This game was a wildly entertaining contest from start to finish. Buffalo held a 3-1 lead through the first half of the game and chased starting goalie Tristan Jarry from the net thanks to three goals on five shots. Peterka scored one of those three goals on a beautiful snipe on a 2-on-1 to garner his first tally of the season.

Pittsburgh would fight back and take the lead with three straight goals, one each from Drew O'Connor (SH), Jesse Puljujarvi, and Evgeni Malkin. Malkin's was the 500^th of his career with the lone assist coming from Sidney Crosby, which felt very poetic.

In return, Buffalo would score two goals 40 seconds apart to take a 5-4 lead into the final minute, only to have Rickard Rakell reply with his third goal of the season, jamming a puck past Ukko-Luukkonen. This game featured a two-goal deficit one way, a one-goal deficit the other, a 500^th goal from one of the top players of this generation, and a partridge in a pear tree. It was truly something else.

Pittsburgh pulled out the comeback win in overtime thanks to a goal from Sidney Crosby (PP), his third point of the night, and two of those coming on the man advantage. Malkin finished his historic game with a goal and three assists, seven shots, a pair of blocks, and nearly 23 minutes of ice time. Rust and O'Connor each had a goal and an assist as well.

Erik Karlsson assisted on the overtime winner and managed two shots, four blocks, and a hit in a very good multi-cat effort.

Luukkonen allowed all six goals on 42 shots.

Peterka finished the game with a pair of goals himself, registering four total shots. Jordan Greenway, Tage Thompson, and Ryan McLeod had the others. Alex Tuch had a pair of assists, five shots, three blocks, two PIMs, and a hit in an excellent multi-cat night.

Both teams have now given up 21 goals in five games on the season.  

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Over in Los Angeles, Darcy Kuemper was out for Wednesday night's game in Toronto with David Rittich getting the call in net. Joel Edmundson was moved to the non-roster list as his family is welcoming a baby (congrats!).

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After missing the 6-2 loss against the New York Islanders, Devon Toews was out again for Colorado's home game against Boston last night. Missing a slew of top wingers is one thing, but losing Toews is something that really hurts the team. With Cale Makar doing what he does, there is no one that can replace Toews's impact.

Sam Malinski was running the second PP unit, for what it's worth.

Colorado also broke up their lines, as Mikko Rantanen and Ross Colton were sent down to the second line alongside Casey Mittelstadt while Miles Wood and Logan O'Connor were elevated to the top line to play with Nathan MacKinnon.

Colorado stretched their winless streak to start the season to four games thanks to a 5-3 loss at Boston. As expected, Colorado's jumbled line mix didn't last long as Colton-MacKinnon-Rantanen was reunited by the mid-point of the second period, so that's one thing to keep in mind.

David Pastrnak (PP), Charlie Coyle (PP), John Beecher, Hampus Lindholm, and Cole Koepke all scored solo goals for the Bruins. Pastrňák finished the game with five shots and a hit in 22 minutes of ice time. He now has four goals and five points in five games to start the season.

Lindholm had that goal, an assist, two shots, a block, and a hit in a very balanced attack.

Joonas Korpisalo got the start for the Bruins and held the fort well enough, stopping 22 of 25 shots faced for the win.

Rantanen had a goal (PP), two assists (both PP), four shots, four PIMs, and a hit in the loss. Cale Makar had a three-point night himself with a goal and two assists (all on the PP) while adding a hit. Colton got on the board with a goal of his own, totaling four shots, two blocks, and five hits.

Alexandar Georgiev and allowed four goals on 24 shots. That is an .833 save percentage, which actually raised his save percentage on the season from .787 to .800, so that's an improvement.

Miles Wood left the game late in the third period and the team did not have an update on his status. That would make five wingers on the injured list if it even turns out to be moderately serious.

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An update on Ottawa forward Ridly Greig:

Greig is out for two weeks.

— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) October 16, 2024

Greig hasn't seen much of a role in Ottawa, but he's still a guy that can bring value in banger formats when he's healthy. Anyone with him on a roster shouldn't expect him back until early November.

Staying in Ottawa, Thomas Chabot left practice for Ottawa after a collision with a teammate. The good news is that after practice, the team said Chabot was fine, so it seems he avoided any real injury. Just keep an eye on it.

The Senators also said that Linus Ullmark could be ready to start as soon as Thursday night when they host the New Jersey Devils. Probably good news for anyone that watched that game against the Kings on Monday. It seems he just had a small tweak that they were being cautious of because they really can't afford any injury to build into something worse and keep him out for weeks/months.

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Joseph Woll was practicing again for Toronto:

Joseph Woll (lower body tightness) on the ice ahead of Leafs optional skate @TSN_Edge pic.twitter.com/dNUpgkbFSP

— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) October 16, 2024

Heading into Wednesday night's game, Anthony Stolarz and Dennis Hildeby had combined for a .931 save percentage across three combined starts. With Toronto's goaltending looking very solid in the first week, there is no rush to get Woll back in the lineup. That is good news for the team and not-so-good news for fantasy owners.

Toronto laid the wood to Los Angeles, going up 5-0 by the end of the second period and cruising to a 6-2 win. McMann scored twice, Auston Matthews and Morgan Rielly got their first of the year, and both Nylander and Tavares registered a power play tally to chase David Rittich from the net.

Alex Turcotte and Kevin Fiala replied for the Kings.   

