Perhaps more than any other team in the league this season, the Colorado Avalanche have been really battling the injury bug. While they have been getting some key players back in the lineup over the last couple weeks, they had another one go back on the injury list as winger Jonathan Drouin is week-to-week:

Drouin just cannot catch a break. After a huge game where he scores two goals, he's back to now being week-to-week again.

— Jesse Montano (@jessemontano_) November 27, 2024

More updates as we get it, but it's not a great sign that Drouin has had a lingering injury that appears will keep him out for a large chunk of the regular season (including time already missed).

With Drouin injured, Valeri Nichushkin was moved back to the team's top power play unit over Artturi Lehkonen. Nichushkin has been one of the most efficient power play goal scorers in the league for years now, so it seemed a matter of time before this happened.

Both Alex Pietrangelo and William Karlsson were back in the lineup for Vegas on Wednesday night for their game in Colorado.

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Tage Thompson was back in the lineup for Buffalo on Wednesday night as the Sabres hosted the Minnesota Wild. Thompson had been out of the lineup for a couple weeks.

Buffalo ended up losing that game by a 1-0 margin. Filip Gustavsson had another tremendous game in net with a 39-save shutout, his second blank sheet of the season. That was his 10^th win of the campaign and brings his season's save percentage to .929. Not a bad bounce back season for him after finishing with a sub-.900 save percentage last year.

Kirill Kaprizov scored early in the first period, his 14^th goal of the season, and that held up as the game-winner. Joel Eriksson Ek assisted on the goal and had four shots, two blocks, and a hit.

Jonas Brodin was scratched before the game due to injury.

Thompson had six shots and a block, so he was involved in the offensive side, but Gustavsson was too good on this night.

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St. Louis peeled off their second win in a row, the first time they had done so in over three weeks, thanks to a 3-0 shutout of New Jersey. Jordan Binnington held down the fort with a 32-save shutout, his first of the season. It brings him close to the hockey goaltender Mendoza line with an .898 save percentage on the season.

The Blues got all three goals in the first period with one tally from Robert Thomas and a pair from Dylan Holloway. Holloway had five shots, a block, and a hit in 17:48 of ice time as Thomas had three shots, three blocks, and two PIMs.

Pavel Buchnevich left the game with a lower-body injury midway through the second period and did not return.

Jacob Markstrom allowed three goals on 18 shots for the loss.

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Jack Drury made good on his second-line role as Carolina beat the New York Rangers 4-3 in Raleigh. Drury had a goal and a power play assist, with that helper being the game-winning tally from Jackson Blake. Drury finished with three shots, two PIMs, and a hit.

Seth Jarvis (PP) and Jesperi Kotkaniemi had the other goals. Jarvis now has goals in back-to-back games since returning from injury.

Martin Necas had two assists, one on the power play, to go with two shots and a hit. He will go into the Thanksgiving break with 37 points, a total he didn't reach last season until the middle of February. Safe to say he's doing a bit better than that.

Spencer Martin stopped 20 of 23 shots for the win.

Brett Berard, Jonny Brodzinski, and Adam Edstrom had the goals for the Rangers. Zac Jones posted an assist, two shots, a block, two PIMs, and a hit.

Igor Shesterkin took the loss, allowing four goals on 30 shots.

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Pittsburgh managed to hold onto a multi-goal lead – barely – as they took down the Vancouver Canucks 5-4. The Penguins had a 4-1 lead after the first period, and they usually choke those away, and nearly did so as Vancouver managed to make it a 5-4 game with 1:45 left on the clock. However, the Penguins held on and go into Thanksgiving break with a win.

Bryan Rust scored twice, Rickard Rakell managed a goal, Kevin Hayes (PP) got on the board, and Blake Lizotte had the other tally. Rust finished the game with two goals, an assist, seven shots, and two hits in a great fantasy night.

Erik Karlsson had a trio of helpers, including one on the power play, to go with two shots and four blocks.

Tristan Jarry allowed four goals on 27 shots but held on for the win.

Elias Pettersson had a goal and an assist for his third multi-point game in his last four outings. After a very slow start to the season, he has six goals and seven assists in his last 11 games.

Quinn Hughes had a three-point night with a goal and two assists, managing two shots and a block. He finished the first quarter of the season with 23 points in 21 games.

Arturs Silovs gave up five goals on 23 shots.

