Winter Chills Don’t Make Buffalo Say “Brrrr”s.

Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!

What did the Buffalo say to his boy before dropping him off at college?

I don’t know for sure. I mean, I’m not a creeper or an obsessive stalker of bison, but I do know one thing.

Despite the frosty January nights in Western New York, there’s one group of hockey players that is about as hot as the surface of the sun and is certainly not saying, “Brrr.”

The Columbus Blue Jackets spoiled Buffalo’s win streak on Saturday (5-1 CLM), but the Sabres were BACK Tuesday night at home vs Vancouver.

Early on, I had things written up looking like we’d get a blowout from Buffalo, but the Canucks made it interesting with a late push and three straight unanswered goals after the 10-minute mark of the third period. 

In the end, it was the Sabres’ 11th win in their last 12 games, and a leapfrog over the Panthers into the top four spots of the Atlantic division.

Was that the only exciting bit from last night’s schedule?

Here’s what else I saw in Tuesday night’s NHL action…

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen – 32 saves on 35 shots and the 5-3 win vs VAN. Yes, this guy’s name is spelled like both of his parents were stutterers, but that doesn’t change the fact that Luukkonen is now the clear #1 netminder on a team that is absolutely rolling through the league right now. With Alex Lyon officially moved to “Injured Reserve” on Tuesday and Devon Levi nowhere to be seen, it’s Luukkonen’s time to seize the opportunity to shine.

Alex Tuch – 1 G (13), 1 A (21), +2, 3 SOG, 1 SHA, 1 H, 2 BLK, and 19:42 TOI. Full disclosure, I quickly mistyped his last name as “Yuch” and kind of chuckled. With 34 points in 41 games, there isn’t much “yuck” to report here.

Bowen Byram – 2 A (13), +1, 2 PIM, 2 SOG, 2 BLK, and 24:29 TOI. Byram wasn’t a defenseman who was ranked too high on your draft day cheat sheets, but he’s been producing over this Sabres run. With the two points in this one, he’s up to 9 points in his last 7 games. 

Zach Metsa – 1 G (1!), +1, 1 SOG, GWG. Ok, I’ll admit it. The only reason I wanted to add this guy is because of the obvious Star Wars reference. Congrats to the kid on his first as an NHL’er!

“Meesa think the Sabres are pretty good”

Thatcher Demko – 15 saves on 19 shots and the 5-3 loss at BUF. That’s 5 straight losses for Demko, who’s averaged 4 GA in that span.

Brock Boeser – 2 A (11), -3, 3 SOG, 1 PPA, 1 H, 1 BLK. If you’re in a league that uses plus/minus as a category, steer clear. His -3 on Tuesday night pushes him down to a -22 on the year. Woof.

Brandon Bussi – 20 saves on 22 shots and the 6-3 win vs DAL. I really wanted to run Bussi out as the lede today, but the Sabres deserved another top billing, so here we are. I know Viz mentioned it on Monday, and I said it last week, but it bears repeating. With Pyotr Kochetkov out for the rest of the year and Frederik Andersen losing his last 9 (!) starts, it’s time for Bussi to show he’s ready to be the #1 guy. He’s now 15-2-0-1 with a 2.29 GAA and a .906 save percentage.

Andrei Svechnikov – 4 A (23), +1, 2 SOG, 4 H, 1 BLK. Four assists? I thought this guy was supposed to be a goal scorer. That’s 8 points in 4 games for Svech, and a pretty quiet 35 pts in 43 GP.

Nikolaj Ehlers – 3 A (23), +2, 1 SOG, 1 PPA, 1 BLK. It’s weird how close these two are. Ehlers has 34 pts in 43 GP. 

Seth Jarvis – 1 G (20), 1 A (11), 6 SOG, 4 H. Jarvis said being left off the Olympic roster was a “shit sandwich” in a nod to an old Justin Williams quote. As odd as that sounds, it should make you glad if you roster him. He seems like the type to be even more dangerous with that kind of chip on his shoulder. I’d look to add him via trade in leagues where you could use a goal-scoring boost.

K’Andre Miller – 2 G (4), 1 A (15), +3, 2 SOG, GWG. Nothing to really criticize here, unless you count the hairstyle. Hey, K’Andre, 1997 called. And it wants its frosted blonde haircut back.

