could be a positive sign moving forward. Huberdeau hasn't been that bad recently, recording five assists in his last four games. But he hasn't scored a goal in seven games.

"Walshy fired me up I guess" – Jonathan Huberdeau after notching 2 assists in OT win vs. NYR.

(h/t @ryanlesliemedia) https://t.co/fqJfnmLKUQ pic.twitter.com/WLyQLTTHIQ

— Tim and Friends (@timandfriends) February 19, 2023

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Follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.