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After losing six out of seven games, the Florida Panthers managed a 5-1 win at home to the Toronto Marl- er, Maple Leafs. Aleksander Barkov had a goal (PP) and an assist (SH), Carter Verhaeghe had a goal (PP) and two assists, and Sam Bennett had a goal and an assist (PP). Sam Reinhart also got on the board with his 17^th goal of the season, and his fourth short-handed goal.

Aaron Ekblad had an assist (PP), four shots, two blocks, and four hits in a great multi-cat night.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 of 24 shots for the win.  

Mitch Marner (PP) scored Toronto's lone goal while Anthony Stolarz allowed four goals on 23 shots for the loss. That makes five goals and four assists for Marner across his last five games, so he's certainly been doing his part with Auston Matthews still not back in the lineup.

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Montreal pulled out a 4-3 overtime with thanks to Nick Suzuki's eighth goal of the year. After losing six games in a row, the Habs are now 4-2-1 in their last seven games as the team's defence has been improving a lot over the last month.

Juraj Slafkovsky got off the schneid with a first-period goal, just his second goal of the season and his first in 14 games. He added a power play assist on Cole Caufield's 13^th goal of the season while Slafkovsky had a block and a hit to go with his points.

With Mike Matheson still out of the lineup, rookie Lane Hutson skated 25:29, the most of any Montreal defenceman. He had the assist on the Suzuki overtime winner, adding two shots and three blocks along the way.

Cayden Primeau allowed three goals on 24 shots but hung on for the win.

Columbus got goals from Mathieu Olivier, Yegor Chinakhov, and Zach Werenski in the loss. Werenski also assisted on Olivier's goal and had three shots, a block, and seven PIMs. He goes into the Thanksgiving pause with 7 goals, 15 assists, 79 shots, and 33 blocks in 21 games. A great start to the season for him.

Elvis Merzlikins took the loss, allowing four goals on 19 shots.

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The Boston Bruins scored more than four goals for the first time since the fifth game of the season as they went into Long Islander and beat the New York Islanders 6-3. Pavel Zacha and Brad Marchand had the big nights as the former had two goals and an assist while the latter had a pair of goals. Marchand goes into the pause with 72 shots in 24 games, a pace of 3.0 shots per game, something he failed to reach in either of the prior two seasons.

Nikita Zadorov had a stat-stuffing night with a goal, an assist, two shots, two blocks, two PIMs, and three hits while Elias Lindholm had a trio of assists.

Joonas Korpisalo managed the win, stopping 21 of 24 shots faced.

Brock Nelson had another big game for the Islanders with two goals, an assist, three shots, a block, and a hit. That is his second three-point game in his last three appearances, and he is now up to 10 goals in 23 games on the season, well on his way to a fourth straight 30-goal campaign.

Maxim Tsyplakov had a good night as well, managing a goal, an assist, two shots, and six hits. He is up to 13 points and 67 hits in 23 games, which is a great effort for banger leagues.

Ilya Sorokin got beat up pretty bad, allowing five goals on 20 shots.

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The Washington Capitals nearly lost their game to Tampa Bay on Wednesday night in about the funniest way imaginable as goalie Charlie Lindgren absolutely fired the puck into his own net:

CHARLIE LINDGREN OWN GOAL GIVES TAMPA THE LEAD#GoBolts | #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/B5P8iLOnIz

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) November 28, 2024

Luckily for him, John Carlson scored a few minutes later to tie the game back up and Tom Wilson capped off the comeback with a power play goal with under 3:30 remaining in the game.

Wilson, Dylan Strome, and Aliaksei Protas each had a goal and an assist in the 5-4 win. Wilson had six shots, a block, and a pair of hits, so he finishes this early portion of the season with 7 goals, 10 assists, 52 shots, 24 blocks, and 62 hits in 22 games. He has been a great banger league option once again.

Carlson wound up with that goal on three shots to go with three blocks and a hit. Jakob Chychrun had an assist (PP), five shots, and a hit in the victory.

Lindgren gave up four goals on 28 shots (well, three goals on 27 shots, he scored the other himself) but stopped enough pucks for the win.

That Lindgren own-goal capped a Brayden Point hat trick in the wildest way imaginable. Point finished the game with those three goals (one PP) on four shots to go with a hit.

Andrei Vasilevskiy took the loss, allowing five goals on 32 shots.

