Friday was a light night of NHL action with just two games, both with relatively late start times.

Nathan MacKinnon had that dog in him again on Friday, leading the Colorado Avalanche with a goal and three assists in a 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. MacKinnon also finished with nine shots on goal in 22:59 of icetime. About the only thing that went wrong for MacKinnon was a penalty shot attempt on Arturs Silovs that was unsuccessful. All in all, MacKinnon has delivered so far with 16 points in just eight games. He also leads the league with 38 shots on goal.

MacKinnon's line with Martin Necas and Artturi Lehkonen had a great night, combining for nine points. Necas registered three assists, while Lehkonen scored a pair of goals. Lehkonen is tied with MacKinnon for the Avalanche lead in goals (6), so good on you if you drafted him in the later rounds. Keep in mind that he has missed double-digit games in each of the past four seasons.

Also for the Avalanche, T.J. Hughes scored his first NHL goal. Although it was just his second NHL point in his eighth NHL game, Hughes has been used on the Avalanche's top power play. Hughes has been a player I have followed for a while, as I wrote about him multiple times in the Midseason Guide article on top unsigned NCAA players. Hughes finished his final season at the University of Michigan with 22 goals and 57 points in just 40 games. He could be worth adding to your watch list.

Gabriel Landeskog scored the Avalanche's other goal. Mackenzie Blackwood finished with 29 saves, giving him back-to-back quality starts after a rough start to the season.

As for fellow Nova Scotian Sidney Crosby, he finished with just one assist. Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust scored the Penguins' goals.

Arturs Silovs allowed five goals on 32 shots, giving him three really bad starts compared to just two quality starts this season. Sergei Murashov should at least be able to challenge him for starts.

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In the other game of the night, David Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm each scored a goal and added an assist in the Boston Bruins' 4-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks. With the two points, Pastrnak now has eight points over his last four games, bouncing back from a slow start (by his standards) where he had no goals and two assists over his first four games.

Also for the Bruins, Pavel Zacha and James Hagens each had two assists. Zacha has also been heating up recently with points in each of his last four games. He had started off very slowly with no points in his first four games. Meanwhile, rookie Hagens is off to a strong start with six points over his first eight games. He logged just 10 minutes and change in this game, so he may not quite be rosterable in single-season leagues while the training wheels are still on.  

Frederic Brunet and Matthew Poitras scored the Bruins' other goals. Brunet's goal was his first in the NHL, while Poitras now has three goals and an assist over his past four games.

Michael DiPietro recorded his first-ever NHL win, making 25 saves for the Bruins. The win was a long time coming for DiPietro, who made his NHL debut in 2018-19 with the Vancouver Canucks and was playing in just his sixth career NHL game! All the while, DiPietro has spent six seasons in the AHL and another in the ECHL. He's backing up Jeremy Swayman, so don't expect him to start too many games.

The Ducks received good news before this game with Cutter Gauthier returning to the lineup. Gauthier missed just one game with an upper-body injury. Gauthier finished with one assist and four shots on goal in 21:20 of icetime.

Gauthier didn’t lead the Ducks in shots in this game. That honor went to 2025 first-round pick Roger McQueen, who took five shots on goal. Playing in just his second NHL game, McQueen also logged 15 minutes of icetime. I hope he gets traded to Tampa Bay one day so that he can truly be called Lightning McQueen. In all seriousness, McQueen may be returned to the AHL once Mikael Granlund (upper body) returns.

Beckett Sennecke and Tim Washe scored the Ducks' goals. Sennecke appears to be building on his solid rookie campaign with five goals in seven games so far.

Lukas Dostal allowed four goals on 22 shots in the loss.

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If it feels like one or more of your players have been shortchanged in terms of games played, you may be on to something. After Friday's games, 30 of the league's 32 teams have played at least seven games. However, the other two teams – the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Los Angeles Kings – have played only five games this season.

The schedule is particularly intriguing for Columbus, as the Blue Jackets play on both Saturday (today) and Sunday. After that, they are one of five teams to play only two games next week. After next week (October 25), the Jackets and Kings will have played only nine games, while 28 of 32 teams will have played at least 11 games.

That's why when Rick Bowness is perturbed about his team being 30^th in goals-against average (4.20 GA/GP), I take it with a grain of salt. They may still be shaking off the cobwebs compared to other teams. My Zero G target Jet Greaves has started just three games, allowing a combined 11 goals. That's not reassuring, but Greaves' tandem partner Cam Talbot has posted even worse numbers (4.43 GAA, .822 SV%) than Greaves (3.42 GAA, .874 SV%). The Jackets also have one of the league's worst penalty kills (61.1%), which also impacts goals allowed. Games against the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild are on tap this weekend, so use your discretion in deciding whether to start Greaves.

If you're looking for short-term weekend adds, the Blue Jackets are a team to target. I'm looking at Kent Johnson, who has had a respectable start to the season with three goals and an assist in five games. Johnson has also been on the Jackets' top power play as well as the top line with Adam Fantilli. Although Johnson has benefitted from a 21.4 SH%, a rebound is still a real possibility because Johnson has averaged 2.8 SOG/GP – over a shot per game higher than last season. Johnson (6% Yahoo/43% Fantrax) is flying under the radar at the moment, but he has the talent to pay dividends later.

Carolina is the only other team to play both Saturday (today) and Sunday. However, they have way more rostered players than Columbus does. With the Canes, you're looking at players like William Carrier for hits or the recently recalled Bradly Nadeau as possible adds.

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Here are two players that have been early-season surprises and how sustainable their production may be going forward:

Will Cuylle

With six points over nine games, Cuylle's scoring rate has increased over past seasons. Cuylle has also been an all-around multicategory contributor, averaging over four hits per game. Another positive is that Cuylle is benefiting more from an increased shot rate (2.4 SOG/GP) than an inflated shooting percentage (13.6 SH%).

Cuylle may still have a tough time breaking his career highs of 20 goals and 45 points, though. He is currently on the Rangers' second power play, which should be good for a few more points. However, Cuylle has mainly lined up with Eeli Tolvanen and Noah Laba at even strength. This appears to be the Rangers' third line, which won't really help Cuylle with scoring attempts. Cuylle is worth retaining in leagues that count hits, but he doesn't need to be rostered in pure scoring leagues.

Mason McTavish

So far, a change of scenery is working wonders for McTavish. In his first season with the St. Louis Blues, McTavish is off to a fast start with five goals and eight points in seven games. McTavish has points in six of those games while scoring goals in back-to-back games. The shot total is a great sign, as he is averaging nearly four shots per game – up two shots per game from last season.

There aren't a whole lot of red flags, although McTavish may be due to slow down at some point anyway. McTavish's shooting percentage currently sits at 18.5%, while his 5-on-5 shooting percentage is at 14.6%. Although his usage likely won't decline the way that it did last season with the Ducks, McTavish is still averaging a modest 15:39 per game with power-play minutes between the first and second unit. Don't count on McTavish being a point-per-game player going forward, but his fantasy value appears to be on the rebound after trending the wrong way last season with the Ducks.

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Data was taken from Frozen Tools unless otherwise noted.

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