It was a night marked by some major names re-entering the lineup. Vegas got their captain Mark Stone back after missing five games with a lower-body injury, giving their top six a noticeable lift right away.

On the other side, Colorado welcomed Cale Makar back to the blue line for his Western Conference debut after sitting out the first two games with an undisclosed injury. The Avalanche had dropped both of those games, and his return immediately reset their structure and transition game from the back end.

It all started smoothly as the Avalanche struck for three in the first period, starting with Gabriel Landeskog, followed by a slick setup from Martin Necas who found Nazem Kadri with a no look feed that he buried past Carter Hart.

Jack Drury then capped it off on a breakaway after the play swung the other way on a no-goal call against the Golden Knights making it 3-0 in the first period and looking it like it was going to be an all Avs type of night.

Nathan MacKinnon took a heavy slapshot while blocking a shot in the second period and was clearly in discomfort. He returned for a brief shift but headed back to the locker room shortly after and did not come back for the remainder of the period. He also wasn't on the bench to start the third before eventually returning early in the frame.

What looked like a game that might have already slipped away after Colorado's three-goal first period quickly flipped into something more competitive giving Vegas fans life. Mark Stone made an immediate impact in his return, scoring in the second period to get Vegas on the board, William Karlsson also jumped on a rebound off a Mitch Marner point shot to tighten things up and swing momentum back the other way. Marner registered two assists on the evening as he continues to add to his lead in playoff points now with 21 in the NHL playoffs. Before you knew it, the game was tied 3-3 in the second period.

For the Golden Knights, this wasn't about one-line dominance, it was another layered offensive effort. Tomas Hertl, Mark Stone, William Karlsson and Kaedan Korczak all posted multi-point efforts (1G,1A). By the way, that Tomas Hertl goal was something else!

Carter Hart faced a high volume of shots and was constantly forced into high-danger reads but was able to survive the momentum surge by the Avalanche in the first period and give the Golden Knights a chance in the second and third periods.

Brett Howden notched the empty netter for this 10^th goal of the playoffs.

–

In talking with a few managers in my fantasy leagues this past week, the conversation came up toward players who nobody really had pegged for exceeding this projected production this past NHL season. The kind of players where, if you rostered them, you probably had a much better shot at pushing for a title. For context, I didn't win any of my leagues this year. That's a step back from last season, where I managed to win at least one, but it also made this exercise a bit more interesting from a hindsight angle. There were plenty of players who outperformed expectations across the league, but for this series I am narrowing it down to the names that actually came up in those discussions. I may expand it in future pieces and add a few more names as I go. For the baseline, I used the NHL Fantasy Hockey Projections released in October 2025 as the reference point for expected production.

Mark Scheifele – 103 points (Projected: 81)

Coming into the year, Scheifele was projected for 81 points, which already represented strong fantasy value based on previous seasons totals, but he comfortably cleared that mark with 103 points in 82 games while finishing above a point-per-game pace for the fourth straight full season. The biggest thing Scheifele provided was stability. He produced across the entire 82 game schedule, stayed healthy, and remained locked alongside teammate Kyle Connor. At even strength alone, Scheifele and Connor combined for 37 points together, while the power play remained extremely productive with the duo factoring into nine power-play points together. The chemistry was obvious all year and Winnipeg leaned heavily on that combination offensively especially with how rocky the Jets season went. Whiel his PDO was at 1021, it was actually lower than the previous two season's. Scheifele has continued to show that he remains one of the safer high-end fantasy centers in the league despite regularly being drafted outside the true elite tier at the position. Sometimes fantasy managers overthink aging curves and regression concerns when the better approach is simply trusting a proven production profile. Players with stable deployment, established chemistry, and consistent offensive usage can still outperform expectations while providing an extremely reliable fantasy floor.

Evan Bouchard – 95 points (Projected: 86)

Evan Bouchard entered the season with already massive expectations after back-to-back high-end offensive years, but he still managed to outperform them. Projected for 86 points, Bouchard finished with 95 points in 82 games. Norris Trophy debates are probably going to keep going all summer over whether he should have been nominated, but the production speaks for itself. Bouchard finished with 95 points, comfortably ahead of the next highest scoring defenseman, Zach Werenski, who had 81 points in 75 games compared to Bouchard playing all 82. Durability also continues to be one of the more underrated parts of Bouchard's fantasy value. Since playing his first full NHL season, he has only missed two games total in five season, which adds another layer of reliability on top of the elite offensive production. Bouchard finished with 74 assists, 221 shots, 33 power-play points, and over 24 minutes per night. His power-play production was massive with 31 of his 33 PPP tied directly to Edmonton's top unit and he produced 43 even-strength points alongside Leon Draisaitl alone. I for one did not get a chance a drafting Bouchard in any of my leagues but I sure wish I did.

Macklin Celebrini – 115 Points (Projected: 83)

Celebrini was coming into the season with already high expectations after a strong rookie season, but I think we can all agree that a 115-point breakout in his sophomore season after a 63-point rookie season was very impressive. He was projected for 83 points but he blew that out of the water by 32 points which made him one of the biggest fantasy value picks of the year. The biggest difference in Celebrini's profile was how quickly San Jose's young core developed around him. Will Smith emerged as his clear top offensive running mate, factoring into 48 of Celebrini's even-strength points, while Tyler Toffoli, William Eklund, Collin Graf, and Igor Chernyshov all contributed to a much deeper offensive environment than what San Jose iced during his rookie year.  Will Smith ultimately laned with 59 points on the season, Celebrini had 56 more points than Smith.  Any fantasy manager who drafted Celebrini likely landed a league-winning cornerstone because the workload, deployment, shot volume, and elite offensive talent, all of which aligned perfectly.

Nick Schmaltz – 74 Points (Projected: 60)

Nick Schmaltz has quietly been one of the more underrated fantasy producers over the last several seasons, but this year he pushed beyond his usual 58–60-point production and delivered a career-best 74-point campaign in his 10^th NHL career season. Schmaltz rewarded fantasy managers who likely waited on center depth with strong top-line production while continuing to fly under the radar compared to bigger fantasy names. His linemate Clayton Keller remained the constant driving force, factoring into 48 of Schmaltz's even-strength points, but the additions and development around them elevated the entire offensive ecosystem. Although JJ Peterka brought another transition threat into the top six his struggles gave Schmaltz the upper hand. Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley gave Utah a much more dangerous power-play structure than previous years and Schmaltz consistently played in offensive situations and benefited from one of the league's more productive top units. He also hit his highest career SOG with 202 averaging roughly averaged 2.5 shots per game, but his S% climbed back up to 16.3% after dropping to 10.8% the previous season. Some of that rebound was expected considering his career finishing ability, but the environment also mattered. His line with Keller and Lawson Crouse dominated territorially, while his power-play production stabilized with 20 PPP. If you drafted him, you likely landed one of the better value centers in middle rounds because he provided steady point production across the entire season with only one cold stretch with zero points in eight games during the month of November.

Thanks for reading! See you next week! For more fantasy hockey content and analysis, follow me on X @Punters_hockey. If you have any questions about your team or a trade? My DMs are always open, happy to help!