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:
Wednesday’s Games:
Rasmus Dahlin – Two goals on four shots. He’s been struggling a bit, so it was nice to see Dahlin back to dominating games like we’re used to.
Ryan McLeod – Goal and an assist with two shots. McLeod’s five game point streak ended Thursday, but he’s a decent middling streamer for points. Just don’t expect many shots.
Josh Doan – Two assists with a shot. I’m sure he won’t get any Selke votes, but you aren’t going to find many players who drive play better than Doan. He’s an elite streamer.
Owen Tippett – Goal and an assist with four shots. Tippett seems to always kill the Sabres. His shot rate is fantastic lately, solidifying Tippett as an elite streamer.
Jared McCann – Goal and an assist with two shots. McCann has ten points in his last ten games, clearly showing McCann is a hold in all formats.
Vince Dunn – Two assists with two shots. Dunn is on the fence between a #2 or #3 in 12’ers.
Nico Hischier – Two goals on three shots, both assisted by Jack Hughes and Luke Hughes. Hischier has been disappointing, especially defensively this season. Offensively, it’s enough to be a bottom end hold, but it’s disappointing in goals after a few strong seasons in that department. He’s a microcosm for their entire team.
Brady Tkachuk – Goal and three assists with six shots. It’s been a much better season for Tkachuk when he’s been healthy. The shot rate is over four per game as well, so it’s a typical Tkachuk year.
Dylan Cozens – Goal and two assists with four shots. It’s on the fringe for sure. If you need power play points, Cozens is a viable choice. He’s still getting smoked at even strength though.
Ridly Greig – Three assists. Solid deep league guy for hitting all of the categories. In shallow leagues, Greig is only a bottom end streamer.
David Perron – Goal and an assist with two PIM. Also a bottom end streamer.
Jake Sanderson – Goal and an assist. Solid #2 in 12’ers.
Gabe Perreault – Two goals. With how poorly the Rangers are playing, Perreault should get an extended look down the stretch. There’s elite long term upside, but for now, he’s a middling streamer with a poor shot rate.
Alexis Lafreniere – Goal and an assist with two shots. Also a middling streamer. I want very little to do with the Rangers on the whole at the moment.
Jack Eichel – Three assists with four shots and two PIM. He had an even better game on Thursday (spoiler alert!). It is hilarious how many games Vegas has gone to overtime. Honestly, it’s embarrassing. Eichel is in the midst of the best season of his career.
Mark Stone – Goal and an assist with three shots. He’s had a point in every game he’s played in 2026. Just a matter of health for Stone.
Kevin Fiala – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. It’s been a super frustrating season for Fiala. I’ve mostly held out of stubbornness. I’m hoping Clarke finally going on PP1 continues to help them improve there, which will help Fiala a great deal.
Thursday’s Games:
Elvis Merzlikins – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 4-1 win over the Canucks. He’s been atrocious this season, and Greaves clearly is the #1 now. Elvis has been below .900 for four straight seasons. Hard pass.
Kirill Marchenko – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. Nine points in the last seven games and well over three shots per game. He’s conservatively a top 50 player.
Kent Johnson – Goal anda an assist with two shots. Johnson is the perfect buy low target for a team in real life. Then again, Columbus is out of it, so there is plenty of reason to keep him and hope for a turn around. For this season, I’m out, but in dynasties, if I’m out of it, I’d try to get Johnson on the cheap.
Pavol Regenda – Goal and an assist. Regenda couldn’t score in the AHL, so of course he has seven goals in nine games in the NHL this season. He’s a middling streamer while he’s on fire, but I’m expecting this to run out of steam sooner than later.
Collin Graf – Goal and an assist with three shots playing over 20 minutes. Graf is a middling streamer while he’s on the top line. The poor shot rate really keeps him down.
Denver Barkey – Two assists with three shots. Nothing for fantasy at this point in his career. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Evgeni Malkin – Two assists with a shot. Malkin looked pretty cooked last season, so it’s great to see him flourishing again with over a point per game.
