Ramblings: Ullmark and Fiala Return; Makar and MacKinnon Injured; Hat Trick from Boldy; Tampa’s Top Line Rolls; Hofer’s Superb Season, and More – November 13
Michael Clifford
2026-11-13
It was good news all around for the Ottawa Senators on Thursday as not only did goaltender Linus Ullmark return from injury to start a game for the first time in over three weeks, but the Sens took a 4-3 overtime win at home to the Colorado Avalanche. Shane Pinto opened and closed the scoring for the Sens, adding an assist on a Drake Batherson tally, and added three blocked shots for good measure. He now has 16 points, 38 shots, 37 hits, and 12 blocks in 20 games played, giving him a great start in multi-cat leagues.
Tim Stutzle had the other goal, throwing in four shots and four blocks for good measure. Jordan Spence posted an assist, two shots, two blocks, and a hit.
Ullmark was solid in net, stopping 26 of 29 shots faced for the win.
Artturi Lehkonen and Gabriel Landeskog both scored PP goals while Parker Kelly added a short-handed marker. Lehkonen's 14 goals are good for fifth in the NHL so far, though he's still shooting over 32%.
Scott Wedgewood allowed four goals on 26 shots in the loss.
It was the opposite of a positive news night for the Avs as not only did they lose, but both Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar suffered lower-body injuries during the game and neither returned. Lehkonen and Devon Toews moved into their PP roles.
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Over in Finland, the Carolina Hurricanes cruised to a 4-1 win over the Seattle Kraken. Finnish native Sebastian Aho scored twice (one PP) while his country-mate Juuso Valimaki also scored. Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and an assist and though he's Danish, he is from a Nordic country, so he's at least from the correct region if not country.
Brandon Bussi was not very busy, facing just 13 shots and stopping 12 of them for the win.
Frederick Gaudreau scored the lone Kraken goal, and Philipp Grubauer allowed four goals on 30 shots in the loss.
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Anthony Cirelli was a game-time scratch for the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night, leaving both he and Brayden Point out of the lineup. It didn't stop them from taking a 3-1 win in Columbus, though.
Brandon Hagel scored twice and he assisted on a third-period Jake Guentzel goal. Hagel totaled a pair of shots, a block, and two PIMs for a very good multi-cat effort. Hagel is now 1 of 5 forwards this season with at least 20 even-strength points, joining Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Kirill Kaprizov, and MacKinnon. Seems like a good list.
Guentzel assisted one of Hagel's goals and Nikita Kucherov had a pair of helpers with four shots and a hit. Charle-Edouard D'Astous and John Carlson each had assists, and D'Astous now has 12 points in his last 12 games.
Dennis Hildeby stopped 28 of 29 shots for his fourth win in his fifth start.
Matthew Knies (PP) scored the lone Blue Jackets goal and Jet Greaves allowed three pucks past him on 28 shots faced for the loss.
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Montreal's depth scoring pushed the Canadiens to a 5-2 win in Boston on Thursday night. Each of Josh Anderson, Kirby Dach, Phillip Danault, and Jake Evans scored a goal, with Anderson and Evans adding assists. Cole Caufield also scored once on four shots, and he becomes the fifth player this season to reach 10 even-strength goals, joining Hagel, Kaprizov, Lehkonen, and Alex Tuch.
Mike Matheson returned to the lineup after missing six games, posting an assist, a shot, and three blocks in 21:11 of TOI.
Jacob Fowler got the start in goal and stopped 30 of 32 shots for his ninth win.
Casey Mittelstadt scored both Boston goals, and he becomes the sixth Boston forward with at least 10 even-strength points this season. Only Carolina (8) has more forwards with at least 10 EV points while Tampa Bay also has six.
Jeremy Swayman had his toughest start of the season, giving up four goals on 17 shots and being pulled halfway through the game.
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Matt Boldy had been on a bit of a goal-scoring skid with just two goals in his previous 12 games, but broke out in a big way with a hat trick (one PP) in Minnesota's 5-2 win in Toronto on Thursday night. He totaled five shots and a pair of hits in nearly 23 minutes of ice time. He is the fourth player with at least two hat tricks this season, joining Cutter Gauthier (3), Logan Cooley, and Brady Tkachuk.
Kaprizov had a trio of assists (one PP) and five shots, Danila Yurov had a goal and an assist with four shots, and Michael McCarron also scored while adding six hits. Quinn Hughes assisted the Boldy PP goal and Hughes is now on a 10-game point streak (4 goals, 11 assists).
Jesper Wallstedt extended his lead in wins with his 13th of the season. Pyotr Kochetkov is the only other goalie surpass 10 wins (he has 11).
Zack MacEwen posted a goal and an assist while Auston Matthews scored his 12th goal of the season. Goaltender Anthony Stolarz got the start and allowed four goals on 25 shots.
Joel Eriksson Ek took a hit from Jake McCabe halfway through the second period and did not return to the game. Ryan Hartman was moved to the top line and top PP unit in place of Eriksson Ek.
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Similar to Montreal, New Jersey had a 5-2 win over Washington on Thursday night off the back of their depth. Lenni Hameenaho, Stefan Noesen, Evan Rodrigues (PP), and Vladislav Kolyachonok all scored for the Devils, with Rodrigues assisting the Kolyachonok goal. Jack Hughes also scored once on three shots. Arseny Gritsyuk totaled a pair of assists (one PP) and is now up to 16 points in 20 games with 45 shots, 19 hits, and 9 blocks. He has been a very good multi-cat player this season, especially when considering his low draft cost.
