Colorado got a key piece to their lineup back, though it's not Gabriel Landeskog or Valeri Nichushkin (yet). Logan O'Connor returned to the lineup for Colorado on Thursday night, having missed four games. O'Connor went into that game third on the team in 5-on-5 goals with nine, and he has the lowest on-ice goals against rate at 5-on-5 on the team, too. He and Ross Colton have formed a very good middle-6 line, though when everyone is healthy, that role may be minimized. When is this group fully healthy, though?

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As expected, Scott Perunovich returned to the St. Louis lineup on Thursday night as well. He hadn't played since January but had 12 points (all assists) in 31 games before that. Ice time will be an ongoing issue and he did slot on the second power play unit, so regaining any meagre fantasy value he had before the injury is unlikely for now. Things can change quickly, though.

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Buffalo got some good injury news as Owen Power was skating in a non-contact jersey:

Victor Olofsson has re-joined the Sabres, and he's on the ice for an "optional" practice in Columbus.

Owen Power is skating again, albeit in a yellow non-contact jersey. pic.twitter.com/iXjK8KwCzY

— Lance Lysowski (@LLysowski) February 22, 2024

He had been skating earlier this week and is now taking the next step to his own return. Especially with Mattias Samuelsson out, this team is not deep enough on the blue line to have Power out for an extended absence, though any faint playoff hopes have been dashed by now.

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There was no Nikolaj Ehlers at Winnipeg practice with lines looking like this:

#NHLJets line rushes (no Ehlers today)

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Perfetti-Monahan-Iafallo
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Namestnikov-Kupari

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt
Stanley

— Mitchell Clinton (@MitchellClinton) February 22, 2024

Ehlers had seen his ice time nuked after the All-Star break, skating just 14:42 per game in the seven games. The same thing happened to him last season as he was struggling with injuries, so this is definitely something to keep an eye on. Rick Bowness said as much after practice by divulging that Ehlers has a nagging hip issue and he won’t play on Friday if he’s too sore. Let’s hope this isn’t something that persists for too much longer.

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Connor Ingram looks to be making his way back to the team as Matt Villalta was sent back to the AHL. Ingram has only been out a week, so it doesn't seem as if it was anything serious. He has been a good fantasy option since getting to Arizona, particularly this season with 17 wins in 33 starts, posting a .912 save percentage. The team has been taking a lot more penalties of late, though, and that's something to be concerned about if you're an Ingram owner.  

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Vegas updated the status on Mark Stone by saying he is week-to-week with a lacerated spleen. To me, that doesn't sound like a player and a team that just wants to stuff someone on LTIR until the playoffs, so all the best to him in that recovery. It sounds like a very painful and un-fun way to spend the next month or so.

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Ottawa handled Dallas pretty easily via a 4-1 score on Thursday night. Shane Pinto had a power play goal, Josh Norris scored twice, and Thomas Chabot also tallied for the second game in a row to get the Senators the two points. Norris had a pair of hits to go with his two goals, and it was his first two-goal game since the first game of the season. Pinto finished the night with three total shots and a pair of blocks. He now has 4 goals, 10 points, and 39 shots in 13 games since returning from his suspension. The team, and fantasy owners, really could have used this in the first three months of the season.

Joe Pavelski had the lone goal for Dallas, his 20^th on the season. He has now scored at least 20 goals in every 82-game season going back to 2007-2008. That is remarkable consistency.

Anton Forsberg faced just 15 shots and saved 14 of them for the win. Jake Oettinger was pulled after allowing three goals on 11 shots.

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Goals from Kris Letang (x2), Bryan Rust (PP, if you can believe it), and Drew O'Connor gave Pittsburgh a very much-needed two points on Thursday night, defeating Montreal 4-1. It wasn't the most convincing win of the season, but this team just needs to accumulate points right now.

Letang had three blocks and a hit in 22:29 of ice time. He is now on pace for over 50 points and that's with just two PP points on the season (thus far). Add the 89 blocks and 97 hits to his profile and it's been a great fantasy season, even without the PP production.

Tristan Jarry saved 31 of 32 shots in the win.

Mike Matheson scored the lone Montreal goal, totaling three shots and a hit.

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A late goal from Sebastian Aho lifted Carolina to a 1-0 win over Florida on Thursday night. That was Aho's 60^th points of the season, giving him six straight seasons of at least 60 points (not including the shortened Bubble year).

Pyotr Kochetkov was the story of the game, though, as his 44-save performance led to a shutout, and secured the two points for the Hurricanes. He now has a .930 save percentage in his last 18 appearances dating back to a game where he was pulled in less than six minutes after allowing three goals on six shots. It is a scary thought if this Carolina roster can get goaltending approaching anything of that level for the playoffs.

The big story coming out of the game, though, was Matthew Tkachuk. He took a hard hit late in the first period and left the game, looking like he was holding his side. We will pass on updates as we get them but an extended absence right now would be awful timing in the fantasy game with head-to-head playoffs 2-3 weeks away in most leagues.

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An overtime goal from Patrick Kane pushed Detroit to a 2-1 win over Colorado. Dylan Larkin scored earlier in the third period to tie the game, and the Red Wings managed to sneak two points out of a game where they were fewer than eight minutes away from getting zero.

