Tage Thompson‘s nickname, as given to him by Sabres announcer Dan Dunleavy, is TNT. Safe to say that everyone who watched Wednesday’s game on TNT learned the nickname. Thompson had the game of the season, scoring five times, five times, five times, five times! He scored four in the first period, becoming the 18th player to ever score four in a period, and the fourth to do it in the first period. He put nine shots on goal in total and added an assist despite playing only 13:56 in the game. Here’s the list of players who have multiple 3+ goals, 6+ point games in the last 30 seasons: Thompson, Zibanejad, Lemieux, and Gretzky. And Thompson is only 1/3 of the way through the season! He now has 21+19 in 26 games with over five shots per game. Honestly, it doesn’t look like a fluke at all. Sure, his shooting percentage is a little high, but marginally so. If he can maintain his shot rate, that’s over 400 shots in a season, making him close to a lock for 50 goals. As far as going forward, Thompson has played his way into the top 10 discussion. His minutes could even end up increasing towards 20 per game from the 18:31 he’s at now. Thompson has already turned his contract extension into a massive steal for the Sabres. Let’s take a look at what else happened the last two nights:
Jeff Skinner – Four assists and a shot. Alex Tuch had a goal and three assists with three shots. They’re both over a point per game now and easy holds.
Rasmus Dahlin – Goal and two assists with two shots. Absolutely monstrous start to the season for Dahlin, who has been far and away the best defenseman in fantasy.
Dylan Cozens – Goal and two assists. That’s three straight three point games for Cozens, who has 17 in his past nine games. Clear as day hold.
Jacob Bryson – Two assists. And there’s your annual Bryson update!
Patrik Laine – Two goals. Columbus is a mess, but Laine continues to roll.
Gustav Nyquist – Two goals on four shots. Nyquist remains in the middling streamer range.
Charlie Lindgren – 29 saves on 30 shots in the 4-1 win over the Flyers. Lindgren is a step above desperation because of the wins. I’d stream in decent matchups or better.
Alex Ovechkin – Two goals on eight shots. They were both empty netters, but they count the same! And just like that, he’s 99 away from the Great One.
John Carlson – Two assists with two shots. It’s a big disappointing from Carlson, but I’m not really concerned for the rest of the season.
Evgeny Kuznetsov – Two assists with four shots. Kuznetsov is on the fringe. He’s had atrocious shooting luck and has piled up assists. I’d probably be stubborn and hold if I had him.
Dylan Strome – Goal and an assist. Strome is an elite streamer.
Jon Merrill – Goal and an assist with two PIM. Nothing to see here.
Mason Shaw – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. I’ve been impressed with Shaw’s play when I watch the Wild. That said, he’s buried on the depth chart and isn’t worth using in fantasy.
Connor Dewar – Two assists with two shots. A good day for the depth Wild players who are unusable in fantasy.
Elias Lindholm– Three assists with a shot. Could we finally be seeing the turnaround from Lindholm? It looks that way.
Rasmus Andersson – Goal and two assists with four shots and four blocks. While the plus-minus from last season isn’t going to be repeated, Andersson has been even better offensively.
Tyler Toffoli – Two goals on five shots. Nice run from Toffoli who is on the fringe.
Blake Coleman – Goal and an assist with two shots. Coleman is stuck as a deep league option now.
Linus Ullmark – 23 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Avalanche. Somehow, the Avs are an easy matchup because of all the injuries they have. Ullmark still sits as the #1 goalie so far.
Taylor Hall – Two goals and an assist with five shots. Hall has put together a great stretch of hockey lately with Charlie Coyle (two assists). I still lean elite streamer for Hall, but it’s close.
Trent Frederic – Goal and an assist with two shots. No thank you.
Christian Fischer – Two assists with three shots. Fischer has played his way onto the deep league radar, but that’s it.
Connor McDavid – Two goals and two assists with five shots. Basically everyone went off for the Oilers as they dropped an eight ball on Arizona. McDavid is on pace for over 70 goals and 85 assists, and I’d love to see it.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Two goals and an assist with four shots. RNH has a good chance of blowing previous career highs out of the water. He’s the forgotten man in Edmonton, but he’s been outstanding.