Hey, don’t come at me, bro. It’s called RAZZball for a reason.

Jake Oettinger – 10 saves on 15 shots and the loss at CAR. Fresh off an unsurprising and well-deserved Team USA appointment, Oettinger ended up thrust right into the eye of the hurricane. He got pulled after the 5th goal and was replaced by Casey DeSmith.

Jason Robertson – 1 G (25), 2 A (27), 2 PIM, 2 SOG, 1 PPG, 1 PPA, 1 BLK. Speaking of Team USA members…um…I know it’s easy to criticize these rosters, especially when there are SO MANY good players to choose from, but how do the Americans keep a guy with 52 points in 43 games and a 15.3% shooting percentage off that Olympic team?  I know a good team isn’t only built on offense, but this omission is an eye-opener.

It’s funny, too, because it reminds me of the Top 100 Starting Pitchers list that I do for the baseball side (returning on January 19th!) – It’s not easy to trim a list down to fit a ton of good players into a finite number of spots. This kind of selection process opens itself up to criticism, but I feel better assuming that if anyone gets injured or cannot attend, Roberston has to be at the top of that “next man up” list. 

Andrei Vasilevskiy – 31 saves on 33 shots and the 4-2 win vs COL. I know I led with the Sabres, so the natural thing would’ve been to watch that game in its entirety. But when I sat down to watch the games on Tuesday night, the TV was already tuned into the COL v TB game, and it was tough to flip channels. Both teams were flying, and there was no shortage of scoring chances. Whatever the opposite of the neutral zone trap is called, this was it.

Brandon Hagel – 1 G (20), 1 A (18), 1 last name that rhymes with a breakfast bread topped with cream cheese.

Darren Raddysh – 2 A (24), +2, 2 PIM, 4 SOG, 1 PPA, 1 H, 24:39 TOI, and one “what the heck is going on here?” Seriously. Raddysh is up to 34 points in 36 games and scored a HAT TRICK in Saturday’s win over San Jose. If anyone is still asking about dropping Raddysh, the answer is no. He has 9 points in his last 4 games.

Nikita Kucherov – 2 A (41), +1, PPA. 20 goals and 41 assists in just 38 games. It’s another sublime season from the Tampa superstar.

Scott Wedgewood – 24 saves on 27 shots in a tough luck 4-2 loss. He was solid through the first two periods in this one. Almost as solid as Steve Winwood’s “Valerie”. Is Scott Wedgewood a normal and easy transition to Steve Winwood? Will this song stick in your head all day long while you think of either the Colorado goalie OR the old school superstar vocalist? Only you can answer those thought-provoking questions.

Lukas Dostal – 34 saves on 38 shots and the 5-2 loss at PHI. If I didn’t see that Anaheim had some d-men who scored, I’d wonder if there were any defenders in front of Dostal on Tuesday night.

Cutter Gauthier – 1 G (20), -2, 3 SOG, 1 PPG. That’s 20 goals and 20 assists for a guy that many of us plucked from the free agent list in the first two weeks of the season.

Jackson LaCombe – 2 A (20), -2, 1 SOG, 2 PPA, 2 H, 1 BLK. The +/- doesn’t help (-8), but as long as he’s getting power-play time, he’s worth rostering in points leagues.

Dan Vladar – 16 saves on 18 shots and his 16th win of the year. That’s 5 wins in the last 6 games from the sith lord.

Trevor Zegras – 2 G (17), +1, 2 PIM, 3 SOG, 1 PPG. Viz’s 3-point challenge pick! The revenge game was a good call, even though they weren’t in Anaheim. Maybe Zegras will take his old pals out for late-night cheesesteaks after this one.

Noah Cates – 2 A (14), +3, 17 PIM(!), 2 SOG. Here’s a nice bonus for those of you in leagues that count goon stats. 17 PIMs is a nice little extra.

Jacob Markstrom – 15 saves on 24 shots and NINE goals against. Ugh. As much as I don’t want to admit it, Markstrom has been about as bad as any goaltender (not named Andersen). He had an .885 save percentage on the season and just three wins in his last 10 GP before this one. No word if he pulled a Patrick Roy and told Sheldon Keefe to trade him right now.

