Sidney Crosby was back in the lineup for Pittsburgh on Wednesday night as the Penguins went into Carolina to face the Hurricanes. Crosby was injured in the Olympics and had missed the last 11 NHL games with a knee injury. He was back in his usual spot on the top line between Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust as well as the top PP unit. The Evgeni Malkin line was status quo and the third line was Justin Brazeau, Ben Kindel, and Anthony Mantha.
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That return didn’t go as the Penguins hoped as they took a point off Carolina but still lost 6-5 in overtime. The teams combined for seven goals in the third period but Sean Walker tallied the final marker to give the Hurricanes the two points.
Carolina’s second line of Jackson Blake (1 goal, 2 assists), Taylor Hall (1 goal, 1 assist), and Logan Stankoven (1 goal, 1 assist) had a huge game. That gives Blake 20 goals on the season, the first for him, and a 20-20 season (thus far). He has a real shot at a 25-25 season, too.
Walker finished with a goal, an assist, seven shots, a block, and two hits in the win.
Crosby totaled a goal, an assist, four shots, a block, four PIMs, and two hits in defeat. Erik Karlsson scored twice, managed an assist, and added a block in a three-point effort.
Stuart Skinned faced 44 shots but allowed all six goals in the loss.
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The Colorado Avalanche had a positive update on their injured wingers Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen, and Logan O’Connor:
None were in the lineup Wednesday but keep an eye on news over the rest of the week for a potential return, or returns.
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The New Jersey Devils went into New York and doubled up the Rangers by a 6-3 margin. Both Connor Brown and Jack Hughes registered a goal and two assists while Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt managed one of each. Timo Meier finished with a goal, five shots, and two blocks in the win. The two points give Hischier 5 goals and 5 assists in 10 games since returning from the Olympics.
Jacob Markstrom faced just 17 shots in the win.
Mika Zibanejad managed a goal, two shots, a block, two PIMs, and three hits in the loss.
Noah Laba was injured halfway through the second period and did not return.
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Cole Hutson made his debut for the Washington Capitals and scored an empty-net goal as the Caps defeated Ottawa 4-1. Hutson skated on the second power-play unit and managed 16:24 in ice time.
Tom Wilson scored once on five shots, adding a block, four PIMs, and five hits. Goalie Logan Thompson stopped 34 of 35 shots in the win.
Thomas Chabot had another monster ice time game with 28:06 overall, totaling an assist, two shots, two blocks, and two hits.
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Jason Robertson scored Dallas’ lone goal in Colorado on Wednesday but the Stars escaped with a 2-1 shootout win. Robertson finished with five shots, a block, and a hit.
Jake Oettinger stopped 33 of 34 shots for his 29th win. He needs one more victory for his fifth straight 30-win season.
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Dylan Holloway scored in St. Louis’ 2-1 shootout loss in Calgary on Wednesday night, managing four shots, a block, and three hits. In 11 games since returning from injury after the Olympics, Holloway has 7 goals, 7 assists, 37 shots, and 19 hits. That is more like the guy fantasy managers were drafting in the offseason compared to his pre-injury performance.
Devin Cooley held the fort in net for Calgary, stopping 26 of 27 shots.
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Noah Cates scored in overtime as the Philadelphia Flyers managed a 3-2 win over Anaheim. Dan Vladar made 34 saves on 36 shots for his 22nd win.
Cutter Gauthier had a goal and an assist in the loss, totaling seven shots, a block, and two PIMs. Leo Carlsson had the other goal, keeping up his post-Olympic point-per-game pace (12 points in 12 games).
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There are four weeks left in the NHL season, and fantasy managers fighting for a head-to-head title, top spot in their roto league, or scrapping in their points formats. Maximizing games played and schedule advantage is a key to getting the most out of the depth of a fantasy roster, so let’s go around the league and highlight players that are low owned, are in a position to succeed, and have positive scheduling aspects.
Player/team data is from Evolving Hockey, roster percentages and schedule information are from Frozen Tools, and all is current as of Wednesday, March 18th. For the schedule, we are starting with this coming Monday (March 23rd) and going to the end of the season.
Gabriel Perreault (New York Rangers)
Yahoo Roster: 11%
Fantrax Roster: 47%
ESPN Roster: 8%
Since the Olympic break, Perreault has averaged 17:42 per game in ice time, the most of any forward outside the team’s Big Four of Mika Zibanejad, Vincent Trocheck, J.T. Miller, and Alexis Lafreniere. The return of Miller has booted Perreault from the top power-play unit, and that’s a big hit to his fantasy value, but Perreault has averaged 1.4 individual expected goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 in these last 10 games (he has scored 1.2 actual goals/60). That expected goal rate puts him well inside the 90th percentile of regular forwards across the league in that span.
The Rangers have just 12 games over the balance of the season starting Monday, but the key for them is that 7 of those 12 games are on light days. The first week alone – Monday the 23rd to Sunday the 29th – New York play four games, and they’re on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, facing Ottawa, Toronto, Chicago, and Florida. At the least, Perreault is a depth add for the next week given that great scheduling and his role in the top-6.
