After a relatively light Friday schedule of just five games, Saturday promised its normally busy schedule of… (looks at schedule)… six games? Yeah, COVID caused four cancelled games on Saturday, although the Blues and Coyotes decided to hook up for a game instead of sitting idle with the time they had on their hands because of their opponents' COVID situations.

I'm sure many fantasy owners (myself included) will cite the schedule as a reason that their team's results aren't what they had expected or hoped for. However, we knew this was going to happen. Hopefully next season (whenever that will be) will involve less schedule management. Then again, hockey games themselves contain a whole series of random events that even the top experts can predict.

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If you bet the over on scoring on the Ottawa/Montreal game, you were out of luck. The two North Division rivals played a surprisingly low scoring 2-1 game in favor of the Canadiens.

Jake Allen has given the Habs quality backup goaltending. By stopping 34 of 35 shots on Saturday, he now has four wins and four quality starts in his five games. Look him up if you need a spot starter, although many fantasy leagues (42% ownership in Yahoo leagues) are already on to him.

After a horrendous start to the season, Matt Murray has settled down with quality starts in back-to-back games. Is it safe to start him? I'd still lean toward no, particularly with matchups against high-scoring teams like Edmonton and Winnipeg coming up.

Which outlet is gonna be the first to have Jeff Petry as a top-10 fantasy D asset?

That jerk continues to burn me in most of my leagues.

— ❄️Joel Henderson❄️ (@dathockeydoe) February 6, 2021

I dunno, should we be listening? Jeff Petry might be the most valuable defenseman in fantasy leagues thus far. With a power-play goal on Saturday, Petry leads all defensemen in goals (6) and is second in points to Quinn Hughes. His plus-14 also sits at the top of the league.

Because of his age (33) and the presence of Shea Weber, Petry doesn't get the respect that he deserves, as his ADP was just outside the top 100 in Yahoo leagues. The goal scoring likely won't continue at this pace, but Petry has already solidified himself as a 10+ goal, 40+ point, 150+ shot and 160+ hit defenseman the last three seasons. The improvements the Habs made this offseason are only adding to these totals.

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Jakob Chychrun scored two goals, including one on the power play. With Oliver Ekman-Larsson still sidelined, Chychrun is leading the Coyotes' first-unit power play. However, the goals were his first in nine games, and he had only recorded one point in his previous six games prior to Saturday.

With a goal and an assist on Saturday, Clayton Keller also broke his own slump. The Coyotes forward had recorded only one point (an assist) in his previous eight games.

There are Coyotes that are scoring, though. Conor Garland assisted on both of Chychrun's goals, which extended his point streak to four games. He has six points over that span. Absolutely you should roll with him. I wouldn't be surprised if he leads the Yotes in scoring.

Robert Thomas left Saturday's game in the first period with a possible wrist injury. This may be concerning because Thomas underwent wrist surgery after the 2019 posteason. Thomas scored the Blues' only goal on Saturday before leaving this game.

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Someone in one of my leagues has just put Auston Matthews on his trade block – should I make an offer? As much as Matthews is a stud, it's difficult to top what he has already accomplished so far. Matthews is already up to 10 goals in 11 games, including two goals on Saturday.  He also has at least one goal in seven consecutive games and two goals in back-to-back games against the Canucks. The Experts Panel must have been on to something when they nearly unanimously projected him as the Rocket Richard winner. Maybe he'll even make a run at 50 goals… in 55 games.

(By the way, the owner I mentioned also owns Connor McDavid and has also put him on the trade block. I think it's because he's deep at center and wants to improve at other positions.)

Wayne Simmonds also scored a pair of goals on five shots on goal, giving him five goals in his last six games. Playing on a great scoring line with John Tavares and William Nylander has given Simmonds new life after he'd slowly fallen out of fantasy relevance. I'd normally suggest taking a short-term flier on Simmonds given both the recent production and the deployment, but Simmonds unfortunately left this game in the third period after blocking a shot with his hand. If he's cleared to play for Monday's rematch with the Canucks, then go get him. There's a good chance he's available in your league (8% Yahoo ownership).    