Matthews finished with a goal, two assists (both PP), four shots, and a block while Nylander had that PP goal, an assist, and three shots. Mitch Marner chipped in three helpers (two on the PP) with a shot.

Both Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Jake McCabe had a pair of helpers as OEL also registered four shots, two blocks, two PIMs, and a hit in 21 minutes of ice time.

Stolarz stopped 32 of 34 shots in the win.  

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The New York Rangers welcomed Ryan Lindgren back to practice:

The defense pairs are:

Fox-Miller
Trouba-Schneider
Ruhlwedel-Lindgren
Jones-Mancini.

Also, it looks like the fourth line will be Edstrom-Carrick-Rempe.#NHL #NYR #NYRangers #Rangers

— Denis P. Gorman (@DenisGorman) October 16, 2024

The team made it clear there is still no direct timeline for his return, but that he's cleared and practicing in full is a good sign. He doesn't have a ton of fantasy relevance himself, but K'Andre Miller had been skating over 24 minutes a game in Lindgren's absence. That should go back down whenever Lindgren returns.

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Hey look, Detroit made power play changes again:

#RedWings PP units practice prior to tomorrow vs. NYR at LCA (7:30, ESPN-Plus/Hulu):
1. DeBrincat (net front), Larkin (bumper), Kane-Raymond (flanks), Gustafsson (point).
2. Rasmussen (net front), Compher (bumper), Veleno-Berggren (flanks), Seider (point).
Tarasenko not skating. pic.twitter.com/Jsb8RMgy8Y

— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) October 16, 2024

Aside from Dylan Larkin, and maybe Patrick Kane, there shouldn't be an assumption that any Detroit skater is a lock for the top power play unit. Considering their power play has been something like a 65-35 split to start the season, per Frozen Tools, that is important to keep in mind if you have Moritz Seider or Alex DeBrincat on your fantasy roster.

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Montreal provided a positive update on Jayden Struble:

Martin St-Louis confirme que Jayden Struble a le feu vert pour revenir au jeu. @CanadiensMTL @TVASports

— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) October 16, 2024

Like Lindgren above, it's not that Struble has much fantasy value himself unless you're in a banger league. It's that Lane Hutson had been starting to earn a lot of ice time. Struble returning would likely have a bigger impact for Arber Xhekaj's game-to-game status, but something to monitor nonetheless.

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William Eklund was not at San Jose practice and Daniil Gushchin took his spot on the top line:

#TheFutureIsTeal lines today, sans Eklund, interesting switch of Wennberg/Smith:

Gushchin-Granlund-Toffoli
Kostin-Wennberg-Zetterlund
Goodrow-W. Smith-Kunin
Grundstrom-Sturm-Dellandrea

Walman-Ceci
Ferraro-Rutta
Thrun-Benning

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 16, 2024

We will see what things look like whenever Eklund returns (it may be soon), but that's a stark improvement in Guschin's fantasy outlook for the time being.

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I thought it was notable that Nils Hoglander was back skating with Elias Pettersson towards the end of Vancouver's 4-1 loss on Tuesday night. Last season, the Canucks carried over 58% of the shot share with those two on the ice at 5-on-5 (per Natural Stat Trick), while outscoring the opposition 23-13. They also nearly doubled (92-49) their opponents by high-danger shot attempts. Maybe there are some defensive issues, but the current configuration just has not looked good to start the season. Hoglander isn't a threat for top power play time, but something to monitor.

The downside is Vancouver only has two games next week and they're on a Tuesday and Saturday, so it might be a while before Hoglander really has fantasy relevance, even if he stays on Pettersson's line.

Speaking of Vancouver, it appears Erik Brannstrom is being recalled:

The buzz is Brannstrom is indeed being recalled by the big club today. #Canucks

— Ben Kuzma 🇺🇦 (@benkuzma) October 16, 2024

Brannstrom was traded to the Canucks by Colorado but was left off the NHL roster. Given that Vancouver is winless in three games and has generated fewer shots per minute than any team not named Utah (as of Wednesday afternoon), that they're brining up a puck-moving blue liner makes sense. Not sure he has much fantasy value unless he somehow snags the PP2 role, but interested to see how he can impact Vancouver's ability to generate offence.

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Anaheim had a barnburner of a season opener against Utah in a game that featured four lead changes, the last being an overtime goal from Leo Carlsson to lift the Ducks to a 5-4 win.

Pavel Mintyukov scored twice on two shots, posting three blocks in 21:55 of overtime. A great start to the season for the young blue liner who showed so much promise last season.

Carlsson, Troy Terry, and Robby Fabbri had the other tallies. Carlsson added an assist on Mintyukov's second (and game-tying) goal, managing four total shots in 19:41 in ice time. Trevor Zegras, meanwhile, had an assist and five shots across 18 minutes of ice time.

It should be noted that Cutter Gauthier was moved to the fourth line and largely benched for the second half of the game. It is tough being a rookie in the NHL for most players.

Jack McBain and Michael Kesselring each had a goal and an assist for Utah. Kesselring had one shots, two blocks, and a hit in nearly 22 minutes of ice time without Sean Durzi in the lineup. He is definitely a guy to keep an eye on if he can ever earn some secondary PP minutes without Durzi.

Utah's top line kept rolling offensively as Barrett Hayton and Clayton Keller both tallied as well.

Lukas Dostal stopped 26 of 30 shots in the win while Connor Ingram allowed five goals on 34 shots in the loss.