Nicolas Roy (Colorado Avalanche)
Yahoo Roster: 1%
Fantrax Roster: 8%
ESPN Roster: 1%
In his six games with Colorado, Roy is skating just 13:23 per game, and that’s not a lot. However, his individual expected goal rate at 5-on-5 is 1.0 per 60 minutes, considerably better than what he did in Toronto this year (0.57). Roy has been floating between the second and third lines for the Avalanche, and when either of Gabriel Landeskog or Artturi Lehkonen return, Roy will be relegated to the third line. At the least, Colorado has good-to-great puck-moving defencemen on all three pairs, so the team can still generate offence even with their top two lines off the ice.
What is key here for Roy is Colorado’s upcoming schedule. They are 1 of 10 teams to have at least 13 games left starting Monday, and those opponents have a combined .509 points percentage this season, giving the Avalanche the fourth-easiest remaining schedule. Next week, they play on Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday, so there likely isn’t room for Roy on most fantasy rosters, but the week after that they have four games, three of them are on Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday, and those four games are against Calgary, Vancouver, Dallas, and St. Louis. After next week, Colorado has a great schedule, and Roy can provide faceoffs and goal-scoring ability for deeper fantasy rosters.
Logan Mailloux (St. Louis Blues)
Yahoo Roster: 1%
Fantrax Roster: 32%
ESPN Roster: 0%
The trade of Justin Faulk opened a lot of minutes on St. Louis’ blue line, and Mailloux has been a big beneficiary of that. Over St. Louis’ last 10 games, Mailloux has averaged 21:59 per game, and his 22:22 per game since the Faulk trade is second among Blues blue liners (only Philip Broberg is higher). Mailloux has even been getting 41% of the power-play time, though with St. Louis’ lacklustre power play, that isn’t worth a whole lot.
Regardless, it is a big ice-time jump, and the Blues’ upcoming schedule is a very good one: they are 1 of the 10 teams with at least 13 games remaining starting Monday, and they are 1 of 5 teams with at least five games on light days. They play on massive Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday slates next week, but the week after they have a M-W-F-Su four-game schedule, and those games are against Toronto and the three California teams. Keep Mailloux in mind a week from now to grab him for that great four-game, light-day week.
Joonas Korpisalo (Boston Bruins)
Yahoo Roster: 6%
Fantrax Roster: 16%
ESPN Roster: 2%
Korpisalo has not been to Jeremy Swayman‘s level, but an .891 save percentage in 26 games isn’t bad for a backup goalie. It hasn’t been a great March for Korpisalo with 14 goals against in three starts, but he has made at least 30 saves in two of those three starts, so even with the 14 goals against, two of those three starts weren’t as bad as they seem.
What is important here is that starting Monday, the Bruins have the most back-to-back games remaining (4). With Boston in a tight playoff race, maybe they use Swayman in a couple of those B2Bs, but they haven’t started Swayman two nights in a row yet this season. In the first week alone – March 23rd through 29th – Boston has a pair of B2Bs that could see Korpisalo get two starts. Anyone desperate for a third/streaming goalie as the season winds down, Boston has at least one B2B situation in each of the next three weeks.
San Jose Sharks
We will go quickly here because there are several San Jose players worth considering. Starting Monday, the Sharks have the most games remaining (14), the second-most games on light days (6), and their opponents have combined for the second-most goals against per game. Once the Sharks get past the March 23-29 portion where they play on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, they have 11 games in 18 games and over half of those games (6) are on light days.
Collin Graf
Yahoo Roster: 14%
Fantrax Roster: 36%
ESPN Roster: 13%
Graf was mentioned in one of my Ramblings at the end of February and in the 10 games since, he has 4 goals, 5, assists, 24 shots, 12 hits, and 6 blocks. He has skated between 17-19 minutes per game in six straight games and has been moved up the lineup next to Macklin Celebrini in recent contests.
Sam Dickinson
Yahoo Roster: 4%
Fantrax Roster: 42%
ESPN Roster: 1%
We could have Shakir Mukhamadullin here but given his recent healthy scratch in favour of Nick Leddy, it seems there has been a pecking order established, and Dickinson is ahead of Mukhamadullin.
Over San Jose’s seven games since the Trade Deadline, Dickinson has skated 19:13 per game, a massive improvement over the 15:55 per game he skated up until that point. He hasn’t been tremendously productive, especially with no power-play role, but he has 2 assists, 8 shots, 8 blocks, and 9 hits over those last seven outings. He had 49 shots, 46 hits, and 47 blocks in 49 games up until the Trade Deadline with over three fewer minutes per game in TOI, so Dickinson can push past 1.0 shots, 1.0 hits, and 1.0 blocks per game down the stretch. With that easy schedule, he may even chip in some points, too.
Yahoo Roster: 11%
Fantrax Roster: 23%
ESPN Roster: 3%
Yaroslav Askarov has run into an injury lately, and while it looks like he’ll be back soon, Nedeljkovic has a .910 save percentage in 13 games so far in calendar 2026, compared to Askarov’s .864. The Sharks are in the thick of the playoff race out West and if Nedeljkovic can give them a chance to win every night, then he may get more starts than Askarov even when Askarov is healthy. With San Jose’s great upcoming schedule and Goalie Ned’s recent play, be sure to check waiver wires to see if he’s an upgrade on your third goalie.