With two goals in Saturday's game, David Pastrnak now has multiple goals in three of his past five games. He continues to shoot the puck with regularity, as he has at least four shots in nine of his past 10 games. Even though Pasta is on pace to finish with less than 40 goals, this is something you could still bet the over on. He leads the NHL with 183 SOG, and the Bruins' offense has improved since Joe Sacco took over as head coach. Many of his advanced stats (10.4 SH%, 8.3 5-on-5 SH%, 3.0 PTS/60, 989 PDO) are a shade lower than normal for him.

Pasta's power-play goal was the overtime winner, while Morgan Geekie's power-play goal in the first period was the Bruins' first power-play goal in nine games.

This was a crazy game that the Panthers tied on a floater with three seconds left in regulation, not long after Pastrnak hit the post on a long empty-net shot. The Bruins then won with two seconds left in overtime when Sam Reinhart deflected a Pastrnak pass into the Panthers net. Hockey is a game of missed chances and lucky bounces.

Oesterle had a chance to bat Reinhart's chip shot away but he whiffed, sending this one to OT#TimeToHunt | #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/a8X9gCXrEy

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) January 11, 2025

PASTA IN OVERTIME! DAVID PASTRNAK WINS IT FOR THE BRUINS!#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/C2IZMoTjl0

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) January 11, 2025

Despite the gaffe in OT, Reinhart scored two goals (including the above game-tying goal) while firing a season-high 11 shots. After being held without a goal in his past six games, Reinhart now has goals in back-to-back games, trailing only Leon Draisaitl in goals (25).

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Kaapo Kakko scored twice in the Kraken's 6-2 win over Buffalo, giving him four points over his last four games. Since being traded to Seattle, Kakko has seven points in 10 games, and his icetime has increased by two minutes per game. It didn't seem like his production would explode with the move to Seattle, but at least we can see improvement.

Jack Quinn scored a goal in the Sabres' loss, giving him three goals in his past two games. Since December 15, Quinn has seven goals and 12 points in 12 games. Quinn is rostered in just 3 percent of Yahoo leagues, so that number should be higher. However, you may want to wait a week to add him if you don't have deep bench space, as the Sabres are one of four teams to play only two games next week. (Boston, Carolina, and Minnesota are the other three teams.)

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If you streamed Leevi Merilainen today, good for you. Merilainen stopped all 30 shots he faced in earning his first career shutout, a 5-0 win over Pittsburgh. With Linus Ullmark considered week-to-week with a back injury, Merilainen should be on the Senators roster for the near future. Merilainen has posted a 2.42 GAA and .912 SV% in five games this season. The Sens play again today (Sunday) against Dallas, so expect Anton Forsberg to start that game. With his recent strong play, Merilainen could theoretically split starts with Forsberg while the Senators wait for Ullmark to return.

Shane Pinto scored two goals for the Senators, breaking a seven-game goal drought. Claude Giroux picked up three assists, breaking his own four-game point drought.

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The Hurricanes have placed Ty Smith on waivers. Since being recalled in late December, Smith registered a goal and an assist in eight games while averaging just 13:40 per game. He was a player of interest because he was on the Canes' top power play, but he had lost that spot to Brent Burns over the past two games. Expect Burns to hold onto that spot while Shayne Gostisbehere (upper body) is out of the lineup, although Burns has just one power-play point all season and is clearly on the decline. If Smith is not claimed, he could still suit up for today's (Sunday's) game.  

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In stopping all 22 Colorado shots that he faced on Saturday, Connor Hellebuyck now has as many shutouts as he has regulation losses (6). Hellebuyck also leads the league in wins (26), GAA (2.02), SV% (.928) and shutouts (6). He is also the first goalie to lead the league in all of these categories this late into the season since Pete Peeters in 1982-83.

Hellebuyck is on pace to play over 60 games for the fourth consecutive season. Yet if the Jets lock up a playoff spot early, he might be rested down the stretch. I'll credit Jennifer Botterill for mentioning that on the HNIC panel, since it has some fantasy relevance. Depending on when your fantasy playoffs finish, Eric Comrie could be starting with more frequency as the Jets practice load management with their starting goalie. Hellebuyck has been above 3.00 in GAA and below .900 in SV% during the playoffs in the last two seasons, so the Jets will need him to be much better in order to win at least a round.

Nikolaj Ehlers scored a pair of goals for the Jets, along with three shots, three hits, and two blocked shots. He has four points over his last four games. For Saturday's game, Ehlers was moved onto a line with Adam Lowry and Alex Iafallo, which doesn't seem like a scoring line. It seemed to work anyway.

Most goals by a Canadian since the Four Nations rosters were announced on December 4:

Mark Scheifele (12)

Zach Hyman (11)

You may recall that neither Scheifele nor Hyman were included on Canada's roster. That speaks to the scoring depth among Canadian players, although I wonder if these two are motivated to earn a spot should one or more of the players selected be unable to participate.  

