Mrazek misses big opportunity; Green hurting poolies; Huberdeau on fire; and more …

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With just six or seven games left in the regular season, there are three players with 40 goals and just one player with 41 goals. Last year it was the same thing. And even before the lockout there was Stamkos with 60 goals, Malkin with 50 and just two others reaching 40. Until expansion, this is probably what we’re going to get.

There are a couple of other minor things that should help too. One is the fact that the NHL is going to 3-on-3 overtime. Very minor, but you’re still looking at close to 100 more goals scored to settle overtime than when we had 4-on-4. That’s 100 goals that count in fantasy hockey, instead of shootout goals which don’t count in fantasy hockey. Maybe, what, 250 added points or eight points per team per season likely distributed among the top five scorers on the team? And secondly – the addition of a new member of the Big 3 (heretofore known as the Big 4). That can only help as well – one team is certainly going to see a pop in offense.

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Quite a long segue into my note about Alex Ovechkin scoring number 48 and 49 yesterday. That ended the first three-game point drought he’s had since early December. At even strength, Ovechkin was not playing with Nicklas Backstrom. Here were the line combos:

#1	22.2%	KUZNETSOV,EVGENY–OVECHKIN,ALEXANDER–WARD,JOEL
#2	21.6%	BACKSTROM,NICKLAS–BROUWER,TROY–JOHANSSON,MARCUS
#3	17.5% 📢 advertisement:	GLENCROSS,CURTIS–LATTA,MICHAEL–WILSON,TOM
#4	17%	CHIMERA,JASON–FEHR,ERIC–LAICH,BROOKS

Because he enjoyed success, and the team enjoyed success, you’ll probably see these line combos intact. And that bodes well for Brouwer, Ward and Kuznetsov. At least for a couple of games.

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Mike Green has four points in 16 games. Those five or six more points that he ‘should’ have had in that span are going to cost more than a handful of poolies the championship. Ahem (me).