Connor Hellebuyck has now won six straight games to start his Devils tenure, this time by allowing just two goals on 28 shots faced. He has a .916 save percentage with a GAA under 2.0.
Pierre-Luc Dubois and Ryan Leonard scored for the Caps. Leonard finished with four shots and three hits, and now has 12 points on the year. He has more points than Tom Wilson and Alex Ovechkin combined (11).
Logan Thompson gave up four goals on 28 shots for the loss. He now has an .888 save percentage on the season, which trails Leevi Merilainen's .889 with the Vancouver Canucks.
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Anton Lundell scored twice while Florida got solo tallies from Lars Eller, Sam Reinhart, and Gustav Forsling as they skated to a 5-4 win at home to Detroit. Lundell totaled three shots with three hits, and he now has five goals and seven points in his last six games. After going pointless in five games to start the season, Reinhart now has 11 goals and 19 points in his last 15 games.
Carter Verhaeghe managed three assists and three shots in the victory, and that gives him 20 points in 20 games. Defenceman Seth Jones had an assist, a pair of shots, a block, and three hits for a solid multi-cat effort.
Akira Schmid did enough in goal, stopping 24 of 28 shots, for the win.
Lucas Raymond, Marco Kasper, J.T. Compher, and Andreas Englund all scored for Detroit. That is Kasper's first goal of the year in his third game. Defenceman Moritz Seider had a pair of assists, a pair of shots, and a pair of blocks in the loss.
John Gibson allowed five goals on 29 shots. He has an .849 save percentage in his last 10 appearances.
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Ryan Donato's overtime winner lifted the Chicago Blackhawks to a 3-2 win at home to Buffalo. Frank Nazar scored twice (one PP), and finished with five shots and three hits. Defenceman Sam Rinzel had a pair of assists (one PP) to go with a shot, four PIMs, and three hits in 21:53 of ice time. That makes three straight games with over 20 minutes of ice time for Rinzel, including top PP time, and he's 8% owned on Yahoo and 0% owned on ESPN. Though, all that ice time and PP role is temporary until Bowen Byram returns.
Spencer Knight got the start and allowed just two goals on 23 shots for the win.
Patrick Kane made his own return, skating on Nazar's third line, and moving into Anton Frondell's role on the top PP unit.
Tage Thompson and Owen Power both scored for Buffalo. That is 7 goals and 4 assists for Tage in his last seven games.
Alex Lyon got his first start of the season coming off a shoulder injury, and allowed three goals on 25 shots for the loss.
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The Dallas Stars had yet to give up more than five goals in a game this season, but gave up eight on Thursday night as the Winnipeg Jets put up an 8-3 beatdown. The top line did a lot of the damage as Kyle Connor (1 G, 2 A), Gabriel Vilardi (1 G, 2 A), and Mark Scheifele (2 G, 1 A) all had three-point nights, and all had a power-play point.
Dawson Mercer scored a pair of goals with four shots, two blocks, and a hit, Dylan Samberg totaled a goal and an assist with two shots and a block, and Cole Koepke also scored. Josh Morrissey posted an assist, two shots, four blocks, and two PIMs in a good multi-cat effort.
Stuart Skinner topped 30 of 33 shots in the win.
Roope Hintz managed a goal and an assist in the loss while Arttu Hyry and David Perron also scored, with Perron's being his first of the season. Thomas Harley had two assists, a shot, and a block.
Jake Oettinger was pulled early in the third period after giving up his sixth goal on his 27th shot.
Both Dylan DeMelo and Lian Bichsel were injured early in the first period and neither returned.
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The St. Louis Blues and Utah Mammoth managed a 0-0 game right through to a shootout, where the Blues came out on top for the extra point. Both Joel Hofer (29 saves) and Karel Vejmelka (22) posted their second shutout of the season. Hofer is now up to a .926 save percentage, tied with Jacob Fowler for the league lead among goalies with at least 10 starts.
Mackenzie Weegar had a good multi-cat night with four shots, four blocks, and three hits. Among players with at least 50 hits, Weegar is the only one with more than 30 blocks. In fact, he has 55 blocks.
All of Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley, and Nick Schmaltz were not in the lineup for Utah.
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Both Kevin Fiala and Mats Zuccarello returned to the Los Angeles Kings lineup on Thursday night, both on the second line with Quinton Byfield, and Fiala jumped onto the top PP unit in their 5-forward setup. It didn't really change much as the Kings fell to the New York Islanders by a 5-2 margin.
Brayden Schenn had a goal, two assists (one PP), two shots, and a hit. He is now on a four-game point streak (2 G, 5 A) and has 16 points in 18 games this season. Simon Holmstrom posted a goal and an assist with two shots, a block, and a hit in a balanced fantasy effort. Bo Horvat, Victor Eklund, and Matthew Schaefer (PP) all scored for the Islanders.
Schaefer finished with three shots, three blocks, and a hit, and is now 1 of 10 defencemen to be at least a point-per-game player thus far, and the only one to be over 3.0 shots per game. Defenceman Ryan Pulock had a pair of assists, a pair of shots, and a pair of blocks, too.
Ilya Sorokin was stellar once again, stopping 26 of 28 shots in the win.
Trevor Moore and Quinton Byfield (PP) both scored for the Kings. Fiala assisted on the Byfield goal, and he added three hits in 16:37 of ice time.
Darcy Kuemper allowed four goals on 20 shots in the loss.
Matias Maccelli returned to the lineup for the Islanders after nearly four weeks missed. He started the game on the third line but took his top PP role back from Holmstrom.