Welcome to Friday ladies and gentlemen. It is time to take the miniature edition of Fantasy Hockey ONE. We would also like to point out that the start of March ratchets up the intensity in the hockey world. Sure enough, last night rang true. When you see “The Flying W” like above, there is your sign. It was that kind of night….so let’s do something different and take a look at those injuries……
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INJURY TICKER:
Nick Backstrom, G, Minnesota Wild — He suffered a bad lower body believed to be groin injury last night and surely Matt Hackett will be called up to backup Josh Harding. With the injury history and goalies in Minnesota, do not be surprised to see Hackett starting a few games here and there as Minnesota looks more and more to be playing out the string. Officially Backstrom is listed as out indefinitely which means IR trip and maybe season ender.
Aaron Palushaj and Scott Gomez — Both are expected to be out with eye injuries tomorrow against Toronto. The two both seemed to be showing some promise in the Montreal lineup so of course this type of thing would occur. Stay tuned.
Ryan Callahan, F, New York Rangers — Callahan is expected to miss at least tonight’s game against Tampa with a bruised foot. Yes blocking shots are dangerous and depending on the healing, keep an eye on this one as well.
James vanRiemsdyk, W, Philadelphia Flyers — This one hurts but blocked shots again are dangerous as intensity raises to a fever pitch. vanRiemsdyk was hurt last night and is out 6-8 weeks with a nasty left foot fracture. He is done for your fantasy hockey season.
Kris Letang, D, Pittsburgh Penguins — He took that nasty hit from Eric Nystrom and yes it was clean. The bottom line is he is out indefinitely with concussion like symptoms. Adjust your lineups and expect the worst.
Teddy Purcell, RW, Tampa Bay Lightning — Please watch the Tampa flu situation on how not to handle the flu in close quarters. They are not the only team this year but this one was particularly bad as far as media, et al. Purcell is 50-50 tonight against the Rangers.
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Fantasy POTN:
Ryan Miller, G, Buffalo Sabres — Miller likes California and it shows. His last three appearances in that part of the world has been three wins, stopping all 118 shots faced. Last night was the icing on the cake as he stopped 39 shots including 17 in the third period alone in a hard fought 1-0 win over the San Jose Sharks. Yes the Sharks have been slumping some but it was not because of effort. They had 21 scoring chances in all which was more than Buffalo had shots (19). Miller has been on fire in the last almost calendar month and remains a must start the rest of the way. Maybe a lot of us were premature to dismiss Miller and write him off for the year in January. Sometimes you do not see things like this coming.
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Best Of The Rest…..
Evander Kane, F, Winnipeg Jets — Kane had a monster night with two goals, two assists, a +4 and NINE shots on goal. It just seemed everything went right for Winnipeg last night and Kane has the ability to do this so it was not that much of a surprise. The issue is can he keep this up? That always seems to be the case where Kane goes on a mini run and then it stops. However last night, he looked like the player he can be and that has to be good for his owners.
David Desharnais, C, Montreal Canadiens — Sure Claude Giroux and a few others had three points but Desharnais stuck out because he played an astonishing 23:31 of ice time last night against Minnesota. Simply he is a guy to have on your roster from here on out and could be a 3/4 of a point a game guy next year as well.
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SCHEDULE TIME:
Friday, March 2, 2012 |
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| Teams | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | at | Washington | 7:00 PM | Gameday | ||
| Chicago | at | Ottawa | 7:00 PM | Gameday | ||
| NY Rangers | at | Tampa Bay | 7:30 PM | Gameday | ||
| Minnesota | at | Detroit | 7:30 PM | Gameday | ||
| Dallas | at | Edmonton | 9:30 PM | Gameday | ||
| Calgary | at | Anaheim | 10:00 PM | Gameday | ||
Here is the six pack! Tonight features an odd assortment of games that in of itself do not scream fantasy bonanza but there is some very good Jvalue. Chicago and Ottawa could feature a good amount of goal scoring as Ottawa’s goaltending is average at best and you never know what you will get from a fantasy standpoint ont he Chicago side of the net.
Then due to the Backstrom injury, Josh Harding starts in net at Detroit tonight who will be without Nick Lidstrom for the weekend and who will also have no Pavel Datsyuk (knee) and maybe Kyle Quincey (groin). However, Minnesota really has just fallen off everything and Detroit has an opponent it can exploit on the blueline. Detroit could make this one ugly potentially as Minnesota is on the back end of a back to back scenario.
Lastly look toward Anaheim tonight over Calgary. Why? It would just seem a loss tonight all but kills any chance Anaheim has to make the playoffs. Teams just hit this wall after making miracle runs but something tells me the Ducks are not quite done yet. Teemu Selanne seems poised to have a big night at the expense of Miikka Kiprusoff. Jonas Hiller has also been a little off lately for Anaheim and a bit unlucky too. Sometimes the bounces have to go in your favor sometime. Tonight could be that night fantasy owners.
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Good luck as always in your leagues. Do not forget Daily Joust has the latest and greatest daily fantasy leagues. Thanks again for reading.
