These are the kinds of days you look back on in fantasy hockey and go WOW! Tuesday Night was a wild fantasy night when you look at some of the great performances in the league. This did lead to one hell of a debate in who would be our Fantasy POTN. Not only was this tough but it nearly became a tie to be honest. Numbers like these are apples and oranges but based on point statistics, everything was nearly identical. We took a split of three different point systems and laughably one was a few points on the one side, a few on the other and the final one was by the slimmest of margins.
At any rate, it is time to name the Fantasy POTN. Again, this was a very tough call.
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FANTASY POTN:
Ilya Kovalchuk, LW, New Jersey Devils — Keep in mind, ladies and gentlemen that he plays RW so check if he qualifies at RW as well. Kovalchuk had one of those nights in Buffalo that was almost telegraphed. One could kind of see this coming. Sure enough, he puts home three goals and an assist (his 1st career hat trick as a Devil) in the 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres. Kovalchuk, barring a few unlucky breaks, could have easily had six or seven points. It was that kind of night. People forget the Russian had seven shots on net and actually played very well on defense. That part is forgotten about Kovalchuk’s game because of the high ATOI/giveaway ratio. Friday could be another good night also.
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BULLYING BOSTON?
Henrik Lundqvist, G, New York Rangers — Lundqvist seems to have gotten into the heads of the Boston Bruins whether any Bruin wants to admit to or not. When you look at last night’s numbers, Lundqvist stopped all 42 shots and registered his 42nd career shutout. It was the way he did it last night against Boston that was more impressive. He never looked out of position and always in control. The performance was masterful and partly why Lundqvist is up for MVP awards and is by far and away the Vezina runaway winner at this point. The 1.77 GAA and .941 save percentage are icing on the cake. Fantasy owners enjoy the 27-11-4 record also. The reality is there is no better fantasy netminder out there.
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Florida Vacation?
Jason Spezza, C, Ottawa Senators — The return to the second half surge is back as Spezza coming off a very nice performance followed up with a three goal, one assist masterpiece in Tampa Bay. Now the only reason why he did not get top honors was because Mathieu Garon is no Ryan Miller and Miller did play better last night. However, this does not dimimish what Spezza pulled off in a big road win. Spezza only did it on four shots and converted on all three chances but only played 17:52 and was a non-factor in the defensive aspect. The reality is sometimes this is like nitpicking but all three players here deserved full honors and definitely buoyed fantasy teams last night.
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SCHEDULE TIME:
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 |
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| Teams | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anaheim | at | Pittsburgh | 7:00 PM | Gameday | ||
| Boston | at | Montreal | 7:30 PM | Gameday | ||
| Ottawa | at | Florida | 7:30 PM | Gameday | ||
| Toronto | at | Edmonton | 10:00 PM | Gameday | ||
| Colorado | at | Vancouver | 10:00 PM | Gameday | ||
This is a light night on the schedule department but nonetheless it is a very interesting fantasy night. What are your options on a night like this? Do not be surprised by the following three quick hits as we keep an eye on the following.
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KEEP AN EYE ON:
Roberto Luongo, G, Vancouver Canucks — This seems like the perfect recipe for another low scoring game since Luongo is facing Jean-Sebastien Giguere of the Colorado Avalanche. It almost seems predestined for a low scoring tilt. Colorado cannot afford to outscore people to get into the playoffs and Luongo has been very good of late. Luongo has not lost in eight straight in regulation and that is important going forward fantasy wise. If the offense is even a bit on, Vancouver and Luongo should not have a problem with Colorado tonight.
James Reimer, G, Toronto Maple Leafs — Toronto has to stop the bleeding at some point and the defensive lapses, aside from Jake Gardiner, have been not a surprise to every hockey fan. Toronto’s PK is bad at best but their defensive coverage are a lot worse off than they were in October or were they? Scoring does cure a lot of woes and when it starts to fade or get less consistent, the wheels start to fall off. Does Reimer have it in him to stand above his mediocre team defense and stop Edmonton tonight? Yes. Will he? Keep an eye on the first twenty as that may tell you a lot.
Boston offense?????: Where is it? Have you seen it? It comes and it goes and where it stops, nobody knows. The Bruins were stymied a bit by Henrik Lundqvist last night but the bottom line is Boston just does not execute consistently enough in all three phases. When did they do that? Well it was during that miracle run of course. Throw the run out and Boston is kind of what we thought they were. The Montreal game is huge in so many ways and we will see what Boston can really do.
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Good luck tonight in the fantasy hockey end. Do not forget to check out the daily fantasy hockey leagues and of course The Program tonight at 8pm ET with a jammed pack show. Thanks again for reading.
