There were 14 games on Thursday and will be just one on Friday. So that I can spread the workload more evenly over two days, I'll focus mainly on the early games today while discussing noteworthy happenings from the later games tomorrow.

–

Juraj Slafkovsky has consistently been one of the top-searched players on Frozen Tools for the past week or two. I thought at first this might be due to the number of Habs fans who frequent this site, but on further examination Slafkovsky is now riding a nine-game point streak with 10 points over that stretch. He added to it on Thursday with an assist while also contributing six hits. Whether you think Slafkovsky was a legitimate first overall pick, he is at least contributing to fantasy teams at age 19. Being 21 percent rostered on Yahoo seems a bit low for what he's been doing lately.

With an assist on Thursday, Kaiden Guhle has five points and a plus-6 over his last three games. At just 22 years of age, Guhle might be a defenseman to remember for fantasy leagues next season.

–

Tyler Bertuzzi led the charge in the Leafs' 5-1 win over Washington, scoring a pair of goals. He also filled several peripheral categories with six shots, four hits, and two blocks. Since Mitch Marner has been out of the lineup, Bertuzzi has scored six goals and two assists in eight games while seeing both his icetime and his power-play time increase. Marner is expected to miss at least one more game, that being Saturday's game against Buffalo. Bertuzzi is worth at least a stream while Marner is out of the lineup and probably more. Bert scored his last power-play point before Marner was injured, and he's been on a solid even-strength line with Auston Matthews and Max Domi.

It took a while, but Tyler Bertuzzi is finding his grove with the Leafs pic.twitter.com/J1zYUI6TDA

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) March 29, 2024

Both Morgan Rielly and Timothy Liljegren were out of the Leafs lineup. On a limited sample size, Conor Timmins and Jake McCabe took care of power-play duties.

Mark Giordano also returned to the Leafs lineup after a one-month absence due to a concussion. The 40-year-old defender scored a goal for the Leafs on two shots, but his scoring number have declined to the point that he's no longer rosterable in many fantasy leagues.

–

Evgeni Malkin scored two power-play goals while totaling five shots in the Penguins' 3-2 win over Columbus. Those goals were Malkin's first in seven games. Remove the shortened 2020-21 season and Malkin has now scored at least 20 goals every season since 2012-13, when he played just 31 games. The 37-year-old Malkin is no longer elite, but he should still be rostered in most fantasy leagues.

With two assists on Thursday, Sidney Crosby has nine points over his last three games – all games in which he has had multiple points. Credit to Crosby who continues to compete hard even though his team's playoff chances are virtually zero. If he is not signed to an extension in the offseason, "will he return to Pittsburgh" will for sure be a story next season. His contract is set to expire at the end of next season.

Alex Nedeljkovic started his second consecutive game on Thursday, earning wins and quality starts in both. Meanwhile, Tristan Jarry is without a win or quality start in each of his last four games, with really bad starts in three of those games. In addition, Jarry has just two wins in all of March with a dreadful 4.44 GAA and .870 SV% for the month as well. Jarry also leads the league with 13 RBS (really bad starts). During the fantasy playoffs, dropping Jarry in single-season leagues is advisable, since you don't have time to be patient. You might have better luck with a streaming option at this point – maybe even Nedeljkovic. The Penguins have a rematch with the Blue Jackets on Saturday.

FLYING POKE-CHECK executed to PERFECTION from Nedeljkovic in OT 😱🔥 pic.twitter.com/LBDcpHcWAS

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) January 27, 2024

–

Don't look now, but Ottawa goalies are suddenly hot. Anton Forsberg turned away 18 shots in a 2-0 win over Chicago. Meanwhile, Joonas Korpisalo has five wins and five quality starts over his last six games. Forsberg was playing the second of back-to-backs for the Senators, who have now won four games in a row. The schedule gets a bit tougher for the Sens with their next games against Winnipeg, Minnesota, and Florida, with Korpisalo likely the goalie to start the bulk of the remaining games. He might be okay now despite struggling mightily earlier in the season, although I'm still a little nervous about Ottawa goaltending.