Mitch Marner chipped in another three assists, giving him three points in back-to-back games and a seven-game point streak. Marner is currently third in league scoring with 20 points (6 G, 14 A), only behind the Edmonton twin towers of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

You probably know this by now if you watch hockey and live in Canada, but you should not be starting any Canucks goalies once again. After four consecutive wins against Ottawa and Winnipeg, the Canucks' defensive play has turned into absolute shit again. Over the last four games, the Canucks have allowed a minimum of five goals to the Habs and the Leafs. This team is completely off at the moment. Just ask Braden Holtby (I won't even post his numbers for the sake of his owners).

Braden Holtby is every @Canucks fan rn: #NHLonSN | #ItsOn | #HockeyNight pic.twitter.com/MoeRzaHRS0

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— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 7, 2021

It feels like some sort of shakeup is going to happen in Vancouver soon, whether that be in the form of a trade or dismissing Travis Green and/or Jim Benning. If you ask most Canucks' fans, their much-preferred choice is the GM for the way the roster has been constructed with all the bad contracts in the bottom 6. Paying someone to not work at a time when there are no fans might delay something big from happening, though.

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The injury-depleted Penguins defense welcomed Kris Letang and Mike Matheson back into the lineup on Saturday.  Letang recorded an assist while leading all Penguins with 23:41 of icetime. Matheson played 20:49 while not recording a point. You'd think that Pierre-Olivier Joseph might be affected with the returns of these more experienced d-men, yet Joseph scored his first NHL goal while logging 22 minutes. With five points in seven games and regular minutes that include power-play minutes, Joseph appears to be here to stay. Keeper leagues should be all over him as a Letang replacement down the road, even though the Penguins might be tearing it down by the time Joseph reaches his prime.

In a 4-3 Islanders win over the Penguins, Jordan Eberle scored two goals while taking seven shots on goal. Playing on Eberle's line along with Brock Nelson was Michael Dal Colle, who assisted on both of Eberle's goals. Dal Colle is receiving this scoring-line opportunity with Anthony Beauvillier out of the lineup.

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Even though the Oilers could not vanquish the Flames in the first Battle of Alberta meeting of the season, they have to be pleased with the recent play of Jesse Puljujarvi.  Playing on the Connor McDavid, Puljujarvi scored a goal while taking four shots in nearly 20 minutes of icetime. That gives him three goals and seven shots over his last two games. Pool Party did not look out of place on that line either, where I'd expect him to stay at least in the near future. For all those reasons, I'd give him at least a short-term run on your roster, especially with two games upcoming against Ottawa early next week.  

Mikael Backlund powered the Flames in their win, scoring a goal and adding two assists with a plus-2 and seven shots in 21:34 of icetime. Backlund had entered this game in a funk with just one point in his last five games.

Not only was Sam Bennett back in the Flames lineup on Saturday, he was placed on the top line with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan. That led to a third-period goal, which snapped an 18-game stretch without a goal for Bennett.

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The path to victory in your fantasy league probably doesn't include a Sharks goalie. If you have to pick a San Jose goalie, that goalie should probably be Devan Dubnyk. In spite of losing the game in the shootout, Dubnyk stopped 32 of 33 shots to get the Sharks to that point. His ratios (2.71 GAA, .917 SV%) have been noticeably better than those of Martin Jones (3.87 GAA, .876 SV%). In addition, Dubnyk has posted a 1.78 GSAA while his colleague Jones has a minus-4.78 GSAA.

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Finally, some starting goalie info for you for the final day of the head-to-head week. Anton Khudobin will be scratched for at least Sunday's game against Chicago due to an internal discipline issue. Jake Oettinger, who is unowned in most Yahoo leagues, is definitely worth a go for a defensive Dallas squad.

Carter Hart, who was recently day-to-day with back spasms, is expected to be back between the pipes for the Flyers in an early game against the Capitals.

For more starting goalie information, don't forget to head over to Goalie Post.

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For more fantasy hockey discussion, or to reach out to me, you can follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding