A LOOK BACK:
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Last night was another one of those goofy nights where it seemed like the over was being hit all over the place. In the 12 games of NHL action, there were 75 goals but the early games clearly had more scoring than the late games which hit the under on every single one. So that comes out to 56 goals for the early games at an eight goal per game clip and only 19 goals for the later games at a 3.8 goal per game clip. Some of the usual suspects in the lower scoring affairs were the Rangers, Coyotes, Blues, Predators, etc. Is anyone really surprised? Of course not.
In that scoring frenzy, there was definitely a sense of total craziness and some very bad goaltending. Out of that rose our Fantasy POTN.
FANTASY POTN
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Evgeni Malkin was last night’s winner with a whopping five points in an 8-3 rout of the Buffalo Sabres. The Pittsburgh Penguin forward torched goalie Ryan Miller and Jhonas Enroth alike and really could have had five or six goals if not for a few unlucky bounces. It was that kind of night for the talented Russian. With ten guys injured for Pittsburgh, including Sidney Crosby, the offense will revolve around Malkin and honestly that may be a better thing for that team going down the road and for Fantasy GM’s everywhere.
Sure we considered Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins and his 31 saves in a 6-0 shutout over the Philadelphia Flyers but again Malkin’s performance was too tough to overcome. Yes Thomas had 14 saves in the first but again Boston is a lot more healthy than the Penguins and Zdeno Chara was back for the Bruins. We even considered Zach Bogosian because how often is Bogosian going to get three points in a night and be the defensive fantasy force that he is? Basically those do not happen very often, if at all.
SCHEDULE TIME
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Sunday, December 18, 2011 |
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| Teams | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carolina | at | Florida | 5:00 PM | Gameday | ||
| Calgary | at | Chicago | 7:00 PM | Gameday | ||
| Columbus | at | St. Louis | 7:00 PM | Gameday | ||
Yes it is a light schedule but could have some decent fantasy ramifications tonight. Calgary has been awful against Chicago of late, particularly at United Center where they have dropped seven straight. Their overall three game losing streak has some Flames people wondering when the other shoe may drop on the one Sutter still remaining in Calgary. Calgary just cannot get that clutch goal but there fantasy production is good which means Ray Emery or Corey Crawford owners should be a bit wary. As for Chicago, the offensive arsenal just seems to dictate a Blackhawks win tonight with big contributions from Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, and Jonathan Toews. The reality is that will be a bit of a high scoring game.
For a low scoring game, check out Columbus and St. Louis as Curtis Sanford should be battling Brian Elliott. Anything other than a 2-1 score would be a bit of a surprise here but hey you never know. Carolina and Florida could be anything goes here with 5pm starts it is tough to gauge which way the fantasy winds will blow.
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We will have more on the hockey and fantasy hockey landscape on the show. Until then, see you later everyone and good luck.
