March 07, 2012
Dobber Sports
2012-03-07
If you haven't picked up your fantasy baseball draft kit yet, it's getting kind of late – head on over to DobberBaseball and grab it now! Another great job by Snyder, Schmidt and the gang.
Here are the Studs and Duds for yesterday’s games.
Kris Letang is suffering from concussion symptoms, but is “getting better”. At best, another week, in my opinion.
Matt Duchene left last night’s contest with a right ankle injury. He had already missed 20 games with a knee issue.
Correction – Joe Pavelski did actually return. I wrote up that part after the first period, and failed to go back and update/ correct it.
Here is a list of AHL clear day rosters, for those who are curious. NHLers of interest include Brayden Schenn, Dmitry Orlov, Stefan Elliott, Andrei Loktionov, Ryan Ellis (but not Roman Josi), Gabriel Bourque, Magnus Paajarvi and David Savard. Not on any lists… Sean Avery.
Joffrey Lupul left last night's game with a UBI, looked like the shoulder. Historical trends suggested that Lupul would miss at least 10 to 15 games this season and he has been astonishingly healthy. As a stats guy, my world feels a little more right when a player misses time when he's expected to – but as a human being I feel bad for the guy. Lupul's comeback season has been beyond his wildest dreams, so hopefully this won't be anything more than a game or two at the most. It didn't look serious, but that doesn't mean anything.
Time to take notice of Jordan Caron in your one-year leagues, if you didn't notice him Saturday. He has five points and is plus-5 in his last two games. His ice time Monday was a season second-high 14:20. He's the missing piece to replace Nathan Horton, or so it would seem. As for Horton, speculation is that Nathan Horton could be sidelined until closer to the postseason, to give him the best odds of a healthy playoff run.
Brad Marchand has one point in his last seven games.
Steve Downie was back in the lineup for the Avs, and back on the scoresheet. Still saved some of that new-team adrenalin while he was sidelined.
Jamie McGinn is on fire for the Avs, and he has really good chemistry with Peter Mueller, who has assisted on his last three goals. Primary assists all. If a third-liner is going have great chemistry with someone, having that someone be Peter Mueller is a pretty good situation to be in – especially if he sustains it to start next season.
I think Matt Hackett is a fantastic goaltender, but he's taking losses due to poor play in front of him these last two starts.
Semyon Varlamov has allowed just five goals in his last six games. Great goaltender, terrible track record in terms of staying healthy. That's always been the issue with me, I've been saying it for two years now.
The Wild went nearly three games without a goal before Setoguchi scored last night. But that was all they got on the evening. How badly do they need Granlund?
Mike Green is pointless in his last 12 games now.
Jiri Tlusty has points in 12 of his last 14 games. Proof that patience in skilled players must be practiced, no matter how grim things look. Give him time.
Jack Johnson has defied the odds and has managed to be plus-4 in his last two games. Yes, a Columbus player and everything. He had three points in those games too.
Also joining the land of the living – Antoine Vermette, who tallied his first point as a Coyote.
Milan Michalek had a natural hat trick for the Sens – with two of them into an empty net, unassisted, just to give his fantasy owners a couple of cheesy points! Oh man, if I had a competitor hot on my tail for first place and they owned Michalek, I'd be pissed. Just sec, let me check. Nope, I'm okay. But man, that would bug me haha.
Mathieu Garon left the game with an injury and Tampa's playoff hopes could be riding on Old Man Roloson now. But at least he stopped 25…of…30…Tuesday.
Seven goals, and Jason Spezza gets goose-egged.
Eight points in five games for Kevin Shattenkirk. The Blues have found their offense and it's amazing that one player – Andy McDonald – has made this kind of difference. But that's all it is. Scoring depth makes a team go from just missing a couple, to scoring on a couple…plus creating a couple more. And scoring depth is often just one player short. The domino effect is Shattenkirk, and several others.
Yeah, that thing I said about Ray Emery yesterday? Yeah, um, forget about that.
Back-to-back two-point efforts for Andrei Kostitsyn. I don't get why he can't play on one wing, and the set-up man Sergei on the other wing. Did they not play together much growing up? Put a talented center between them. I'd love to see it. Andrei has four points in three games with his new team. Anyone surprised?
Slava Voynov has points in each of his last three games. Jack who?
In the Cammalleri vs. Bourque "Battle of the Traded", the winner was Cammalleri by a landslide. He didn't play (injured). Bourque just plain sucked.
Joe Pavelski left the game last night with an undisclosed injury. Did not return. He returned for the second period.
In his Ottawa debut, Ben Bishop stopped 25 of 28 for the win. Nothing dazzling, but not too bad either. I was hoping for something "lights out" so we could be a little more certain of how long he'll keep getting starts.
Curtis Glencross has points in five straight. He is plus-3 with seven PIM in that span.
Kronwall HHHHHHHAMMERS Voracek. Wow. Voracek left the game, and I'd be shocked if we see him back this week. I'm sorry, I don't have a problem with this hit – Kronwall planted himself and Voracek skated full steam into him. If Voracek looked up, he could have just changed direction and missed altogether:
Keith Aulie vs. Colin Greening. Did Greening pick this fight on purpose? He already had a goal and an assist, he had to have been looking for the Gordie Howe hat trick: