November 5, 2013

Dobber Sports

2013-11-05

Ryan Callahan made his return to the Rangers lineup from injury last night in New York's 2-1 loss to Anaheim. He picked up an assist and played nearly 19 minutes, while doing some Callahan-like things. He led the Rangers with six hits and looked sharp for having missed a few weeks.

 

It will be interesting to see what Callahan's return does for Mats Zuccarello, Derek Stepan, and Chris Kreider. Each of them had five points in their last three games, but they were all held pointless against the Ducks.

 

Ryan McDonagh had a better night than the aforementioned three as he posted three hits and four shots, while leading the Rangers with nearly 23 minutes of ice-time.

 

Michael Del Zotto seems to be breaking out of a bit of a funk. He notched his first goal of the season against Anaheim and now has three points in his last four contests. Del Zotto hasn't finished a game with a minus rating since October 10th.

 

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If you need goaltending help then Anaheim netminder Frederik Andersen is your man. He was sensational on Monday stopping 32-of-33 shots. Andersen has now won all four starts he has had this year and there is a shutout included in those victories.

 

Corey Perry scored and now has three goals in his last two outings. Looks like that mini two-game slump of his is a thing of the past.

 

Kyle Palmieri also found the back of the net and played just over 10 minutes. That's only his third tally in the last nine games.

 

Andrew Cogliano deserves an honorable mention. He didn't do anything decent fantasy wise, other than four shots, but he was superb on the penalty kill all night.

 

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The Jets picked up a big win over Detroit in the only other game on the schedule, and Michael Frolik and Andrew Ladd had a goal and an assist. Both guys were up around the five minute mark on the power play.

 

Bryan Little scored again and he now has three goals in his last four games, and five points over that stretch. Prior to that he only had two goals in his last eight, so this run is a good sign.

 

Both Devin Setoguchi and Mark Scheifele found their way out of slumps with two assists each. Setoguchi and Scheifele had been pointless in five straight coming in. Scheifele earned himself nearly five minutes of ice-time with the man advantage against the Wings.

 

Evander Kane missed this one with a lower-body injury. No word on how serious it is just yet, but something to keep an eye on.

 

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Winnipeg fired 47 shots on Jimmy Howard and he managed to turn away 43 of them. Not a bad outing, all things considered.

 

Breaking News: Stephen Weiss is still in the league! He finally scored a point after going nine straight without one. It was his first assist of the year. He has to be one of the most disappointing players so far this season.

 

Danny DeKeyser scored a shorthanded goal for Detroit. He's done a nice job with Jonathan Ericsson out of the lineup. DeKeyser has been getting solid minutes and now has four points in his last five contests.

 

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are having issues down the middle right now with Tyler Bozak and David Bolland out for a substantial amount of time with injuries. There are a few things to keep an eye on here from a fantasy hockey perspective and the first of which would be the Leafs potentially making a deal to pick up a center. It would have been nice to still have Joe Colborne on the roster to move up the depth chart right now.

 

It looks like James van Riemsdyk will be shifting to center for the time being and he doesn't have much experience there since leaving college. He was skating with Joffrey Lupul and Phil Kessel on Monday, so we will have to see if that's the direction Randy Carlyle goes with on Friday against New Jersey. Playing center will be interesting for van Riemsdyk's fantasy value, as switching to the middle brings more defensive responsibility and can sometimes slightly hinder a player's offense production. Then again, playing with Lupul and Kessel are two solid guys that can help you find the score sheet. Face-offs could be a concern though as there will surely be a learning curve in that area for van Riemsdyk.

 

Jay McClement is another Leaf likely headed for a change, as he figures to move up to the third line until Toronto gets healthy again at center. He could be skating with Nikolai Kulemin and Troy Bodie, who aren't offense powerhouses by any means, but it's a massive upgrade from playing with Colton Orr and Frazer McLaren. Actually, just about anyone is an upgrade from those two. McClement had 17 points in 48 games last year and could be a decent short-term option to keep an eye on.

 

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Jason Chimera is just 8% owned in Yahoo leagues and he's been on a nice run as of late. Before being held pointless on Saturday against Florida, he had a goal in four straight games and nine points over that stretch. The one downside of Chimera right now is that he doesn't produce on the power play and he hasn't picked up a point on the man advantage all year.

 

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Staying with the Caps, it looks like Alexander Ovechkin will return from injury on Tuesday. Ovechkin was on a torrid pace, especially when it came to shots on goal, so owners can breathe a sigh of relief he isn't out long-term.

 

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The Chicago Blackhawks visited the White House on Monday. (Insert Tim Thomas joke here)

 

 

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Alex Tanguay will be out for a couple of weeks because of a knee injury he suffered against Montreal on Saturday. It looks as though Nathan MacKinnon will take his spot on a line with Paul Stastny and Gabriel Landeskog.

 

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Brenden Morrow will miss his third straight game on Tuesday when St. Louis takes on Montreal and has been placed on injured reserve.

 

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The Devils placed forward Rostislav Olesz on waivers Monday.

 

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It looks as though Vancouver Canucks forward David Booth is inching closer to a return after missing the last four games with an upper-body injury. Booth has been sent for a conditioning assignment in Utica and could join the Canucks on a four-game road trip later this week.

 

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Montreal defenseman Alexei Emelin has been cleared for contact after undergoing off-season knee surgery. Of course contact is what Emelin does best and he recorded 110 hits last year in just 38 games.  

 

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Thankfully Craig Anderson seems to be okay after suffering a scary neck injury on Sunday. He's still listed as day-to-day and won't travel with the Sens to Columbus on Tuesday to face the Blue Jackets. Look for Robin Lehner to get a string of starts until Anderson returns.

 

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Vincent Lecavalier said their brawl with the Washington Capitals was "team bonding." If that sideshow was considering bonding, I'd hate to be invited to the Flyers' annual Christmas party. Maybe if they focused as much time on scoring as they did throwing punches, Philly's record wouldn't be as atrocious.

 

Michael Amato is an Associate Editor for DobberHockey and a News Editor for theScore. You can follow him on Twitter at @amato_mike

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