Studs & Duds - October 10th

Going to keep the intro short and sweet tonight and just get straight to it. Enjoy!


3) Return of the Souray Bomb! - As an Oilers fan it pains me to list this guy - but credit where credit is due. Souray was the primary factor in the game-tying goal in the last minute of play and recorded 1 assist, a +1 rating, 5 shots on goal, and 4 blocked shots to go along with over 25 minutes of ice time.

2) Exceptional Goaltending - In the BOS-COL game both Varlamov and Rask put on a goaltending clinic for all to see. Rask made 35 saves and posted a save percentage of .972 and was tagged with the loss while Varlamov hung on to a 30 save shutout. Likewise, both Lehtonen and Smith put up solid performances in the DAL-PHX game, allowing only 1 goal each while recording a save percentage of .976 and .960 respectively.

1) Pleased to meet you, Hope you guessed my name... - Which version of the Devils are we going to see this year? After being shutout in their season opener, their two big guns (Parise and Kovalchuk) decided to step it up and combined for 5 points. Parise had 2 goals to go along with a +1 rating, 4 shots on goal, and 1 blocked shot. Kovalchuk had 1 goal, 2 assists, a +1 rating, and 4 shots on goal. Owners rejoice!

DUDS

3) Spiralling out of Control - The Carolina Hurricanes posted their 3rd consecutive loss of the season after losing to the New Jersey Devils 4-2. Pitkanen and Faulk combined for a -4 rating and Ward suffered his second loss of the season in the same number of games; a Carolina goalie has yet to post a save percentage of .900 or higher this season.

2) Exceptionally Bad Goaltending - In the TBL-WSH Roloson and Vokoun set out to show how not to go about playing the position of goalie. Roloson suffered the loss and was absolutely peppered by Washington's 43 shots (5 of which found the back of the net) and posted a save percent of .884. Vokoun someone scrambled away with the win despite allowing 5 goals on 28 shots for a brutal save percentage of .821.

1) Star-Studded No-Show - Yet again I turn to the TBL-WSH game in which virtually every player of any fantasy significance apparently decided to simply coast though the matchup. Lecavalier, St. Louis, and Stamkos were held off the scoreboard and combined for a -1 rating, 10 shots on goal, 10 face-off wins, and 4 hits. Likewise, Backstrom, Ovechkin, Green, and Semin also failed to record a single point while combining for a -7 rating to go along with 6 penalty minutes, 15 shots on goal, 1 blocked shot, 7 hits and 6 face-off wins.

Watch Out For...

Brooks Laich - Quick, which Capitals forward had the most ice time in tonight's game? No, it wasn't Ovechkin. Laich played over 23 minutes tonight, behind only Mike Green. To add onto it he was one of only a few Caps to post a positive rating and also chipped in with 1 assist, 4 shots on goal, 2 blocked shots, 2 hits, and 12 face-off wins.

Tampa's Top D-Pairing - I talked a bit about Hedman last time around but again tonight, both him and Brewer logged 27+ minutes for the team lead. Brewer had 7 blocked shots, 6 hits, 1 shot on goal, and a -1 rating while Hedman 2 shots on goal, 2 blocked shots, 4 hits, and a +1 rating.

Spread it Out - We all know the Blues are an offense by committee team but just to drive it home, check this out - Not a single player was given more than 20 minutes of ice time aside from Pietrangelo and aside from Reaves and Nichol, not a single player received less than 12 minutes of ice time. Temper your expectations.

Good stuff. Wish I could have more insight into the devils but I had to work yesterday and could watch the game. But sounds like it was one good game. I think we will see more of last nights devils over the home opener. They had 3 preseason games in 4 nights or something and then had almost a week off before the season started. Not ideal. They needed to get there game legs. Were in for an interesting season.

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12 team H2H Keeper League
g/a/+-/PIM/PPP/SHP/SOG/W/GAA/SV%/SHO
play 4c/4lw/4rw/6d/2g (2min start)
Center: Datsyuk, Getzlaf, Marleau, Ribiero, Brian Boyle
RW: Hossa, Horton, Downie, Franzen, vrbata, Cole
LW: Kovalchuk, D.Sedin, Semin, Fleischmann,
Defense : Enstrom, E.Johnson, Goligoski, Wisniewski, Hamilton
Goalies: Lundqvist, Brodeur, S.Mason, Garon

Farm noteables: Niederreiter, Avtsyn, Greiss, Frazee, Kinkaid

Adding to the Caps-Lightning not so starry night dud award: Watching the 4 on 3 overtime PP unit of Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin and Green coast and flub their way around the ice may be a bad early sign for Washington. We're talking overtime here; if you can't get excited and focused for overtime against the team that bounced you from the playoffs last year, and this quartet of superstars can't find any space, rhythm, or speed in the wide open 4 on 3 scenario, then what situation would be better?

Also, attending my first game of the season, I definitely saw the Ovechkin of last year and not the player from two or more years ago. Way too early to make any firm judgements, but anyone with expectations of 110+ points from OV better start watching closely.

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H2H 10 GMs Keeper: keep up to 4 at cost of draft pick (round in red) G, A,+/-,PIM,SOG,PPP; Wins,GAA,Sv% Start 2C 2R 2L 1 Util 4D 2G, weekly starts
C: Tomáš Plecanec (10), Jonathan Huberdeau (11)
LW: Patrik Eliáš (14), Pascal Dupuis (10) Иlлья Kovalchuk (1), Brandon Saad (10)
RW: Jarome Iginla (3), Phil Kessel (2) Jakub Voráček (9)
Util:
D:Ryan Suter (7), Mike Green (4), Brent Burns (10), Mark Streit, Justin Schultz (12)
G:Craig Anderson (6), Дeвaн Dubnyk (17) Cepгeй Bobrovsky (9), Niklas Bäckström (8)