Lucky 13th Hat Trick For Crosby

How does Sidney Crosby keep getting better at 36 years old?  Crosby had a hat trick and an assist on Tuesday, leading the Penguins to a 5-3 win over the Blue Jackets.  He opened the scoring in the game, he got the lead back in the last six minuets and then sealed the game with an empty netter.  That brings Crosby to 10 goals and 9 assists in 14 games while pushing four shots per game.  He’s on a nine game point streak and is a top 20 forward again.  With the arrival of Erik Karlsson (goal and an assist, two shots), Crosby has a great chance of getting to 100 points for the first time in five seasons and 40 goals for the first time since 2016-17.  I think at this point, he has to be considered a top five player of all-time.  If you have him in fantasy, enjoy it, because there’s no reason to expect regression.  Props to goodfold2 for picking Crosby for three points!  Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:

Alexandar Georgiev – 18 saves on 19 shots in the 5-1 win over the Kraken.  The overall numbers are ugly, but I’m not concerned at all.  Colorado will get back on track.

Nathan MacKinnon – Three assists with three shots.  Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen each had a goal and an assist, with all three playing over 23 minutes.  Bednar is going to ride his studs and they will continue to pile up points.

Tomas Tatar – Two assists with three shots.  Tatar is a bottom end streamer who could be more if his role changes.

Devon Toews – Two assists with three shots and four PIM.  Toews has been poor to this point, but I’m still holding.  The upside is too high to let him go outside of the shallowest of leagues.

Stuart Skinner – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 4-1 win over the Islanders.  Good first game for the Oilers under Knoblauch.  I discussed this on Monday, but Skinner could be the big beneficiary of the change.

Leon Draisaitl – Goal and three assists with two shots and two PIM.  While Connor McDavid (1+1, 5 SOG) and Draisaitl each had big games, it’s worth noting that in a game that was 1-1 going into the third, both guys played under 20 minutes.  We’ll have to see if this continues because as good as both are, they could take a small hit in value with less minutes.

David Pastrnak – Goal and two assists with three shots.  Pasta easily could have had another goal or two.  Teams have no chance stopping him right now.

Pavel Zacha – Two assists with a shot.  I lean towards holding Zacha now as he’s playing well on the top line.

Charlie McAvoy – Two assists with a shot and two PIM.  McAvoy is up to a point per game while contributing across the board.  He’s a bottom end #1.

Victor Olofsson – Two goals on three shots.  These were the first two goals of the season for Olofsson, who has been scratched a handful of times too.  This was a guy who scored 28 goals last season.  Right now, he’s a fantasy afterthought.

Tage Thompson – Out for “significant time” after blocking a shot, presumably causing a broken wrist.  It wasn’t enough that my Bills are a dumpster fire right now because of their atrocious head coach, now the Sabres are screwed with Tage going down.  When will it end?

Jake Guentzel – Goal and an assist.  As noted in the opening, the stars on the Penguins are on the verge of having massive seasons.  I’d bet on Guentzel setting a career high in assists and points.

Charlie Lindgren – 35 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Golden Knights.  That’s three straight quality starts for Lindgren, two of which were against quality competition.  Washington has looked a lot better than I anticipated.  I’m fine with streaming him while he’s a hot schmotato.

Jacob Markstrom – 34 saves on 35 shots in the 2-1 win over the Canadiens.  I watched most of this game, and the stat line doesn’t do Markstrom justice.  He was even better than that.  He’s the biggest roller coaster ride for goalies in the league.

Connor Zary – Goal and an assist.  The former first round pick has six points in six games, and is up to the second line and first PP unit.  He’s in solid streamer territory with upside.

Josh Morrissey – Four assists with three shots and two PIM.  Morrissey is piling up the assists with 13 in 15 games.  The goals are regressing as expected, but he’s managed to maintain his assist rate.

Kyle Connor – Two goals and an assist with five shots.  Connor has eleven points in the last four games to get the Jets on a tear.  He’s also tied for the league lead in goals now and is at 4.5 shots per game.  Connor is up there for the most consistent goal scorers in the league.  Props to Jeff for picking Connor for three points and being the first person with two correct picks!

Nikolaj Ehlers – Two goals with nine PIM.  Ehlers fighting Brendan Smith is wild.  Ehlers is off to a slow start, but I’m still extremely bullish on him.

Cole Perfetti – Goal and an assist with three shots.  Perfetti has a seven game point streak and has moved to the first power play unit.  He’s bumped onto the fringe.

Radko Gudas – Goal and an assist with five PIM, six hits, and three blocks.  The last three things are what we expect from Gudas.  The points, not so much.  In banger leagues, we’re clearly holding Gudas, but he’s not worth using otherwise.

Urho Vaakanainen – Two assists with two PIM.  The former first round pick is getting to play most nights with Anaheim, but there’s nothing here for fantasy.

Ryan O’Reilly – Two assists with four shots.  RoR has been fantastic centering the first line for Nashville.  He’s a clear hold in all formats now.

Jordan Binnington – 30 save shutout in the 5-0 win over the Lightning.  Binnington has been shockingly good to this point in the season.  I’m skeptical about the Blues going forward, but regardless, Binnington is must own everywhere right now.

Torey Krug – Two assists with a shot.  Krug has in hot right now, enough so to be put onto the fringe.

Pavel Buchnevich – Two assists.  I’ve been stubbornly holding Buchnevich everywhere.  When he’s healthy, he’s a stud, no way around it.

Jordan Kyrou – Two goals on six shots.  It hasn’t been the best start for Kyrou, but he’s pushing towards four shots per game.  It’s a matter of time until he gets going, so still hold him.

Matt Duchene – Goal and an assist with three shots, as did Tyler Seguin.  Duchene is on fire right now with eight points in the last four games, and 13 points in the last five.  He’s on the fringe right now.  Seguin is back to a solid streamer while he’s playing well.

Matthew Tkachuk – Two assists with four shots.  Carter Verhaeghe, Aleksander Barkov, and Sam Reinhart all had a goal and an assist.  This is what we’ve come to expect from elite players going against the Sharks.

Mikael Granlund – Two assists with a shot.  Granlund actually played over 22 minutes in this game, which is insane.  Granlund had one point before this, so I have very little interest.

Three Point Challenge:  We will do Thursday’s games per usual.  For the first few 4-6 weeks of the season, we will use last season’s top 10.  That means you can’t select McDavid, Draisaitl, Kucherov, Pastrnak, MacKinnon, Robertson, M. Tkachuk, Rantanen, RNH, or Pettersson.  I’ll go with Stutzle against the Red Wings in Sweden.