Browsing: MacKinnon

Vancouverâ€s Jake DeBrusk forced overtime, deflecting in a Brock Boeser pass on a power play with just 3:01 remaining in the third period.

Artturi Lehkonen scored twice in the third period — including once on the power play — for Colorado.

Nathan MacKinnon also scored twice in a span of 1:28, once on the power play, to give Colorado a 2-0 first-period lead. He also added three assists for a five-point game. Valeri Nichushkin had two assists for the Avs, who lead the league with a 10-1-5 record. Cale Makar, who leads all defencemen in scoring with 21 points from six goals and 15 assists, collected two assists.

Drew Oâ€Connor short-handed, Linus Karlsson, on a pretty between-the-legs play, and Kiefer Sherwood off a turnover for his team-leading 10th goal of the season, also scored for the Canucks (8-8-1).

Both teams were coming off wins Saturday night. Vancouver defeated the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3, while Colorado drubbed the Oilers 9-1 in Edmonton.

Kevin Lankinen, starting for the second consecutive night, stopped 27 shots for Vancouver.

Avalanche goalie Mackenzie Blackwood made 29 saves.

Canucks: Goaltender Thatcher Demko did not dress for the second consecutive game after missing practice Friday. Head coach Adam Foote said he could play Tuesday against the visiting Winnipeg Jets. Karlssonâ€s goal was his first in 14 games this year.

Avalanche: The win was the 400th for coach Jared Bednar. Heâ€s the 42nd NHL coach to collect 400 career wins and the 16th to do it with one franchise. With his two goals, MacKinnon has 381 career goals, moving him past Peter Stastny for third place on Coloradoâ€s all-time goals list. Only Joe Sakic (625) and Michel Goulet (456) have more.

Lehkonenâ€s first goal came off a deflection of a Brent Burns’ shot with just 28 seconds gone in the third for a 3-2 Colorado lead. On his second, he banged home the rebound off a Martin Necas shot with Vancouverâ€s Tom Willander off for holding.

MacKinnon leads the NHL with 29 points and 14 goals.

Avalanche: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.

Canucks: Host the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.

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DENVER — Nathan MacKinnon scored twice and Colorado continued their strong start with a 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins on Saturday.

The Avalanche (5-0-1) have at least a point in all six games this season. Itâ€s one of their longest point streaks to begin a season in franchise history. The team record is 11 (9-0-2) in 2000-01 when they went on to win a Stanley Cup title.

Josh Manson also scored and Martin Necas added an empty-net tally with 2:37 remaining. The power play continues to struggle as the Avalanche finished 0 for 5.

Scott Wedgewood stopped 13 shots to earn his league-leading fifth win. He turned in the stop of the night with 13:49 remaining when he made a glove save on a shot from John Beecher.

Beecher had the goal for for the Bruins, who were outshot 38-14 for the game and 16-2 in the second period. Jeremy Swayman stopped 34 shots.

OTTAWA — Anders Lee and Kyle Palmieri scored in the third period to help the New York Islanders top Ottawa.

Bo Horvat, Max Shabanov and Emil Heineman also scored for New York in its second consecutive win. Lee added two assists, and Ilya Sorokin stopped 29 shots.

Tim Stutzle had a goal and an assist for Ottawa, which dropped to 1-1 on a four-game homestand. Shane Pinto scored his seventh goal this season, and Linus Ullmark made 18 saves.

David Perron put Ottawa in front with a power-play goal with 2:59 left in the opening period, and Dylan Cozens gave the Senators a 4-3 lead with his third goal with 1:13 to go in the second.

But Mathew Barzal set up Palmieri for the tying goal 6:00 into the third. Lee made it 5-4 with 1:03 remaining, beating Ullmark for his first goal of the season.

Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer, the No. 1 overall pick in this yearâ€s NHL draft, picked up an assist on Shabanovâ€s goal in the second. He has one goal and four assists during a five-game point streak.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Josh Doan scored two power-play goals, Alex Lyon made 32 saves as Buffalo beat Florida.

Owen Power also scored for Buffalo, which earned its second straight win since losing its first three games of the season. It was Lyonâ€s first shutout since Oct. 22, 2024, for Detroit against the New York Islanders.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 shots for Florida in its fourth consecutive loss since the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions began the season with three straight wins. Defenseman Niko Mikkola departed in the second period with an upper-body injury.

NEWARK, N.J. — Jack Hughes scored twice, Jake Allen stopped 27 of the 30 shots he faced and New Jersey won their fourth game in a row by beating Edmonton.

