The National Hockey League had a total of 11 games on Saturday, and fantasy managers and DFS players were treated to shutouts from a trio of goaltenders. The backstops weren’t exactly the higher end options in the league, either. The 11 games saw a solid amount of spectators, too. The Dallas Stars edged the Carolina Hurricanes in attendance, 5,643 to 4,987, and we had a total of 26,641 fans in seats in seven different arenas to spur on the players. Let’s get started!
New York Rangers 6, New Jersey Devils 3
The Blueshirts doubled up the Devils in matinee action, and they got off to a very quick start against veteran Aaron Dell.
Pavel Buchnevich, Ryan Strome and Buchnevich (again) notched goals in a 4:22 span for an early 3-0 lead. The latter two goals were of the power-play variety. Mika Zibanejad chipped in with a pair of secondary helpers in the opening frame, too. Zibanejad ended up with three assists.
Artemi Panarin scored just 32 seconds into the second period, and Strome returned with an assist for one of his two assists and three points. Panarin ended up with the goal and four points to lead the way. [[ad:athena]]
Igor Shesterkin allowed three goals on 33 shots to pick up the victory. He wasn’t particularly sharp, but the offense was more than enough.
Buchnevich and Chris Kreider hit empty-net goals late in the third period, and the virtual hats were flying with just 1,800 in attendance at MSG.
Washington Capitals 6, Philadelphia Flyers 3
The Caps saw Alex Ovechkin open the scoring with a power-play goal at just 3:38 into the game, setting the tone for the afternoon. Ivan Provorov evened things up with just one second left in the first.
Dmitry Orlov opened the scoring in the second, just 33 seconds in, but James van Riemsdyk reeled things back in and leveled the score at 2-2. Ovie back with another power-play goal, and this is where Washington got some separation.
Evgeny Kuznetsov scored late in the period to make it 4-2, and John Carlson had secondary assist for one of his four assists on the afternoon.
Wade Allison struck on the power play for Philly, but that’s all the offense could muster in the third period. Conor Sheary struck for his 12th, and Anthony Mantha picked up an empty-net goal unassisted to light the lamp for the third time in three games with a total of four points since coming over in a trade from Detroit.
That was more than enough support for Ilya Samsonov, who allowed three goals on 25 shots.
Pittsburgh Penguins 3, Buffalo Sabres 2
The Pens fired out to a 2-0 lead and they never trailed in this game.
Pittsburgh had a goal from Jared McCann midway through the first, and Evan Rodrigues notched one at 5:57 early in the second. Bryan Rust was the only fantasy regular to strike for the Pens, picking up a power-play goal at 12:15 of the second with helpers to Jake Guentzel and Sidney Crosby. But it was mostly an effort from the lunch-pail guys for the visitors.
Casey Mittelstadt made things interesting with a power-play goal midway through the third, but Tristan Jarry made 28 stops and hung on for the win.
Dustin Tokarski made 38 saves in a losing effort, but came up just short.
Ottawa Senators 4, Montreal Canadiens 0
Former Pens backstop Matt Murray turned aside all 23 shots he faced for the shutout, topping the Habs on their home ice.
Artem Zub opened the scoring at 3:03 of the first period with helpers to Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson.
Batherson was back with a score in the second, his 14th goal of the season, as he finally starts to pay dividends for the Sens. Brady Tkachuk had primary on his goal, and he added secondary on Batherson’s power-play goal late in the third to make it 3-0.
Nikita Zaitsev scored his second later with Shane Pinto picking up his first assist, and that was more than enough offense to back Murray.
Editor’s Note Drafting is only half the battle! Get an edge on your competition with our NHL Season Tools - available in our EDGE+ Roto tier for $3.99/mo. (annually) or $9.99/mo. (monthly) - that are packed with rankings, projections, a trade evaluator, start/sit tool and much more. And don’t forget to use promo code WELCOME10 to get 10% off. Click here to learn more!
Arizona Coyotes 3, St. Louis Blues 2
Things got off to a quick start with Sammy Blais and Tyler Bozak making it 2-0 in the first 8:14. Darcy Kuemper was on the ropes, but he shut things down and didn’t allow anything the rest of the way.
Alex Goligoski hit his second goal of the season, and Clayton Keller evened things up on a power-play goal to make it 2-2 halfway home.