Ilya Sorokin – 44 saves on 44 shots and the 9-0(!) shutout vs NJ. Oh boy. I joked that Anaheim defenders took the night off, but Sorokin was even busier. With all the action the Islanders’ netminder had, it’s hard to believe his team was in the offensive zone long enough to score 9 goals. Fun fact: This shutout gives Sorokin 26 in his career, one more than the former Islander record holder, Glenn Resch (25).

Anthony Duclair – 3 G (7) 2 A (11), +6(!), 3 SOG, and 13:41 TOI. How does a guy record 5 points in just 13 minutes of ice time?! When you score almost 30% of your points in one night, it’s safe to say you likely had a career game.

Mat Barzal – 1 G (11), 2 A (24), +4, 4 SOG, GWG, 1 BLK, 6-for-15 FOW. The only criticism here is the one “T” in his first name. Come on, man. 

Matthew Schaefer – 1 A (17), +2, 4 PIM, 1 H, 2 BLK, and 20:40 TOI. There it is. That’s the way you do it. Spell the first name properly? Check. Among the top 3 rookies in scoring as a defenseman? Check. Set the record for goals scored by an 18-year-old in the NHL? Check. Oh boy. And this kid won’t turn 19 until September 2026?! Dynasty league gold. 

It’s a longer clip here, but it’s worth watching if you missed his goal against the Leafs. 

Wow.

Sergei Bobrovsky – 19 saves on 22 shots in the 4-1 loss at TOR. After winning 6 straight starts in December, Bob has come back to Earth a bit. He’s 1-3 in his last four games.

Aaron Ekblad – 5 PIM and a fight with Max Domi. You know it’s bad when the only stats to report from the Panthers are an Aaron Ekblad scrap. Carter Verhaeghe scored Florida’s only goal.

Joseph Woll – 31 saves on 32 shots and the win, his 7th in his last 10 starts. Anthony Stolarz, who?

Matthew Knies – 1 G (12), 1 A (26), +2, 1 SOG, GWG, and 15:59 TOI. Last week’s lede keeps on rolling. Have a Knies New Year, indeed!

Easton Cowan – 1 G (5), +1, 2 PIM, 1 SOG, 1 H, and 11:15 TOI. I highlighted him as the Leafs’ rookie to watch way back in my divisional preview series. He’s sitting at 12 points in 31 games. So far, so good.

Auston Matthews – 1 G (21), +1, 4 SOG, 2 H, 1 BLK, 11-for-19 FOW, and 19:48 TOI. As much fun as it is for everyone outside of the GTA to rip on Matthews and his playoff failures, no one can deny the individual talent. While Matthew Schaefer was stealing the Hockey Night in Canada highlight reel on Saturday night, Auston Matthews was passing Mats Sundin on the Leafs’ all-time goal scorer list. Matthews sniped his 21st on Tuesday night (in 31 games) and added to his career total of 422 goals. 

Carter Hart – 17 saves on 20 shots, and the 4-3 OT win at WPG. It’s a welcome W for Hart, and just his second in his last 7 starts. Adin Hill was supposed to be week-to-week when he was first injured in October, but Hart will need to sharpen up if Hill is due back anytime soon. It’s a situation to monitor.

Tomas Hertl – 1 G (16), 1 A (16), 5 SOG, 1 PPG, GWG, 8-for-16 FOW. 

Mitch Marner – 2 A (33), -1, 1 SOG, 2 PPA, and yet another headline in Toronto newspapers after Brad Marchand goaded Leaf media into running a story about how Leaf fans “ran Marner out of town”. 

Connor Hellebuyck – 27 saves on 31 shots and the OT loss. Saying he now has 9 straight losses sounds kind of mean, so let’s just say he’s gone 9 starts without a win. 

Cole Perfetti – 1 G (3), 1 SOG, 1 H, in 14:19 TOI. 9 points in 27 games from a Top 6 player who gets PP2 time? Barf emoji. 

Gabe Vilardi – 2 A (20), +3, 1 SOG, 1 H. 37 points in 41 games. The second line of Perfetti, Toews, and Vilardi has to be one of my favorite lines. Too bad they’re not producing like a Top 6 group. 