Itâ€s the Devils†first four-game winning streak since a stretch of five victories in a row from Jan. 7-16, 2023. That was two coaching changes ago when Lindy Ruff was behind the bench.

Hughes knifed his way through three Edmonton skaters before beating Calvin Pickard far side for his first goal eight minutes into the second period. He made another nasty move to deke and shoot the puck past Pickard for his second with seven and a half minutes left.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice for Edmonton, and former Devils forward Curtis Lazar added another with 1.7 seconds left after Dawson Mercer had sealed it with an empty-netter.

ST. LOUIS — Jordan Kyrou and Jimmy Snuggerud scored second-period goals, Jordan Binnington made 18 saves and St. Louis beat Dallas.

Pius Suter also scored to help the Blues win for for the first time in three home games this season. St. Louis was outscored 13-3 in its previous two games at the Enterprise Center.

Mikko Rantanen scored and Jake Oettinger made 19 saves for the Stars. They dropped their second straight after winning the first three games to start the season.

PHILADELPHIA — Noah Cates scored 2:36 into overtime to lift Philadelphia to their second win of the season, over Minnesota.

Dan Vladar stopped 15 shots and has the only two wins for the Flyers in net through five games this season as he tries to distance himself from Samuel Ersson in the fight for the No. 1 goaltender spot.

The Flyers were fired up from faceoff in the third game of a four-game homestand.

Flyers forward Nicolas Deslauriers fought to a draw with fellow forward Marcus Foligno in an early game brawl that got a rise out of the crowd. Deslauriers, his right cheek reddened and cut, threw his head back and waved his arms toward the crowd as he skated toward the penalty box.

Cates sent a thinned-out crowd home happy when he beat Jesper Wallstedt in the waning moments of OT for the winner.

BLUE JACKETS 3, LIGHTNING 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Kirill Marchenko scored early in the third period to rally Columbus over Tampa Bay, snapping a three-game skid and giving the Blue Jackets their first home victory of the season.

Kent Johnson scored on his 23rd birthday, and Damon Severson also scored for the Blue Jackets.

Jet Greaves stopped 17 shots for his first win of the season.

Marchenko has five goals in as many games — the most to start a Blue Jackets season — and is riding a five-game point streak.

Ryan McDonagh and Anthony Cirelli scored for Tampa Bay, which led 2-1 at the end of the first period but has now lost three in a row. Jonas Johansson made 28 saves.

WINNIPEG — Mark Scheifele scored a first-period power-play goal in the Winnipeg’s win over Nashville to become the franchiseâ€s career points leader.

Scheifele scored his sixth goal of the season 2:39 into the game for his 813th career point (342 goals, 471 assists), surpassing Blake Wheeler (812) for the most points in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history.

Vladislav Namestnikov had a power-play goal for the Jets as well, and Logan Stanley and Nino Niederreiter also scored. Namestnikov and Niederreiter added assists and Jonathan Toews had two assists.

Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves.

MONTREAL — Artemi Panarin had a goal and three assists as New York rallied to beat the Montreal.

Mika Zibanejad had a goal and an assist, J.T. Miller also scored and Matthew Robertson got his first NHL goal for the Rangers. Adam Fox had two assists and Jonathan Quick finished with 21 saves to help New York improve to 3-0-1 on the road this season.

Juraj Slafkovsky and Nick Suzuki scored in the opening 3:42 of the game for Montreal, and Noah Dobson had a goal midway through the third period after the Rangers had taken a two-goal lead. Sam Montembeault had 18 saves as the Canadiens snapped a four-game win streak.

KRAKEN 4, MAPLE LEAFS 3, OT

TORONTO — Josh Mahura scored his first goal of the season at 3:06 of overtime to give Seattle a victory over Toronto Maple Leafs.

Mahura beat Anthony Stolarz with a high shot after Seattle opened a six-game trip with consecutive extra-time losses in Montreal and Ottawa.

Shane Wright had a goal and an assist for the Kraken. Jani Nyman and Vince Dunn also scored, Joey Daccord made 26 saves and Mason Marchment had two assists.

John Tavares scored twice to give him 500 points with the Maple Leafs. Morgan Rielly also scored, and Anthony Stolarz stopped 24 shots.

Tavares tied it at 3 on a power play early in the third period.

HURRICANES 4, KINGS 3, OT

LOS ANGELES — Seth Jarvis scored 1:45 into overtime and Carolina extended their undefeated start to the season to five games despite giving up a three-goal lead in a win over Los Angeles.