Larkin assisted on the overtime goal and had three shots in the contest. After going three games without a point, he has two goals and two assists in his last three outings.

Nathan MacKinnon scored the lone goal for Colorado (of course), managing 11 of the 30 shots the team posted on the night. That makes 280 shots for MacKinnon in 58 games played.

Alex Lyon stopped 29 of the 30 shots faced for his 16^th win in 25 starts.

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Despite injury concerns from Artemi Panarin and Jimmy Vesey, both suited up on Thursday night and New York took a 5-1 win in New Jersey. Alexis Lafreniere scored twice, Artemi Panarin had three assists, and Vincent Trocheck had one of each as that line did what they've done so often this season and that's bury the opposition. Lafreniere finished the game with four shots, a block, and a hit. He needs just four more goals for his first career 20-goal season.

Igor Shesterkin was rock-solid in net once again by saving 39 of the 40 shots New Jersey mustered. He has saved 80 of the 82 shots against him in his last two games. If he's truly turned a corner, this is a much different team, which is worrisome for the rest of the Eastern Conference (and sweet music for Rangers fans).

Jack Hughes registered New Jersey's lone goal while landing 10 shots on net. He has 3 goals, 3 assists, and 48 shots in seven games since returning from injury.

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Andrei Vasilevskiy gave up four goals on 23 shots, Connor McMichael scored into the empty net to post his second straight two-goal game, and Washington went into Tampa Bay and escaped with a 5-3 win. McMichael also had a pair of hits, and has 5 goals, 7 points, and 7 hits over his last seven outings. It seems as if he's truly turned a corner and that's a big deal for the future of this franchise.

Anthony Mantha had a goal and a hit while Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Rasmus Sandin also scored.

Tyler Motte, Nick Paul, and Brandon Hagel replied for Tampa Bay. Hagel had four total shots, two PIMs, and a hit in a very good multi-cat night. Going back to the Christmas break, Hagel has 11 goals, 15 assists, and 57 shots in 23 games. Only two of those points have come on the power play.  

TJ Oshie left the game with a non-contact injury on an awkward turn, needing help to the dressing room. It didn’t look good.

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Pavel Buchnevich had a hat trick, Robert Thomas had a trio of assists, and Jordan Binnington had a 38-save shutout as St. Louis took a 4-0 win over the New York Islanders. Buchnevich had five total shots with a hit as he's now pacing for yet another 30-goal season. Thomas, meanwhile, is up to 65 points in 56 games, equalling his total from last season in 17 fewer games played. He is turning into a true star in the NHL, and he's even two shots per game to float a bit of peripheral value in fantasy.

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Toronto kept the good times rolling with a 7-3 beatdown over a hobbled Vegas side. Auston Matthews had just one goal on six shots (that slacker) while Max Domi scored twice, John Tavares once, and Pontus Holmberg with one tally and a helper.

Jake McCabe had a great multi-cat night with a goal, two shots, a block, and three hits.

Adin Hill allowed three goals on 20 shots in fewer than 15 minutes to get pulled, and then Logan Thompson allowed four goals on 22 shots. Not a great night for the Golden Knights.

Jonathan Marchessault had a goal and an assist in the loss and now has 12 goals and 17 points over his last 14 games. He will need to do a lot more of that to keep this team afloat at least until Jack Eichel comes back.

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Colton Sissons had a goal and two assists in Nashville’s 4-1 over Los Angeles. He got his power play role back late in Nashville’s game on Tuesday, and held it for all three power plays last night. None of his points came on the PP, but it’s very much worth keeping an eye on because he’ll always carry value in banger leagues, but having PPTOI or not makes a big difference in other formats.

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In yesterday's Ramblings, we discussed players that drive the bus – are responsible for zone entries in transition – like the aforementioned Ehlers and Pierre-Luc Dubois. We also touched on David Perron, who is the opposite of those guys this season.

Without diving too much further, one more name stuck out to me: Tye Kartye. Of the 237 forwards in the sample using data from AllThreeZones, Kartye is in the 33^rd percentile for zone entries/60 minutes league-wide, so he does get some work but he's not the heavy lifter. What stuck out was that he had the third-lowest percentage of zone entries with possession (either with a pass or carrying it himself). Only Perron and Phil Di Giuseppe were lower, and names like Barclay Goodrow and Connor Brown were just ahead of Kartye.

This is interesting for two reasons. The first is that Kartye is third on the team in shot attempts/60 minutes at 5-on-5, trailing only Jared McCann and Oliver Bjorkstrand. He also hits a lot, so he's of interest to fantasy players in banger leagues for these peripheral stats.

The second reason it's interesting is that Seattle generates just 25.3 shots per 60 minutes with Kartye on the ice, the second-lowest rate on the team (only Brandon Tanev is lower, which gives an idea of what we're dealing with). So, while Kartye is generating a lot of shots for himself, there isn't much for everyone else, and the lack of goal-scoring with him on the ice shows.

It will be interesting to see what Kartye does next season. He is a player the team wants to be a top-6 scorer in the next couple years, but he needs to start possessing the puck a bit more when it's on his stick. Firing everything towards the net is not helping anyone, and it could keep him from moving up the lineup, and thus becoming a more valuable fantasy option.