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Lucas Raymond scored a power play goal in overtime to lift the Detroit Red Wings to a 2-1 win over Calgary. It is just Raymond's sixth goal of the season, but his fourth in four games as he's started to heat up.

Alex DeBrincat had the other goal (PP) and assisted Raymond's OT winner for a multi-point night. That put DeBrincat back on pace for his first 70-point season since leaving Chicago.

Cam Talbot stopped 24 of 25 shots for his sixth win of the season. His save percentage is up to .923 on the season as he continues to build his case for the Four Nations Cup.

Connor Zary (PP) scored the only goal for the Flames. Dan Vladar took the hard-luck loss, stopped 25 of 27 shots but one too few.

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Morgan Frost scored with 12 seconds left in the third period, and then Sean Couturier got on the board in overtime, as Philadelphia registered an unlikely 3-2 comeback win over Nashville. Couturier assisted on the Frost goal, giving the Flyers captain a goal, an assist, and two shots. He has goals in three straight games as he continues to be the team's only reliable centre.

Rasmus Ristolainen had a huge multi-cat night with an assist, a shot, eight blocks, and three hits.

Alexei Kolosov stopped 25 of 27 shots for the win.

Ryan O'Reilly scored for the first time since October while Roman Josi tallied his fifth marker of the year in the loss. Josi had four shots, three blocks, and three hits for a very good fantasy night.

Juuse Saros allowed three goals on 23 shots in the loss.

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Taylor Hall started Chicago's game on the top line with Connor Bedard, and it seemed to pay off as Hall put up a hat trick in Chicago's 6-2 win at home to Dallas. It was Hall's first hat trick in 11 years with his last coming in December of 2013.

Bedard also scored once on two shots with a block and a hit. Teuvo Teravainen and Louis Crevier had the other goals.

Petr Mrazek stopped 25 of 27 shots for his seventh win and he's now up to a .912 save percentage on the season.

Matt Duchene and Colin Blackwell had the goals for Dallas. Casey DeSmith got the start in net and allowed six goals on 26 shots.

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Nichushkin scored for Colorado as he was skating on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon, but it was Colorado's only goal of the night as they took a 2-1 win in overtime. Alexandar Georgiev was solid enough in net, stopping 18 of 19 shots for the victory.

Pavel Dorofeyev scored again for Vegas, registering four shots, a block, and two PIMs. Dorofeyev has 12 goals on the season and that puts him top-20 in the league at the Thanksgiving pause.

Adin Hill was great in net for Vegas, stopping 33 of 34 shots for his ninth win of the season.

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Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar each had a goal and an assist, and each had a power play point, as Los Angeles skated out of the rink with a 4-1 at home to Winnipeg. Phillip Danault and Kevin Fiala had the other tallies for the Kings while Brandt Clarke had an assist and three shots.

David Rittich had a bounce back game of sorts, stopping 13 of 14 shots for the win. Not very busy, but just the lone goal against matters.

Gabriel Vilardi scored the only goal for the Jets as Connor Hellebuyck allowed three goals on 32 shots for the loss.

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Trevor Zegras, Alex Killorn, and Cutter Gauthier (PP) each had a goal and an assist as Anaheim toppled Seattle 5-2. After a very slow start to the season, Zegras now has six points in his last four games, so maybe there's a much better post-Thanksgiving fantasy stretch coming from him than what he has done up to this point.

Frank Vatrano and Brett Leason had the other goals for the Ducks. Vatrano had five shots, a block, and six hits to go with his goal. That gives him goals in back-to-back games and hopefully a sign of a turnaround of his own.

John Gibson stopped 42 of 44 shots for the win.

Eeli Tolvanen and Oliver Bjorkstrand had the goals for the Kraken as their third line got all the goals. Joey Daccord allowed five goals on 33 shots for the loss.

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Adam Gaudette scored twice, with his second goal coming with under five minutes left in the game as Ottawa squeezed past San Jose by a 4-3 score. Gaudette goes into the pause with 11 goals as one of the best stories of the first two months of the NHL season keeps rolling along.

Josh Norris (PP) and Tyler Kleven had the other Senators tallies. Tim Stutzle had a three-assist night (one on the PP) to go with a shot, a block, and three hits.

Linus Ullmark stopped 36 of 39 shots for the win.

Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith (PP), and Mario Ferraro had the goals for the Sharks.

Mackenzie Blackwood faced just 11 shots and allowed four of them to get past him. Not a great night for the ratios.