Jarvis netted his sixth goal of the season, capitalizing on a fortunate bounce after Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke blocked Sebastian Ahoâ€s shot, scoring into an open net with goalie Anton Forsberg unable to get back in position.

Jordan Staal had two goals, Jesperi Kotkaniemi also scored, and Brandon Bussi made 25 saves for the Hurricanes.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 6, FLAMES 1

LAS VEGAS — Marquee offseason acquisition Mitch Marner scored his first goals as a Golden Knight, and Mark Stone and Jack Eichel each had a four-point night to lead Vegas to a victory over Calgary.

Stone, however, suffered an apparent wrist injury in the third period and headed to the locker room.

The Golden Knights (4-0-2) have recorded at least a point in every game, their second-longest streak to open a season. Vegas won its first seven games in the 2023-24 season.

Calgary has lost five consecutive games after opening the season with a 4-3 victory over Edmonton.

Stone had two goals and two assists, Marner scored two goals and Eichel finished with four assists for an NHL-leading 14 points and five multipoint games. Also for Vegas, Ivan Barbashev and Tomas Hertl each recorded a goal and an assist. It was Hertlâ€s 300th career assist. Adin Hill made 25 saves.

Jonathan Huberdeau scored for the Flames in his first game back from injured reserve. He had a upper-body injury in an Oct. 1 preseason game against Vancouver. Dustin Wolf stopped 14 of 19 shots before he was replaced in the third period by Devin Cooley, who made eight saves on nine attempts.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin each had a goal and an assist, Tristan Jarry stopped 31 shots for his 22nd career shutout, and Pittsburgh beat San Jose.

Anthony Mantha also scored for the Penguins, who improved to 4-2-0 on the season.

Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves for the Sharks, and San Jose outshot an opponent for the first time this season but was unable to score. The Sharks, an NHL-worst 20-50-12 last season, remained the leagueâ€s only winless team at 0-3-2.

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  Victoria MatiashSep 25, 2025, 10:04 AM ET

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  Victoria Matiash is a contributing writer for fantasy hockey and betting at ESPN. Victoria has been a part of the fantasy team since 2010.

Sleepers, value picks and supporting casts are crucial to fantasy hockey success, but what about the upper crust? That carefully chosen fantasy straw to stir your roster all the way to ultimate success? We need to discuss the flat-out superstars, and which of member of that exceptional ultra-shallow pool you should select first overall.

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For this compare and contrast exercise in ranking the true elite, we’re settling on a select group of six top forwards. While some will make an argument for picking top-tier defender Cale Makar or standout goalie Connor Hellebuyck first overall, most managers will instead justifiably side with a member of the following group. Each player’s strengths and weaknesses are assessed within the framework of ESPN’s standard H2H points game, in step with the following formula, while exceptions are mentioned otherwise.

Skaters:

A jack of all fantasy trades, the Avalanche center is also a master of most. Averaging a whopping 4.70 shots/game since 2022-23, MacKinnon sits second only to McDavid with 1.58 points/contest. Runner-up in power-play points this past season, he also blocked more shots than the average elite forward (one notable exception mentioned below). Those extra 0.5 digits add up pretty quickly. Despite potting only 32 goals this past season, MacKinnon still finished head of the forward pack with the most fantasy points in ESPN’s standard league. Draft him first overall and hope he scores closer to 51 like in 2023-24.

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Punching through the 50-goal plateau in three of his past four seasons, while potting 32 in 56 games during the pandemic-shortened 2021 campaign, Edmonton’s other superstar forward is a legit top-pick candidate in any league that rewards goals more than assists. If not for missing 11 contests last year, he would have bested MacKinnon in total haul in conventional competition. Despite losing that chunk of the season, Draisaitl still finished top-10 in power-play production and averaged 3.4 shots/game.

Still, it’s about the goals with this guy. Rattling off at a 0.63 goals/contest pace since 2020-21, the soon-to-be 30-year-old can be relied upon to consistently put up exceptional scoring numbers while still pitching in piles of assists. Draisaitl is also durable, missing just five tilts in the three years leading up to last season. If not convinced MacKinnon has a 45-plus-goal drive in him this round, strongly consider selecting the Oilers forward straight away.