–

If you held onto Frederik Andersen while he was out of the lineup, you're now reaping the rewards. Andersen stopped 24 shots in pitching a 4-0 shutout over the Red Wings on Thursday, giving him wins and quality starts in all seven games he has played in since returning. Moreover, he has a 1.14 GAA and .957 SV% over that span. The Canes are among that larger-than-normal group of teams at the top of the league standings, which makes them a strong bet to win each game. As a result, Andersen should be considered one of fantasy hockey's top goalies at the moment.

Linemates Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis each scored a goal and added two assists for the Canes. Aho has 15 points over his last eight games. The third man on that line is Jake Guentzel, who added another two assists to give him 14 points in 10 games as a Hurricane. The vibes in Carolina are very good right now.

–

Joel Eriksson Ek returned to the Wild lineup on Thursday, scoring his 30^th goal of the season with a plus-3 in a 3-1 win. JEE had been out for the past two weeks with a lower-body injury. He has tied his career high of 61 points in 11 fewer games.

–

Pavel Buchnevich helped keep the Blues' slim playoff hopes alive, scoring a pair of goals in their 5-3 win over Calgary. Buchnevich is doing his part with six points over his last four games.

Buchnevich likely isn't available in your league, but his linemate Jake Neighbours is. Neighbours scored a goal and added an assist, giving him nine points over his last eight games. He's been a bit hot and cold all season, but he's getting the right deployment and the right results. Hidey-ho, Neighbours!

In a losing cause, Andrei Kuzmenko scored a pair of goals for the Flames. Since being acquired by Calgary, Kuzmenko has seven goals and three assists in 19 games, which is a similar pace to what he had in Vancouver with similar icetime and power-play time. His 73-point first season isn't likely the norm for him, and he may not ever attain that again. But at least he can score some nice goals.

Here is a closer look at that Kuzmenko beauty from the 1st period#Flames | #STLBlues
🎥: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/AhTn037ISB

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 29, 2024

–

Unfortunately for the Blues, they could not gain any ground on the Golden Knights, who also won on Thursday. Former Blue Ivan Barbashev scored a pair of goals for Vegas, giving him four points over his last four games. Prior to that, Barbashev went through a stretch where he scored just one goal over his past 19 games. Despite some up-and-down scoring, Barbashev has considerable value in bangers leagues. He delivered five hits on Thursday, while his 155 hits are third on the Golden Knights.

–

Nathan MacKinnon's 35-game home point streak and 19-game overall point streak has come to an end, as he was held without a point on Thursday.

–

The Predators’ streak of earning at least a point in a game has ended, and it came at the hands of the Arizona Coyotes. The Preds lost 8-4 to the Coyotes at Mullett Arena, ending the streak at 18 games.

–

Friday's lone game is between New Jersey and Buffalo. With plenty of roster spots available, players from these two teams will be in heavy demand. Who you add will of course depend on your league size and who is available, but I'll list one player from each team and how they could be of interest.

Erik Haula – He's not a hot scorer with just two points over his last seven games. However, Haula has been playing on the Jack Hughes line at even strength, and he has logged 19 and nearly 21 minutes over his last two games. Haula is under 25% rostered in Fantrax and just 8% rostered in Yahoo, so he is widely available.

Connor Clifton – We've had a few articles on Dobber Hockey this past week advising you to add a Sabre or two for the coming week. One name that wasn't mentioned is Clifton, which is likely due to his lack of scoring. I added Clifton this week for his hits and blocks, as his combined number (277) is within the top 30 in the league. Sure enough, Clifton scored a goal while taking three shots on Wednesday, but he registered just one hit and no blocks in that game. That could have been because the Sabres were forced to think offense after allowing five goals in the first period.

Bonus player from the Sabres: Jack Quinn, who just returned from a lower-body injury. Quinn was held without a point and was a minus-3 in the 6-2 loss to Ottawa, he has some scoring upside with 12 points in 18 games. He also logged 15 minutes and change on Wednesday, which included two minutes of power-play time.

–

Follow me on X @Ian_Gooding and Threads.