NHL Player News

Panarin scored a power-play goal on a team-high seven shots on net while adding an even-strength assist in Tuesday's 6-2 loss to the Senators.

Even with the Rangers as a whole struggling in an ugly road loss, Panarin kept racking up points, getting New York on the board early in the second period by snapping a point shot past a screened Anton Forsberg. Panarin has 13 multi-point efforts in 24 games to begin the season, and the 32-year-old remains on track for a career-best campaign with 16 goals and 37 points, putting his third in the NHL scoring race behind Nikita Kucherov (42) and J.T. Miller (39).

Shesterkin turned aside 30 of 35 shots in Tuesday's 6-2 loss to the Senators.

Ottawa's final goal was scored into an empty net. The ugly loss was mostly a team effort by the Rangers, and turnovers, odd-man rushes and net-front traffic gave Shesterkin little chance on any of the pucks that beat him. He's still looked a little off since returning from a lower-body injury in mid-November, and over his last seven starts Shesterkin has a 4-3-0 record with a 3.17 GAA and .910 save percentage.

Gaudreau scored an even-strength goal and added a power-play assist in Tuesday's 4-3 overtime loss to the Kings.

He had a hand in a Kirill Marchenko tally in the first period before scoring his own goal in the second -- Gaudreau found a loose puck in the neutral zone as the Kings pressed the attack, giving him a breakaway that he converted by going top shelf over Pheonix Copley's glove. That's now three multi-point performances in the last six games for Gaudreau, and he seems to have shaken off his early-season malaise with three goals and nine points in the last 10 games.

Smith has served his two-game suspension and will be available against Seattle on Thursday.

Smith's return will likely see youngster Simon Nemec returned to the minors considering Smith had played in all 21 games prior to his suspension. The 34-year-old blueliner is averaging just 14:43 of ice time and has never reached the 20-point threshold in his career, so he shouldn't be expected to offer much in the way of fantasy value.

Merzlikins stopped 35 shots in Tuesday's 4-3 overtime loss to the Kings.

It's been a pattern this season for Columbus to crack in the third period while trying to hold a lead, and Tuesday's game was no exception -- Merzlikins actually had a shutout going after 40 minutes, but the Blue Jackets got out-shot 15-7 in the third while giving up three straight goals. The netminder then couldn't get a glove on a Drew Doughty blast from the faceoff circle just 33 seconds into OT. Merzlikins has a .918 save percentage over his last 10 starts, but it's resulted in just a 3-5-2 record and 3.01 GAA as he's faced a whopping 36.7 shots a game during that stretch.

Gavrikov notched two assists in Tuesday's 4-3 overtime win over the Blue Jackets.

Facing the team he began his NHL career with before being dealt at least season's trade deadline, Gavrikov produced his first multi-point game of 2023-24 by helping to set up tallies by Phillip Danault and Arthur Kaliyev less than two minutes apart in the third period. Gavrikov has two goals and eight points through 22 games, but he hasn't been as physical as usual in his first full campaign with the Kings, registering only 10 hits.

Danault scored two goals on three shots while adding three hits, a blocked shot and a plus-2 rating in Tuesday's 4-3 overtime win over the Blue Jackets.

With the Kings staring at a 3-0 deficit to begin the third period, Danault got the comeback started by tipping home a Matt Roy point shot just 23 seconds into the final frame. His second tally a few minutes later was a greasy one, as Danault jammed home a puck that has stalled out on the goal line after sneaking through Elvis Merzlikins' pads. It's the 30-year-old's first multi-goal performance of the season, and Danault is up to six goals and 15 points through 22 games, putting him on pace for his third straight campaign with more than 50 points.

Copley made 26 saves in Tuesday's 4-3 overtime win over the Blue Jackets.

The Kings were staring at a 3-0 deficit through two periods, but Copley came up with a couple big stops in the third as his team rallied. The 31-year-old has yet to take a regulation loss this season, going 4-0-2 despite a 3.03 GAA and .873 save percentage, but his recent play has been much better -- Copley has a .918 save percentage in four starts since the beginning of November, and he's beginning to cut into Cam Talbot's playing time as a result.

Tatar appeared to be headed for a healthy scratch Tuesday, per Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now, but he was active when Valeri Nichushkin (illness) was unable to play.

Tatar stayed on ice after Tuesday's morning skate, which is typically an indication that a player would not be active for a game. He got a stay from being scratched and had one shot over 11:13 as a fourth-line forward. Colorado called up 2021 first-round draft pick Oskar Olausson for Tuesday's game, and he could be a permanent replacement for Tatar, if the Avalanche decide to cut the cord on the 32-year-old veteran. Tatar has yet to score on 14 shots and has eight assists through 23 games.

Johansen had one missed shot and won seven of 10 faceoffs over 11:14 of ice time in Tuesday's 3-2 win over Anaheim.

Johansen opened the season on the second line and a regular on the first power-play unit, but he's experienced a recent reduction of TOI. Ross Colton moved ahead of him at both even strength and on the power play. Colorado head coach Jared Bednar responded when asked about the forwards' TOI following Tuesday's morning skate. "If Colton is playing well, and doing the job that he's doing, then he's earning more ice," Bednar told Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now. "I don't have a set limit for our guys. I'm kind of watching them on a day-to-day basis, week-to-week basis, month-to-month, and taking all the information I have and then distributing the ice-time accordingly." Over the last five games, Johansen averaged 12:02 TOI compared to Colton's 15:03.