In the third, Michael Bunting scored his seventh of the season to notch the game-winning tally with help to Christian Fischer and Jakob Chychrun. Six of Bunting’s goals have come across the past seven, emerging as an interesting fantasy option in deeper pools and as a low-cost DFS option while running hot.
Carolina Hurricanes 3, Nashville Predators 1
The Hurricanes and Predators were involved in an entertaining goaltender duel for the first two-plus periods.
Juuse Saros made 45 saves on 47 shots, while Alex Nedeljkovic made 27 saves on 28 shots in the win.
Jaccob Slavin posted his second goal of the season with helpers to Morgan Geekie and Steven Lorentz. Roman Josi had an unassisted goal to even things up heading to the third.
Jani Hakanpaa scored a goal in just his second game since coming over in a trade from the Ducks, and it stood up as his first NHL game winner. He is generally known for his physicality and not his scoring.
Andrei Svechnikov bagged an empty-net goal to put the game out of reach, as Dougie Hamilton and Sebastian Aho had helpers.
Florida Panthers 5, Tampa Bay Lightning 3
The Panthers did something no other team has done this season. They hung a loss on Andrei Vasilevskiy at Amalie Arena.
Brandon Montour, Patric Hornqvist and Jonathan Huberdeau had goals in the first period to give them a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Brayden Point had the only goal in the opening period, and he added an assist to get to 399 career points. He is closing in on 400.
Speaking of 400, Victor Hedman grabbed his 400th assist, joining Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos as the only players to hit that milestone in franchise history.
Sam Bennett made his team debut after coming over in a trade from the Flames. He picked up two helpers to endear himself to his new teammates and fans.
Chicago Blackhawks 4, Detroit Red Wings 0
Malcolm Subban posted his second shutout of the season, picking up 29 saves. He and Kevin Lankinen have posted road shutouts in Detroit, and it’s just the third time in franchise history that the Blackhawks have had two road shutouts in Detroit in a single season.
Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat, Wyatt Kalynuk and Pius Suter were the goal scorers for Chicago. Vinnie Hinostroza had assists on all but the DeBrincat goal. He was blanked in his first nine games in Arizona, but he has five assists in six games since being reacquired by the ‘Hawks.
Editor’s Note: Don’t forget to download the NBC Sports EDGE app to receive real-time player news and updates. Plus, it allows you to easily track your favorite players. Get it here!
Edmonton Oilers 3, Winnipeg Jets 0
Mike Smith and Connor Hellebuyck were locked in a battle for the first 32 minutes, posting donuts at both ends of the ice.
Tyson Barrie broke through with a power-play goal at 12:00 of the second period, with helpers to Connor McDavid and Kailer Yamamoto for the lone goal through the first two periods.
Jesse Puljujarvi picked up his 10th goal of the season, and Leon Draisaitl posted his 40th assist with McDavid notching his 48th helper. Alex Chiasson put a bow on the scoring with another goal on the man advantage, and Draisaitl had another helper.
Barrie also ended up with two points, both on the power play. That helped Smith to another shutout, his third of the season, all on the road.
Minnesota Wild 5, San Jose Sharks 2
The Sharks started out well, as Brent Burns scored at 12:02 for the early 1-0 lead. Then things went downhill, and downhill fast.
Mats Zuccarello scored on the power play, Joel Eriksson Ek and Zach Parise scored within 72 seconds to make it 3-1 to close out the first period.
Kirill Kaprizov and Nico Sturm added goals in the second period, and that was all for Martin Jones. He was yanked after two periods. Josef Korenar made four saves with no goals allowed in the third, but the damage was done for San Jose.
Kaapo Kahkonen made 26 saves for the easy victory.
Dallas Stars 5, Columbus Blue Jackets 1
The Blue Jackets saw Vladislav Gavrikov score for the early 1-0 lead, beating Joel Oettinger. It looked like things were looking up, but then the bottom fell out.
Jamie Benn leveled the score 1-1 at 12:35 of the first period, and the Stars headed to the second period tied up.
Denis Gurianov, Joe Pavelski, John Klingberg and Esa Lindell scored four straight goals for the big lead, and that was more than enough for Oettinger.
Jason Robertson had two assists, and he now has a goal and five points with a plus-6 rating in his three-game point streak.