Sidney Crosby – Goal and an assist with three shots. Crosby scoring 45+ goals for the first time in over a decade would be amazing. If anyone can maintain this incredbily high shooting percentage, it’s him.
Tommy Novak – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. Novak is on the second line, but he’s not getting any power play time. That leaves him as a bottom end streamer.
Nick Suzuki – Goal and an assist, as did Cole Caufield. Suzuki is thriving on the power play last season, giving him a great chance to go over a point per game for the second straight season. Caufield has dropped off a bit, but I’m still betting on him getting to 40 goals for the first time.
Lane Hutson – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. The more time goes by, the more it looks ridiculous that Hutson isn’t on Team USA. He’s extremely good defensively too and isn’t getting the credit for it.
Noah Ostlund – Two assists with three shots. Ostlund filled in on PP1 with Norris out (day to day) and delivered. Ostlund is already a solid middle sixer and should continue to be one long term. Right now, the shot rate is too poor to be better than a bottom end streamer.
Josh Doan – Goal and an assist. My love for Doan has no bounds.
Mark Scheifele – Goal and three assists with two shots. Josh Morrissey and Gabe Vilardi each had a goal and an assist. The Jets have now won four in a row, and while I still think their team is flawed (they are slow as hell), I still think they can get on a run to push towards a Wild Card spot. These three continue to crush and are easy holds everywhere.
Jonathan Toews – Goal and an assist. Toews has actually scored in four straight games, but I still have no interest in using him.
Charlie McAvoy – Two assists with four hits and three blocks. The assists are through the roof for McAvoy, which is great to see. If only we could get the shots back up to two per game like last season.
Devin Cooley – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 3-1 win over the Blackhawks. Cooley’s numbers are shockingly good overall, earning him a contract extension. He’s played his way into being a solid streamer in all but the worst matchups.
Mikael Backlund – Goal and an assist with three shots. A nice run of form for Backlund has pushed him back into the middling to solid streamer range.
Yegor Sharangovich – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. It’s crazy that Sharangovich scored 31 goals two seasons ago, but isn’t even close to it over the past two seasons combined. He’s a bottom end streamer at best.
Karel Vejmelka – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 2-1 win over the Stars. Very good run for Vejmelka, who has allowed two goals or less in each of his last five starts.
Nick Schmaltz – Goal and an assist. Schmaltz has an excellent chance of setting career highs in goals and points. He’s done enough to be a hold everywhere.
John Marino – Goal and an assist with two shots. Marino is quietly crushing his minutes this season. Utah would do well to give him more ice time against top competition. As is, the shot rate is dreadful, but Marino is doing enough to be on the fringe.
Ilya Sorokin – 35 save shutout in the 1-0 win over Connor Ingram (17/18) and the Oilers. Arguably the game of the season in net by Sorokin, who saved over five goals over expected. The Islanders surprisingly thriving this season has Sorokin pushing towards being a top five goalie again.
John Tavares – Goal and an assist, as did William Nylander. Tavares has cooled off a bit, but he’s still a clear hold.
Matias Maccelli – Two assists with four shots. Playing with Tavares and Nylander is ideal, but Maccelli still isn’t doing enough to be more than a bottom end streamer.
Matthew Knies – Two assists with a shot. The shot rate is the only thing keeping Knies from being a surefire top 100 player. Regardless, he’s a definite hold.
Jack Eichel – Goal and three assists with five shots. Vegas looked dead in the water, but a goal with seven seconds left sent them to overtime before Eichel won it. And so continues Eichel’s best season.
Mark Stone – Goal and two assists with four shots. Just stay healthy!
Mitch Marner – Two assists with three shots. The entire top power play unit for Vegas had at least two points, with Tomas Hertl scoring a a goal and an assist, while Pavel Dorofeyev found the back of the net twice on four shots. We’re finally starting to see a surge from Marner, with nine points in his last six games. He has at least three shots in each of his last four games as well, which is very encouraging. The move to center seems to be helping.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Monday recapping the action from the weekend. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
