A QUICK Look Back…..
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When Detroit and Chicago battle the way they did last night, you get an awfully good hockey game. Yes Detroit won in OT 3-2 but the qiality of the game was excellent almost throughout. Pavel Datsyuk scoring the game winner probably sent some fantasy fans into a frenzy but apparently not as much as the craziness that went on in Anaheim between the Blue Jackets and Ducks. The Ducks would ultimately win 7-4 but with a Jonas Hiller injury and points galore, it was truly a sight to see (or for some maybe not). Earlier in the day Ottawa rallied for a 6-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers as Ilya Bryzgalov gave up five goals on 37 shots. The funny thing for fantasy fans again is this. No Ottawa player had more than two points yesterday. That is the kind of fantasy evening and night it was for everyone.
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SCHEDULE TIME:
Monday, January 9, 2012 |
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| Teams | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vancouver | at | Florida | 7:30 PM | Gameday | ||
| Washington | at | Los Angeles | 10:30 PM | Gameday | ||
This is how light of a night it is NHL fans. Most probably thought we were kidding but at least there are some subplots here. However, there is the potential for goals in Los Angeles and that has Kings fans happy and hockey fans in general. Now the goalie matchups are believed to be Scott Clemmensen (FLA) versus Roberto Luongo (VAN) and Tomas Vokoun (WSH) versus Jonathan Bernier (LA). That seems to be a pretty safe bet.
People are going to ask why Bernier? LA needs a change as the last two games have seen just one goal scored at home (and that was in OT). Also, Bernier has not played since a (you guessed it) 1-0 OT loss on Dec. 29th to the Winnipeg Jets. Coach Darryl Sutter may be able to get a few more wins out of this LA squad but they still are not scoring consistently. The Kings have scored 88 goals in 42 games (a 2.09 GPG average). That is dead last in the NHL and worse for Kings fans, Jonathan Bernier has seen a grand total of four goals of support in his last four starts. You do the math.
Washington is kind of a mirror image here but they score a few more goals and give up a few more. Obviously both teams are on their second coach, both are trying to get more out of their star players and there is one big bright spot on each side. While the Kings can hang their hat on Jonathan Quick, the Capitals bottom six has played better than its top six forwards. Though Alex Ovechkin is showing signs of coming around, the slight uncertainty of Nick Backstrom’s head injury is a little bit of a black cloud fantasy wise for Week 14. How effective will he be or will he play at all on this trip? Those are questions left unanswered.
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PREDICTION TIME:
- VAN 4 FLA 2 (F)
- WSH 3 LA 2 (F-OT)
Roberto Luongo is your player of the game for the Vancouver game and Alex Ovechkin does the deed for Washington. It is Hollywood after all. Good luck fantasy fans and take a bit of a breather tonight. The week picks up quite a bit from here.