Jonathan Toews – 1 A (10), +1, 2 PIM, 1 SOG, 2 H, 2 BLK, 7-for-13 FOW. Speaking of 18-year-old Matthew Schaefer, does anyone remember this guy’s rookie season?

Ok, maybe it hasn’t been that long. But we’re 18 years removed from Toews’ inaugural 2007-2008 season. In other words, Matthew Schaefer was born on September 5th, 2007, and Jonathan Toews scored his first NHL goal, on his first shot, in his first NHL game…on October 10th, 2007.

Juuse Saros – 37 saves on 43 shots and the 6-3 loss at EDM. He’s ping-ponged wins and losses for about a month and is sitting pretty close to a .500 record. At 16-14-3, at least he’s still getting the lion’s share of Nashville’s starts.

Ryan O’Reilly – 1 G (12), 3 SOG, 2 BLK, 9-for-25 FOW. The points are still there (36 pts in 43 GP), but I wouldn’t rush out to add him. He’s scored more than 65 points just twice in 17 seasons. He’s a good fringe/streamer in shallow leagues, though. (55% FOW).

Connor Ingram – 24 saves on 26 shots and the win over NSH. He’s a serviceable goalie if you need a replacement for an injured starter (Jarry) or one that is crapping the bed (Markstrom, Andersen), but I’d still go with Bussi over Ingram if they were both available.

Connor McDavid – 3 G (28), +2, 10 SOG, 1 PPG, 8-for-16 FOW, 22:28 TOI. 75 points in 43 games? I guess this guy is pretty good, eh?

Leon Draisaitl – 1 G (21), 2 A (39), 3 SOG, 1 PPA, 14-for-22 FOW. The 57% faceoff percentage (season ) is good for a Top 20 spot in the league.

Curtis Lazar – 1 G (3), +1, 3 SOG, GWG, 1 H. OH! It’s another ‘Memberberry! Here we go again. I didn’t know Lazar was still playing, either. For the record, this was his first goal since December 3rd, and just his third of the season, so Oilers fans may have forgotten about him, too.

Jeremy Swayman – 21 saves on 26 shots (7 minutes left in the third), and the loss at SEA. Another Team USA goalie who, along with Jake Oettinger, got the call last week to represent the country in February, and another rough outing. This breaks a modest 3-game streak where Swayman allowed just 2 goals (in each game).

David Pastrnak – 2 G (19), Auston Matthews isn’t the only active player climbing up his team’s scoring list. Pasta’s 410 goals are just 14 behind Brad Marchand for 5th place in Boston; he’s 7 points behind Bobby Orr for all-time points (881 to 888, respectively).

Joey Daccord – 27 saves on 29 shots (7 mins left) and his 4th win in his last 5 starts.

Jared McCann – 1 G (8), A (6), +1, 3 SOG, PPG. Don’t let the low point total scare you away. McCann’s 14 points are much more impressive when you see that he’s only played in 17 games.

Vince Dunn and Matty Beniers – 2 assists each.

Jet Greaves – 30 saves on 32 shots and down 2-1 with 6 mins left in the third. The win-loss record might look less than encouraging (12-10-1), but don’t let that fool you. Greaves has shouldered a heavy load, starting 28 of Columbus’s 41 games this year. The .910 save percentage and 2.64 GAA should tell you a bit more of the story. If this guy is somehow still available in your keeper league, pick him up.

Zach Werenski – 1 G (16), 2 SOG, 1 BLK, and 21:55 TOI. That’s an 8-game point streak (15 pts) and, with all due respect to Cale Makar, it’s hard to argue Werenski isn’t the best defenceman in the league.

Alex Nedeljkovic – 32 saves on 33 shots (5 mins left in the third period), and the 2-1 win over CLM. This was his 3rd win in his last 10 starts. He’s nothing but a backup in very deep leagues.

Alex Wennberg – 1 G (8), 1 A (20), 3 SOG, 1 PPG, 1 H, 1 BLK.

I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below, and I’ll respond as soon as possible.  

Happy Wednesday, and I’ll see you next week!

Follow me @marmosdad on Twitter/X and Bluesky @marmosdad.bsky.social