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Patrik Laine returned to the Canadiens' lineup after missing the past four games with an illness. Laine scored a power-play goal with three shots, two hits, and one blocked shot. In just 14 games, Laine already has nine power-play goals. The last player to do that in the Canadiens' long and storied history was Yvan Cournoyer in 1970-71. Laine is already tied for third in the NHL in power-play goals with five other players. That's one way to endear yourself to the Montreal faithful.

In spite of Laine's goal, the Habs lost to Dallas 2-1 in a shootout. The Stars now have seven consecutive wins. Jake Oettinger has five consecutive wins over that stretch, but just as many really bad starts as quality starts (2) over that span.

That means it's been all about the scorers for the Stars. Tops on that list is Jason Robertson, who you've been waiting patiently on for a while. Robertson is on a heater with 11 points over his last seven games. Robo also has five multiple-point games over his last seven games. He was drafted too high both this season and last season, but he has at least been providing something lately. Yet with just 10 goals at the midway point, Robertson is on pace to fall in goals for the second consecutive season.

Jamie Benn scored the Stars' goal, giving him points in five consecutive games and goals in four of his last five games. After scoring just six goals in his first 32 games, Benn has six goals over his last nine games. He has been clicking on a line with Matt Duchene and Wyatt Johnston – a line that might well be the Stars' top line at the moment.

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Saturday seemed like scheduled loss night for the slumping Canucks. Playing the second of back-to-backs, the Canucks had to fly out of Raleigh on Saturday morning due to bad weather, arriving in Toronto about six hours before game time. So just as you'd expect, they took care of the Leafs by a score of 3-0.

Kevin Lankinen stopped all 20 Leafs shots for his fourth shutout of the season. Lankinen is tied for second with former goaltending partner Juuse Saros with four shutouts. With Thatcher Demko needing some time to round into midseason form following a knee injury, Lankinen appears to be in a position to split starts with Demko going forward. At least that's what I would do if I were the coach of the Canucks.

Brock Boeser scored his first goal in six games. Interesting graphic that I screengrabbed from the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast:

Did you know that you can find stats for tip-in goals (and other types of goals) on Frozen Tools? Just go to the Goals By Type report.

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It's fair to say that Jeff Skinner's time in Edmonton isn't going well. Skinner was made a healthy scratch for Saturday's game in Chicago, which is the second time in seven games that has been the case. Skinner has just 15 points in 40 games, so he's not scoring. He also doesn't fit the profile of a bottom-6 forward, so here we are. Now 32 years old and on a one-year contract, Skinner's days in the NHL might be numbered beyond this season.

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Without watching the Flyers/Ducks game, I would have to assume that the Cutter Gauthier's first game in Philly didn't include a tribute video.

Flyers fans start chanting "JAMIE'S BETTER" after Jamie Drysdale scores against Cutter Gauthier and Anaheim 😭☠️ pic.twitter.com/GGVZwZd75A

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) January 12, 2025

Both the Flyers fans and the Flyers players were fired up for this one, smoking Gauthier and the Ducks by a score of 6-0. Gauthier, of course, requested a trade from the Flyers before ever suiting up for the team that drafted him, never sharing his reasons for wanting out.

Jamie Drysdale, who was traded for Gauthier, scored a goal and added an assist. Both were on the power play. Drysdale had been held without a point in his previous four games, while his last goal was on October 17. Even though he hasn't scored a ton this season (9 PTS in 31 GP), Drysdale is on the Flyers' top power play.

Travis Konecny assisted on four of the goals, giving him seven points over his last four games.

Samuel Ersson stopped 22 shots in earning his second shutout of the season. With the shutout, Ersson now has more quality starts (8) than really bad starts (7) this season. All three of the Flyers' goalies (Ersson, Aleksei Kolosov, Ivan Fedotov) have a save percentage below .890, so you're better off avoiding Philly goaltending. But if you have to pick one, Ersson should be the guy.

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Alex Ovechkin scored his 20^th goal of the season on Saturday, which means he has reached 20 goals for all of his 20 seasons in the NHL. Gordie Howe is the only other player in NHL history to score at least 20 goals in 20 consecutive seasons. Ovechkin is now within 22 goals of Wayne Gretzky's all-time goal record. He is currently on pace to reach that record at the end of March. We will all be watching.

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With a goal and two assists on Saturday, Mats Zuccarello has seven points over his last four games. Zuccarello has also registered multiple points in four of his last six games. His production has been tied to Kirill Kaprizov in the past, but Zuccarello seems to be producing even without Kaprizov.

As for Kaprizov, he missed his eighth consecutive game on Saturday and doesn't have a timeline for his return. Groin injuries (assuming that's the injury) are unpredictable and difficult to forecast a return date on, so fantasy teams will need to continue to be patient.   

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We are hard at work on the Midseason Guide right now, as the release date is less than a week away (Thursday January 16). Same format as in past years: Projections, line combinations including power-play units, team-by-team analysis including goalies, prospects, trade block, draft analysis, and much more! Make sure you obtain your copy.

Follow me on X @Ian_Gooding and Threads @goodsfantasyhockey