It is said that rivals tend to bring out the best in each other and last night probably for the first time all season, the New Jersey Devils came out and dominated a third period. The result was three goals and a 4-1 win over the New York Rangers but it also may have shown some serious flaws in a few Rangers, especially ones that are owned in fantasy leagues. Whatever it was attributed to, New Jersey finally played a third period that fantasy hockey fans are used to seeing. This was not the only thing that opened our eyes last night.
Then there were the injuries. As we were on Twitter last night, it just became apparent that hits and violent collisions were everywhere in the NHL. The worst injury was not really a collision at all as Matt Duchene did something to his ankle that would make most any normal person cringe in horror. Ankles are not meant to bend that way and more tests will be done. Duchene has been a fantasy disappointment all year but that injury looked ugly from second number one. Hopefully like the Steve Downie injury it is nowhere as serious as first feared. In all there were 18 injuries last night and out of those 11 players were out for the game at least. The punctuation mark may have been Jakub Voracek, who clearly was Kronwalled as seen here.
So out of all this carnage, we did have to come up with a Fantasy POTN. This one is a bit odd under the circumstances but they did sort of earn it. Okay, let’s get started.
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Fantasy POTN:
Milan Michalek, LW, Ottawa Senators — Michalek may have scored one of the weirdest hat tricks you will ever see in the third period of last night’s Sens-Bolts game, but fantasy owners will take it and run. Michalek did all of his work in the last 7:30 of the contest and he scored on the power play, shorthanded, and yes two of these goals were unassisted. The net may have not been occupied as well. Either way, the four point night with four shots gave Michalek a 30 goal season and maybe a chance at a 40 goal season. That is not bad for a guy who few saw even scoring 25 this season.
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QUICK LOOK BACK:
Steve Downie, RW, Colorado Avalanche — The shoulder may be just popped in there but Downie had a nice solid three assist night in the 7-1 rout of Minnesota. More importantly for fantasy owners was that Gabriel Landeskog-Ryan O’Reilly-Steve Downie line was dangerous all night long. By the way no one played 20 minutes or more for Colorado last night either and with the score, no one needed to. Downie and company were allowed to rest a bit and that will be important coming down the stretch as that first line is going to have to keep the fire burning if the Avs want to make the playoffs. That is very good news for Downie owners however. Keep rolling him in your lineup obviously.
Andy McDonald, C, St. Louis Blues — Yes the Blues may have been dangerous without McDonald but they were downright dynamic offensively right now. The power play has given penalty killers fits since his return because on the man advantage, few see the ice quite like he does. He had two goals last night on four shots and though there may have been more impactful performances, McDonald’s is vital to those still looking for depth at the Center position for playoff time. His buzz keeps rising and with every game that ownership rate goes up. Watch a Blues power play sometime and you will see why.
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SCHEDULE TIME:
Wednesday, March 7, 2012 |
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| Teams | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carolina | at | Buffalo | 7:00 PM | Gameday | ||
| Toronto | at | Pittsburgh | 7:30 PM | Gameday | ||
Yes there are only two games on the schedule tonight. The question is does Ryan Miller start both games for Buffalo at this point? Winnipeg tired him out a bit on Monday and this would be one of those dreaded three games in four nights stretches everyone talks about. It seems like he will but maybe Jhonas Enroth would be worth a start with Boston looming tomorrow. See how it plays out and keep an eye on it. There is a 60% chance Miller plays but hey one never knows with these things. Buffalo has to take at least 3 of 4 points the next two nights so that is the start Miller rationale. Let’s see how that works out.
We are not sure of a way to rationalize this but after Toronto gave up five goals at Boston last night, they must head to Pittsburgh to face a Penguins team that can definitely light up the scoreboard. Someone cue the James Neal goal drought streak to end here please. The 30 goal scorer has not lit the lamp since February 18th against Philadelphia but he did have a seven shot effort against Phoenix which means maybe the drought could end tonight. Marc-Andre Fleury will get the start tonight in goal against what can be described as a sieve in the other end. The goaltending numbers are not pretty for Toronto lately. There are all sorts of crooked numbers no one should go near right now….period.
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At any rate, we thank everyone for reading and good luck tonight in your fantasy leagues. The Program goes on the air at 8pm ET to break down what has gone on so far this week and look ahead to the weekend. It will be blunt and honest but there is no room for the meek in fantasy hockey. Hopefully we will see you there and also thanks again to our friends at Daily Joust.
