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Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful! It was a night to remember for the Sabres and their franchise defenseman on Tuesday night. Rasmus Dahlin scored one in the first, one in the second, and then finished off the hat trick with an empty-netter in the third. The 3 goals and 2 assists were a career high single-game output for the 25-year-old Swede, and brought his point total up to a robust 42 PTS in 48 GP.  It wasn’t all Dahlin, though, as the rest of the Sabres brought their scoring sticks with them on their trip North of the border. Tage Thompson (1G, 1 A), Alex Tuch, Jack Quinn, and newly extended Josh Doan all tickled the twine for the Sabres, and helped to extend their newest win streak to 4 games. 
As a Buffalo fan, I experienced plenty of pain in my sports fandom.  For the first time this millennium, the Sabres and Bills are doing well at the same time, and while it might only last a few more days (I feel good about the Bills Saturday though!), I'm certainly going to enjoy it while it lasts.  I'm a hockey fan first, having gone to games 3, 4, 5 (in Philly), and 6 the last time that the Sabres were in the playoffs.  I was in college and wasn't even able to buy a beer at the games!  Here we are, almost fifteen years later, and the Sabres are finally looking like a real time.  Their best forward led the charge the last two days.  Tage Thompson dished two assists and added two shots in the 5-2 win over the Flyers on Wednesday.  He followed it up with one of the games of the season on Thursday, scoring a hat trick with two assists in the 5-3 win over the Canadiens.  Tage is up to 25 goals and 24 assists in 46 games with a 3.5 shots per game pace.  He's now tied for fifth in the league in goals, and second in even strength goals behind MacKinnon.  This is after leading the league in even strength goals last season.  Now, if only the Sabres power play can ever sustasin some success, and Tage could push for a Rocket Richard.  As is, we're looking at a premier goal scorer and a top 20 fantasy forward, which makes him a top 25 player.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
It's not that often that you see a team score 10 goals in a game.  In fact, it didn't happen all of last season.  It did on Saturday, with the Bruins smashing the Rangers 10-2 in the afternoon.  It's no surprise that the two highest game scores of the season were Bruins in this game.  It's definitely not a surprise that one was David Pastrnak, who dished a whopping six assists in the game, adding five shots on goal.  The huge surprise was Marat Khusnutdinov, who scored four goals and an assist, finishing +6.  While he didn't record any stats in Boston's game on Sunday, Khusnutdinov did have three assists in his previous four games.  He's currently on the first line with Pasta, so he's worth bumping into the middling streamer range.  There's some upside here, but he only had seven shots in his previous eight games combined, so that will need to drastically change for anything more.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Like most of the Rangers, Mika Zibanejad has been extremely frustrating this season.  Before Friday's outdoor game in Miami, he had one shot on goal in the previous five games combined!  So naturally, he had one of the games of the season so far, scoring a hat trick on six shots and adding two assists in the 5-1 win over the Panthers.  The top line for the Rangers was dangerous throughout, and just like that, Zibanejad is ahead of last season's points pace.  He's just shy of a 30+40 pace now and the shot rate is back up towards three per game.  It's not exciting, and it's definitely close to the fringe, but I lean towards bottom end hold still.  The minutes are through the roof at the moment and with their lack of depth, I can't imagine that changing any time soon.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
I liked the acquisition of Mason Marchment by the Kraken in the summer, but for whatever reason, it just wasn't working out.  They shipped him to Columbus, and Marchment looks like the player we are used to from his time with Dallas.  Marchment scored two power play goals on Monday, putting four shots on goal.  He has three goals in two games with Columbus now, and he's gone right onto the top line with Fantilli and Marchenko.  I don't expect him to get to hold status, but Marchment is an elite streamer while he's on fire.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights.  Also, apologies for not having my usual Monday post, but I am back home now and will be on my usual schedule going forward.