Igor Shesterkin – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 5-1 win over Vegas. It hasn’t been his best hockey, but Igor has still won 60% of his starts and has a .913 sv%. I have zero concern and still expect him to finish as a top five goalie. Remember, we draft him for his floor as much as his ceiling.
Mika Zibanejad – Two goals and an assist with four shots. Zibanejad has been the Rangers best forward and it’s not even close.
Artemi Panarin – Three assists with six shots. Panarin is piling up the assists and his shooting luck should turn. We’ll see if the jumbled Rangers lines gets them going for an extended stretch.
Adam Fox – Two assists with three shots. He’s not in the top tier of fantasy defenseman, but he is in real life. Fox would be in the Norris discussion again if it ended today.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Two assists with two shots. He hits enough of the stats to be relevant in deep leagues, and maybe 14’ers that don’t have plus-minus. The days of OEL being relevant in 10’ers or 12’ers are over unless Hughes gets hurt.
Bo Horvat – Two assists with two shots. As a long time Horvat fan, I love to see him finally getting the credit he’s due for being a great player, even if the goal scoring looks like a Kreider-esque outlier.
Dakota Joshua – Two goals on five shots and five PIM. Joshua has been a force on the fourth line, but there’s nothing for fantasy outside of a deep league streamer for PIM/hits.
Logan Couture – Goal and an assist with two shots. A huge hot streak from Couture has him on the fringe again. If you can afford the weak plus-minus, I’d lean hold.
Tomas Hertl – Two assists with seven shots. Same deal as Couture.
Thursday’s Games
Brayden Point – Two goals on three shots. It’s not an exciting stat line, but Point has been very solid so far.
Steven Stamkos – Two assists with two shots. Stamkos has shown no signs of slowing down. He’s firmly on 500 watch now as he’s five goals from the milestone.
Ilya Samsonov – 29 save shutout in the 5-0 win over the Kings. Somehow, the Toronto goalies continue to stand on their head. Just remember how much Campbell fell apart last season and be aware it could happen to Murray and/or Samsonov.
William Nylander – Goal and an assist with four shots. Nylander is scoring at a career high rate, but the assists are down a bit. Seems like a good trade.
Michael Bunting – Two assists with four shots. As long as he’s on the first line, Bunting is on the fringe depending on team needs.
Sergei Bobrovsky – 19 saves on 20 shots in the 5-1 win over the Red Wings. Doesn’t get much easier than that. Bob has been a disaster so far this season. You never know what you’re going to get from him. Use him at your own risk.
Matthew Tkachuk – Goal and an assist with two shots. Tkachuk has cemented himself among the best players in the league.
Pierre-Luc Dubois – Two goals and an assist. I picked the wrong Jet on line two for three points. Dubois has points in seven straight playing the best hockey of his young career.
Blake Wheeler – Goal and an assist with three shots. Wheeler is back on the fringe and I’d lean hold after a great run of play.
Mark Scheifele – Two assists with a shot. The assists are down a lot, but it can’t last. Thankfully, the goals have been there to compensate. Scheifele has fully bought into Bowness hockey.
Neal Pionk – Two assists with a shot. Pionk is great with all of the extra categories. He’s on the fringe without them, but I lean hold for the all-around contribution.
Roope Hintz – Two assists with four shots. Nothing is stopping the first line right now. Hintz is playing some of the best hockey of his career.
Miro Heiskanen – Two goals on four shots. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Heiskanen was going to break out offensively. However, he’s still exceeding where most people had him ranked. He’s every bit of a #2 in fantasy and close to bottom end #1.
Nils Lundkvist – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Lundkvist is showing signs of putting it together. There’s not much here yet, but I think he’ll be a damn good offensive defenseman in due time. Somehow, welcome to the Razzball Database!
Wyatt Johnston – Two assists with three shots. I really like what Johnston has shown, but he’s in bottom end streamer territory for now.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Monday recapping the action from the weekend. Be sure to check out MarmosDad’s DFS post on Saturday! As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
