This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Let us praise Richard Panik and his six goals on the season. Why? Because he is a man who had six goals all of last season. Because his career-high for goal is 11. Because more than half of his shots have found the back of the net thus far. Sure, Panik is only 25. He could easily still be improving as a player. He's almost certainly going to have a career year. However, when the season ends, and Panik has, like 15 goals, it won't feel all that notable. Lots of players have hot streaks. Since Panik's came at the beginning of the year, he got to, for a brief, but beautiful, period of time, be the Rocket Richard Trophy frontrunner.
Featured Matchups
Canadiens (PP: 17, PK: 7) at Islanders (PP: 30, PK: 1), 7:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Al Montoya (2-0-1, 1.30, .962), Jaroslav Halak (2-2-0, 2.77, .905)
Key Injuries:Zach Redmond (foot), Mikhail Grabovski (concussion), Nikolay Kulemin (undisclosed)
The Islanders have a Jekyll-and-Hyde thing going on with their special teams, as they have the best penalty kill but the worst power play so far. You would think any team with John Tavares on it would turn that around eventually. He has zero power-play goals so far, but to be fair that's true of every Islander save for Ryan Strome. Montoya starting in place of Carey Price provides New York with barely any respite given how Montoya has been playing this season. Of course, his overall track record is not that of Price, and we don't want to get too excited about three games. Shea Weber is playing over 26 minutes a night and leads the Habs with seven points. They have to be happy with that trade so far. Speaking of former Predators, Alexander Radulov has five points in his return to America. He also has 16 PIM, but that doesn't mean much necessarily, even in leagues that count penalty minutes.
Bruins (PP: 25, PK: 10) at Rangers (PP: 9, PK: 15), 8:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Tuukka Rask (3-0-0, 1.68, .947), Henrik Lundqvist (3-2-0, 2.42, .901)
Key Injuries:David Backes (undisclosed), Anton Khudobin (upper body), Kevan Miller (hand), Tuukka Rask (undisclosed), Frank Vatrano (foot), Pavel Buchnevich (back), Chris Kreider (neck)
The Bruins will have to hope that Rask, who was unavailable Tuesday, is able to go Wednesday. Without him, and without backup Khudobin who is definitively out Wednesday, Boston gave up five goals to the Wild. The Rangers will be without Kreider, which could mean more playing time for Jimmy Vesey. The sought after rookie has three goals this season. Even with a small sample size at work, it feels strange to look at Lundqvist's save percentage and see a lowly .901. Maybe that bodes well for the Bruins' largely struggling offense. Outside of Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, Boston has left a lot to be desired. This is especially true of the still pointless Torey Krug.
Capitals (PP: 22, PK: 26) at Oilers (PP: 15, PK: 13), 9:30 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Braden Holtby (2-1-1, 1.98, .924), Cam Talbot (5-1-0, 2.75, .919)
Key Injuries:Mark Fayne (undisclosed), Andrew Ference (hip), Matt Hendricks (lower body)
It's one of the faces of the NHL over the last decade (Alex Ovechkin) versus the future face of the NHL (Connor McDavid). Despite years of high-flying offense, right now the Capitals are only averaging 2.6 goals per game. However, they are giving up 1.8 goals per game, so they've still been fine. That's good for Braden Holtby owners, but it might be concerning for other fantasy owners that nobody on Washington has more than four points, and only Ovechkin has more than two goals. The Oilers will do their best to try and breakthrough Washington's defensive unit, though. McDavid has been everything we assumed he would be, he has nine points through six games, and Leon Draisaitl and Jordan Eberle both have six points. On the other hand, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins only has two points, both assists, so Edmonton will hope he picks up his play soon. In net, Cam Talbot has been a workhorse. He's played all but 10:04 of ice time between the pipes for the Oilers.
Predators (PP: 1, PK: 21) at Ducks (PP: 19, PK: 14), 10:30 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Pekka Rinne (1-2-0, 2.71, .922), Jonathan Bernier (0-1-0, 3.05, .933)
Key Injuries:Simon Despres (head), Rickard Rakell (personal), Nate Thompson (achilles)
Rinne only has one win on the season, but he has a great chance of picking up a second one. The Ducks will be on the second night of a back-to-back, and that means they are likely starting Bernier. The same Bernier who struggled so much last year that he spent time in the AHL. Bernier has not even been a league-average goalie since his first season in Toronto (2013-14). Two of Nashville's best forwards, Filip Forsberg and Ryan Johansen, don't have a goal, but they have nine assists combined. Seven of them have come on Nashville's impressive power play. As per usual, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry are pacing the Ducks, with Cam Fowler contributing on the power play. Fowler, who is seemingly always in trade rumors, actually leads Anaheim in minutes per game so far.
Recommended Pickup
Matt Read, RW, PHI – Like Panik, Read is off to a hot start, with five goals on the season. However, unlike Panik, Read has some history of NHL success. He's notched two 20-goal seasons in his career, although the last one came in 2013-14. Read also has tallied a few power-play points even the last couple of years where his numbers were down, and his shooting percentages were down as well. If he gets a few more bounces this year, Read could end up finding himself a 20-goal player again. At the very least he's playing well right now.
