Last night it felt like a 4-1 score was the theme of the night and there was so little scoring as it was. As we did the math, there were ten games last night and 42 combined goals. That makes the math really easy as there were 4.2 goals per game. Then again it does not help that there were a lot of matchups last night that almost guaranteed low scoring games. It is rare to see the under hit all ten times in a night like this but it did occur. As we have said before, scoring is down and no matter how many ways the league tries to increase scoring, sometimes it is just on the players.
Let’s take a quick look back anyway, shall we?
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A LOOK BACK:
Do Not Poke The Bear — If you tempt fantasy fate long enough, you will get burned as the New Jersey Devils found out last night. New Jersey was up 1-0 but hit several posts and Tim Thomas made some incredible saves until the Boston offense got going. Once it did, there were four third period goals and just like that a 4-1 Boston win with Thomas making 30 saves. Shawn Thornton had two assists and Gregory Campbell had a goal and assist. In a 10:00 stretch of the third period, Boston outshot NJ 11-3 and outchanced them 6-1. The game put a damper on what was a great 40 minute effort by New Jersey. However, you have to play 60 in this business and when you poke the bear, the fantasy gods apparently get mad.
The score 4-1 — Laugh now but how often on a ten game night do you see six games end 4-1? Fantasy hockey GM’s take note here that the winning team in each game used strong third period to either ice the game or win it. Almost every one of these games was close heading into the final 20. Pens-Rangers game was 1-1 until Richard Park scored and then Evgeni Malkin iced it with two late goals. Boston game was 1-0 NJ until they scored four. The Islander-Flyer game was different as John Tavares and company skated the way everyone expected them to at the start of the year. The Isles are actually on a roll but can they sustain it fantasy wise? There is no clear answer for that. There were definitely two types of 4-1 wins last night….the breakthroughs and the icings. Ottawa had a huge “icing” in their 4-1 win as they stopped San Jose when it counted. Colin Greening (2 goals) and Kyle Turris (1 goal 1 assist) really led the way with their young guns.
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SCHEDULE TIME:
Friday, January 20, 2012 |
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| Teams | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montreal | at | Pittsburgh | 7:00 PM | Gameday | ||
| Washington | at | Carolina | 7:00 PM | Gameday | ||
| Florida | at | Chicago | 8:30 PM | Gameday | ||
| Tampa Bay | at | Dallas | 8:30 PM | Gameday | ||
There are only four games on the schedule tonight and the reality is does anyone know what to expect in these aside from the Pittsburgh game? The answer is no. Washington and Carolina clearly is a game with intrigue as Washington is playing some weird, defensive style the last two games while Carolina seems to be getting healthier now. Pittsburgh just comes off a big 4-1 win in New York and Montreal is reeling dropping four of their last five. It honestly has the feeling of another low scoring night BUT this is why they play the game. Quickly, here is what to keep an eye on Friday Night.
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KEEP AN EYE ON……..
The Caps Offense — This has to frustrate owners of Washington Capital players that they cannot even generate 20 shots in a game twice in a row. If anyone watched the two games, it was clear Washington almost did not want to tangle with anyone down the middle of the ice near the net. Worse, they were not even trying as many perimeter shots as most teams do. They split the two games weirdly enough (loss to NYI, win vs. MTL). Carolina usually brings Washinton out of their shell but the last game was a 2-1 snoozefest. This is an important game for Washington, especially with Pittsburgh looming on Sunday.
Selling Montreal? — It is a sad state of affairs when Montreal is talking about being sellers at the trade deadline next month. Fantasy wise, there are opportunities of all sorts with Montreal although most of them are not very good. Even Carey Price cannot catch a break giving up three goals on 16 shots against Washington the other night with every chance probably going in the net no matter what. P.K. Subban has not been very good and Brian Gionta is out for the year. Michael Cammalleri is gone and this team has one good line and little else to look forward to. If you do not have Cole-Pacioretty-Desharnais or at least one of them, Montreal is a near wasteland fantasy wise aside from the hits and blocks of guys like Josh Gorges and Alex Emelin. Sometimes cold hearted truth is needed in fantasy hockey.
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Well that is it for now. Tonight we will do our usual live updates with commentary as always. Good luck and maybe one can catch a break tonight. Hey, you never know. Thanks for reading.
