It is time to get straight into it on the Thursday edition of Fantasy Hockey ONE by looking back at Wednesday. First up is our Fantasy POTN.
================================================
Fantasy POTN:
Henrik Lundqvist, G, New York Rangers
When you look back at Wednesday Night, one thing remains clear. There was some excellent goaltending in the first two games of the evening. Henrik Lundqvist and Ryan Miller both posted shutouts in the Rangers-Sabres duel but in the end Ryan Callahan beat Miller in the shootout to boost the Rangers to a 1-0 shootout victory. Lundqvist’s 34 save shutout gave him his sixth shutout and 23rd win of the year and puts him now #1 in our Fantasy Vezina Rankings.
================================================
ODE TO THE CLOCK HICCUP?
Fantasy rarely gets impacted by a clock malfuction but last night’s Kings-Blue Jackets game did. Drew Doughty scored with less than a second left or did he? Here is an excellent quick post from Pension Plan Puppets to take a look at. So Doughty gets a power play goal and Jack Johnson as well as Anze Kopitar pick up power play points via the assists. Will this have some fantasy impact? That answer is unequivocably yes. Will it be an immense impact? That answer is no. By the way thanks to Frozen Royalty but Toronto told Kings’ sources to set the clock at 0.7 seconds….talk about the weird situation becoming more weird. Either way it is a goal and it stands but the reality is something happened. Oh and Jonathan Quick gets a win that maybe he should not have. Well that probably makes up somewhat for the half dozen or more games the Kings blew for him. At any rate, in fantasy and hockey circles, this one is going to be talked about for awhile.
================================================
Dallas FLYING V?
In case you missed it because of the LA hoopla, the Dallas Stars went into Anaheim and trounced the Ducks 6-2 tonight in a game that was not close at all. Anaheim went up 1-0 early then Dallas struck three times in quick succession. Ducks cut it to 4-2 and then Dallas added two more goals to round ou the final score. Jamie Benn and Michael Ryder both had a goal and two assists plus Kari Lehtonen made 33 stops in the huge Dallas win. Dallas outmuscled a very physical team tonight as they had 33 hits to Anaheim’s 26. People forget that the Stars played like this in October and are very capable of playing like this all the time. The question is can they?
================================================
SCHEDULE TIME:
Thursday, February 2, 2012 |
|||||
| Teams | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carolina | at | Boston | 7:00 PM | ||
| Montreal | at | New Jersey | 7:00 PM | ||
| Nashville | at | Philadelphia | 7:00 PM | ||
| Winnipeg | at | Tampa Bay | 7:30 PM | ||
| Minnesota | at | Colorado | 9:00 PM | ||
| Chicago | at | Edmonton | 9:30 PM | ||
| Detroit | at | Vancouver | 10:00 PM | ||
| Dallas | at | San Jose | 10:30 PM | ||
We have the old fashioned “OCHO” of games tonight on the schedule. Actually despite only an eight game schedule, it seems a lot of fantasy players are going for a variety of teams we have seen. It is as if the right matchups are taking place so to speak. Now let’s get down to business at least a bit here.
================================================
KEEP AN EYE ON:
Devils And D’Habs? — Yes it is some bad French but admittedly this is a game that has all the makings of being a trap game for New Jersey. Think about it Ilya Kovalchuk and David Clarkson worked a little magix to beat the New York Rangers on Tuesday. Games like that usually produce a letdown the next time out. It is almost human nature. Here is the preview by the way thanks to ILWT. Coach DeBoer has said that Martin Brodeur is going to get fed with starts from here on out which leads on to believe he is going to get at least 2/3 of the starts. Carey Price is likely to be in net for Montreal and has fared pretty well against the Devils this year. With a Pennsylvania weekend in store, New Jersey’s fantasy studs have to do it likely without Adam Henrique (groin). This should be interesting.
Downgraded Bruins? — The funny thing about the Bruins season is that for as good as they have been, they cannot beat the Carolina Hurricanes. In three tries, they have lost three times. Honestly, Tim Thomas has not looked that good either and the Bruins have been taken off their game by the Hurricanes. Given how up and down Boston has looked lately and the distractions as well, who knows what to expect tonight. Cam Ward and the Canes are going to be up for this one and Thomas has to start putting up quality starts and wins to get his confidence up and his owners’ faith up in him also. Yes some fantasy owners are starting to wonder a tiny bit about Thomas again. It happened two years ago too.
Time To Earn Those Wings — Detroit goes into Vancouver Thursday Night and this will be a true litmus test for the Red Wings. Roberto Luongo should be facing Jimmy Howard. Howard has been Vezina worthy all season long and Vancouver is an excellent home team with weapons. Now Detroit’s .500 road record is well documented but the key is how they come out in the first twenty. If they can weather the storm, they can get Howard another win and maybe produce some timely scoring along the way. Its either a 2-1 or a 4-3 game and not much in the middle. Time will tell.
=============================================
Good luck tonight in your fantasy leagues as we are taking the act on the road to the Prudential Center to see the Devils face the Habs at 7pm ET. Thanks again for reading and every second counts even in fantasy.