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful! We had an 8-game schedule to dip into on Tuesday night, and none had a bigger asterisk in the record books than the New Jersey Devils’ visit to Tampa Bay to face the Lightning. Coming into Tuesday night’s game, superstar Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov: 1 G (9), 1 A (9), 2 PIM, 2 SOG, 1 PPA, 1 GWG, 1 HIT - sat tied for third place on the all-time Tampa Bay goal-scoring list with 365 goals.  It was only a matter of time before Kucherov blew past an old legend, and current Montreal bench boss, Martin St. Louis. The good news is it didn’t take Tampa’s active star RW very long to snap #366 past the Devils’ giant netminder, Jakob Markstrom, on their way to a 5-1 win.  If you can guess which two players sit above Kuch on the All-Time Lightning Lamp-Lighting List, throw it in the comments below. I messaged Viz last night and said I really wished it were Brian Bradley. Alas, he’s 14th (111 goals) and nestled between Vaclav Prospal (127!) and Brandon “Cream Cheese” Hagel (102).
Sports Mount Rushmore's are always a hot topic for debate, but the more time goes on, the more I think Sidney Crosby has to be on it.  Here we are one month into the season, and Crosby is carrying a horrible Penguins team to a 9-4-2 record while leading the league in goals.  Crosby scored two more times on Thursday against the Capitals, putting six shots on net in over 22 minutes of ice time.  He's been a top five forward to this point, and while I don't expect that to last, it's a good chance that Crosby finishes as a top 20 player again.  Not bad for someone in his age 38 season.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Here is the list of teams that have 0 or 1 loss so far (overtime included): Colorado, Winnipeg, Carolina, New Jersey, and Detroit.  None of the first four come as a surprise at all.  However, Detroit reeling off five in a row after a dreadful opener is a huge surprise.  They've been better defensively than expected, but the big thing so far is Dylan Larkin carrying the top line.  No Raymond for a couple games, no Kane today, no problem.  Larkin had a goal and an assist on Friday, including the overtime winner against Tampa, before scoring two goals and two assists in the 4-2 win over Edmonton Sunday.  That brings Larkin to a whopping 5+6 in six games to go along with 20 shots and a +9 rating.  Despite playing with a recent seventh round pick and a bottom six guy in Appleton while Raymond was out, Larkin has at least one point in every game so far.  It's early to predict career highs from Larkin, but I'm not ruling out his first point per game season.  With his elite shot rate, we could see his first top 50 season in three years.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful! I’m back again this week with another Divisional Preview. Last week, we checked in on the Atlantic Division. If you missed it, you can open that up here. This week, we’re headed to the Big City to check out the Metropolitan Division.  Can the Capitals charge their way to another divisional title?  Is Jet Greaves going to leave Elvis Merzlikins “All Shook Up” in the Blue Jackets’ crease? What the heck are we supposed to call Sid “The Kid” Crosby now that he’s 38 years old?! I might not answer all of these burning questions today, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be checking out the goods in...
The rankings kick off with my Top 20 overall players.  My rankings put a priority on goals, assists, shots on goal, and special teams points (almost all on PPP, but a small boost to those that PK).  I assume that most leagues have PIM and/or hits, but I try not to overweigh those categories.  Yes, they are equal to the other categories, but they are easier to target in drafts and extremely easy to stream, so we should be focused on the scoring categories.  Of course, they won't be ignored, or I would be giving you a horrible set of rankings where guys like Brady Tkachuk are far too low.  If you have any specific questions, let me know in the comments section below.  And with that, let's get started!
All of the loyal Razzballers know my infatuation with Dylan Guenther in fantasy.  It's been a tough month with him on the injured list, but he came back in a big, big way.  Guenther tied the game against the Flyers on Tuesday before scoring with one second left in overtime to win the game.  He finished with two goals and an assist with six shots and more importantly, 22:37 of ice time.  It was great to see him handle that kind of workload right away.  Utah still has three games before the Four Nations break, so if you're in one of those leagues without IR spots and Guenther is available, grab him immediately.  There's easily top 100 upside here for the rest of the way.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights: