Bob Fisher gets us primed for the stretch run – only two weeks to go!

* This article was written before NHL games took place on Thursday, April 11, 2013.

Conference Bias

Talk about a market correction.  For the past few weeks, the West has been close to or better than the East as far as "Best Bets" and "Steer Clears" are concerned.  Well this week, it went back to how it was early in the season, in favor of the East.  The East took both categories 24-11 over the West (meaning the West had 24 Steer Clears to the East's 11).  Time to stockpile those Eastern players for your fantasy playoffs!

Fantasy Playoffs Week #2 (April 15 – April 21)

Hopefully you are still alive in your H2H leagues and made it to the second round (or were lucky enough to have a bye).  Let's take a look at the upcoming Monday to Sunday schedule.

Teams with four games: BOS, CGY, CAR, CLB, DAL, FLA, MIN, MTL, NJ, NYR, OTW, PHI, SJ, STL, TOR, VAN

Teams with two games: DET, NSH

All the rest have three games

Teams to Target:

Boston (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun)

Home: 4 (Ottawa, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Florida)

Away: 0

Four games, all at home, and on the traditionally light days of the week.  The Buffalo and Florida games are the most enticing.

Montreal (Mon, Wed, Thu, Sat)

Home: 3 (Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Washington)

Away: 1 (Pittsburgh)

All three home games against teams in the bottom third of the NHL in terms of goals allowed per game.

NY Rangers (Tue, Thu, Fri, Sun)

Home: 2 (Florida, New Jersey)

Away: 2 (Philadelphia, Buffalo)

All four opponents are not in the playoff picture right now.

St. Louis (Tue, Thu, Fri, Sun)

Home: 3 (Vancouver, Phoenix, Dallas)

Away: 1 (Colorado)

Dallas and Colorado are both out of the playoffs, allow an average of three or more goals per game and are both missing their starting goaltenders due to injury.

Ottawa (Mon, Tue, Thu, Sat)

Home: 3 (Carolina, Washington, Toronto)

Away: 1 (Boston)

Three home games versus teams in the bottom half of the NHL, defensively.

Minnesota (Mon, Tue, Thu, Sun)

Home: 1 (Calgary)

Away: 3 (Calgary, Edmonton, San Jose)

Two games against Calgary, enough said.

New Jersey (Mon, Thu, Sat, Sun)

Home: 1 (Florida)

Away: 3 (Toronto, Philadelphia, NY Rangers)

Toronto (Mon, Tue, Thu, Sat)

Home: 2 (New Jersey, NY Islanders)

Away: 2 (Washington, Ottawa)

San Jose (Mon, Tue, Thu, Sun)

Home: 3 (Los Angeles, Minnesota, Columbus)

Away: 1 (Phoenix)

Philadelphia (Mon, Tue, Thu, Sat)

Home: 2 (NY Rangers, New Jersey)

Away: 2 (Montreal, Carolina)

Teams to Avoid:

Detroit (Wed, Sat)

Home: 0

Away: 2 (Calgary, Vancouver)

That Calgary game is nice, but that's it.  Both games on the road and just two games in a critical week for fantasy.  Not like Detroit is lighting up the scoreboard lately anyway.

Nashville (Mon, Fri)

Home: 1 (Vancouver)

Away: 1 (Chicago)

Two games against the two best defensive teams in the Western Conference while Nashville is already the second worst offensive team in the NHL.  Pass.

Possible Pickups:

Here's a list of some players, owned in less than 30% of Yahoo leagues, to target during the upcoming Monday through Sunday week.

Boston: Rich Peverley (4%) – Four points in his last two games.  Patrice Bergeron is out and it looks like Brad Marchand could possibly miss some time as well.  Looks for Peverley to be given added opportunities.

Montreal: Alex Galchenyuk (14%) – On a four game point streak (two goals, 3 assists).  The Lars Eller-Galchenyuk-Brandon Prust line is hot right now.  Ride 'em while it lasts.

NY Rangers: Derick Brassard (13%) – Brassard arrived in the Big Apple with a splash, putting up four points the day he was traded.  He has since put up one point in the four games since.  However, his ice time has been creeping up since joining the Blue Shirts.  With opportunity comes success.

St. Louis: Andy McDonald (17%) – While T.J. Oshie is out, all the Blues' top players need to chip in just a little bit more.  McDonald is one of those top players.  He's been pretty inconsistent since coming back from injury in mid-March, but he's still one of the leaders on this surging club.

Ottawa: Jakob Silfverberg (12%) – Silfverberg has not gone more than one game without a point since early March.  He leads the Sens in shots on goal and his ice time hovers right around the 16-17 minute mark playing with Mika Zibanejad and newly-acquired Cory Conacher.