A finalist for the Hart Trophy in consecutive years — the only player to do so — the predominant playmaking wizard of the East is responsible for collecting more points (1.67/game) than everyone else at even-strength (166) and with the extra-skater (99). While deservedly revered for his magical abilities to drive play and set up others — 0.74 primary assists/contest through the aforementioned stretch — Kucherov also finds the back of the net often enough, potting 37 goals this past season and 44 the previous. Despite shooting on net less often than others, the Lightning winger finished just a hair behind MacKinnon in total fantasy points in 2024-25.

Plus, from a schedule viewpoint, ESPN Senior Writer Greg Wyshynski points out why Kucherov is his preferred No. 1 selection in what’s going to be a busier grind for the other five skaters:

“He’s an offensive machine and a durable one at that, missing only five games over the past three regular seasons, and since Russia isn’t participating in the Olympic hockey tournament means he’ll get a midseason breather, too. While Kucherov doesn’t exactly have to prove his worth to anyone, keep in mind that he’s entering the last two years of his contract.”

By the way, the 32-year-old veteran undisputedly sits top of the target table in scoring-based fantasy leagues where goals and assists are valued equally. In such competition, he’s your No. 1 overall draft pick. End of chat.

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Widely considered the best skater on the planet, McDavid’s biggest weakness — an utterly ridiculous characterization out of context — is his proclivity for assisting teammates in finding the back of the net instead of scoring himself. While averaging 0.55 goals/game since 2020-21, the league’s top star has skipped to the rhythm of 1.15 helpers/contest, comprising 0.75 primary assists. For comparison, Tampa’s otherworldly playmaker is 1.07 and 0.67 respectively, over the same period.

However, back to the balance issue. Since erupting for 64 goals back in 2022-23, the 28-year-old has just 58 to show for his past two seasons (143 games). Kucherov has 81. So there’s the oh-so-minor knock on the Edmonton center in ESPN standard points competition. Durability is another emerging concern. After missing six games in 2023-24, McDavid sat out 15 last year. All else being equal, there’s ample argument to side with one of the aforementioned trio as a top fantasy option before the game’s most gifted performer. Except in fantasy play that values assists equal to goals, where he ascends to the No. 2 option behind Kucherov.

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While hardly an afterthought, the Boston winger sometimes feels like the other member of fantasy hockey’s elite sextet of forwards. Rather unfairly, considering he’s averaged 110 real-life points — almost half of them goals — in three consecutive seasons without missing a game. Pastrnak’s special superpower is that he likes to shoot in the direction of the opposition’s net a whole lot.

According to Evolving Hockey, his 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons finished first (727 iCF) and second (717 iCF) respectively in Individual Corsi For amongst all NHL skaters. Combine that shot-happy attitude with his resilience, and small wonder Pastrnak has scored more total goals than anyone these past three seasons.

So why not grab the sturdy forward first overall in fantasy leagues that prize goals above all else? Because Boston’s power play stinks, that’s why. Ranking 29th overall, the Bruins stumbled along at a 15.2% success rate in 2024-25. Which goes a long way to explain why their top forward amassed only 23 points with the extra skater. If the club manages to get more out of their current top unit, this fantasy gem should see better special teams numbers once more.

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No regular competitor can boast scoring at a greater clip the past six seasons. Nearly pacing MacKinnon in shots/contest, Matthews also puts up impressive numbers with the extra skater, contributes a healthy haul of helpers, and even kicks in the odd short-handed point. What sets him apart from the rest of this elite company is a propensity to block shots. As far as regular forwards are concerned, only Alex Tuch (1.38/game) blocked more per outing than Matthews (1.33/game) in 2024-25. Just like with MacKinnon, those half points add up rapidly. Unsurprisingly the Maple Leafs’ captain finished top of the fantasy table alongside Draisaitl in averaging 3.0 points/contest in standard ESPN competition. At face-value, he presents as top no-brain selection in conventional drafts.

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Unfortunately, there are other less attractive factors to consider, such as the big center’s health. Missing 15 games this past season, he often didn’t look his best self even when active. If trying to manage a chronic worry, Matthews will inevitably miss time. While the departure of former linemate Mitch Marner is also a concern, Matthews is arguably gifted enough to eventually figure it out alongside whoever subs in for the departed winger.

It comes down to games played. Does he eke out 75? 70? Fewer? How will the extra effort of competing in the Olympics affect his fitness? Whoever substitutes into your lineup when the 28-year-old is convalescing isn’t going to earn you the same fantasy cake. But maybe Matthews grinds out another 80 or so, like two seasons ago, when he scored 69 goals. If that’s on display in your fantasy crystal ball, by all means draft him first overall.

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