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With a busy week of hockey ahead, there is only one game being played tonight. The red hot Tampa Bay Lightning will be hosted by the New York Rangers. The Lightening have gone 7-2-1 in their last 10 games; whereas the Rangers have been getting a lot of extra ice with four overtime games in their last 10 with a record of 3-3-4. My best guess is Lundqvist and Bishop will be between the pipes tonight…nothing has been set in stone as of yet.
Here is a list of which teams have how many games going forward this week:
(2) Games: Colorado - Minnesota - Ottawa
(3) Games: Anaheim - Boston - Buffalo - Calgary - Carolina - Chicago - Dallas - Detroit - Edmonton - Florida - Los Angeles - Nashville - New Jersey - New York Islanders - Philadelphia - Pittsburgh - San Jose - Toronto - Vancouver - Washington - Winnipeg
(4) Games: Arizona - Montreal - New York Rangers - St Louis - Tampa Bay
Fantasy owners will be happy with the return of Corey Perry, Zach Parise and Taylor Hall. They each got back into action over the weekend…Hall with 1 goal, Parise with a pair and Perry was still a bit rusty after getting over mumps ended up with a -2 on the night with a couple penalty minutes.
The NHL has a new point leader…Jakub Voracek(26) who has one assist more than Sidney Crosby(25) . The never ending debate of Seguin and Kessel holds strong as they are neck and neck with 22 points each.
Goaltending:
The season is still young as we haven’t quite reached the quarter mark. At this point in the season there are three goalies with 11 wins: Rinne, Price and Miller. Rinne has a save % of .929; Price has a save % of .919; and Miller has a save % of .902. Each goalie has one shutout and their teams all on track for a playoff spot. Rinne is the only of the three to have a GAA below 2.0; which is 1.92. Nashville runs a tight ship on defense and has done well so far this season at putting the puck in the net versus their opponents.
A good tandem I feel worth mentioning is the St. Louis Blues; Elliott and Allen have been excellent in the early going; both .930 save % and both have a GAA less than 2.0 (Allen, 1.67; Elliott 1.87). If Allen is still available on the wire – he is an excellent backup, scoop him up; he’s won 5 of his 5 starts.
* If you are looking for a free agent to grab this week; take a look at the Rangers. They play 4 games this week…Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. This is great as they play on all of the ‘off nights’. So you won’t have to bench anyone because of a full roster; as there are only a couple games each of those nights…*
Josh Harding:
As the news broke I am sure a couple of team’s eyes opened a bit wider. Harding can be a great goalie; he will forever be fighting MS which can be difficult at times…this obviously hurts his value a bit. I would imagine someone scoops him up, although I was surprised that nobody grabbed Markstrom when he went on waivers, so who knows. Just keep an eye on him…
Devan Dubnyk:
He sure hasn’t had a lot of opportunity to prove his worth on the Arizona Coyotes lineup; but after stringing together three wins in a row he has himself gaining some attention. If you are hurting for a goalie; even just for the week…perhaps Dubnyk is your man; he should get a couple starts this week as Arizona has 4 games.
Hot lines:
Lehtera – Schwartz – Tarasenko
Right now; this is the hottest line in the NHL. Will they continue to razzle and dazzle their oponents with high speed and skill? Good question; Backes is back, Oshie is back; will this reduce some of their ice time in key scoring situations? Maybe slightly, but if any of the three are available on the wire as a free agent; scoop them up as they have racked up 33 points in the last 8 games together.
Forsberg – Ribeiro – Neal
For those who didn’t know, Ribeiro and Neal played together in Dallas. Laviolette (Nashvilles coach) was hoping they would be able to rekindle their past and get some chemistry going together and rack up the points. It took a bit, as Neal came out of the gates a bit slower and of course Forsberg made his way to the top line and has absolutely flourished alongside these two vets. Ribeiro is by no means one of my favorite players, but he is somewhat under rated and certainly has been consistent putting up points. Any chance that he is still available and you could use a center; I’d certainly take a shot at him.
Best of luck this week in your fantasy hockey - be sure to setup your HBSL lineups for the week.
Thanks for reading!