I'm unabashedly a Pittsburgh Penguins fan, so the biggest news this week from their organization was that Jaromir Jagr's #68 jersey retirement will be honored on February 18 at PPG Arena, after his playing days finally ended (?) at age 51 in Czechoslovakia. Jagr has delayed his own Hall of Fame induction by continuing to play professionally for the team he's owned in his homeland, but please remember how dominant he was. Five Art Ross trophies, three Lester Pearson awards, two Stanley Cups and of course, second only to Wayne Gretzky in NHL career points. 

Saturday's matchups:

Domination – Boston Bruins @ Montreal Canadiens. Okay, that word is not truly fair, since in the past 757 games between these two original-six franchises, the Canadiens do have a significant 62-game advantage. BUT in the most recent ten, the Bruins are 10-0-0, out-scoring their rivals 46-19. And that ignores the starter in net this evening, Jeremy Swayman ($8500), who's off to a 6-0-0 beginning to his second full season, with a gaudy 0.952 SV% and 1.49 GAA. Charlie McAvoy ($6500) is back from his four-game suspension, and will take over a power play that stayed hot (four out of 13) in his absence. Depending on which other stacks you choose below, Charlie Coyle ($4000), fresh off his Thursday hat trick, or James van Riemsdyk ($4500) would be good value picks.

Take the under – Washington Capitals @ New York Islanders. A much closer recent history exists between these two clubs, with the Caps holding a 16-14 edge over the past 5 years, including those eight contests in the Covid-shortened season. In 17 of these games (57%), there were five or fewer goals scored, which I feel should favor the home Islanders. Semyon Varlamov ($8200) shut out Washington on November 2.  Brock Nelson ($6100) was the offensive star then, and he leads his team with six goals. Five of Noah Dobson's ($7000) team-leading 12 points are on the Isles's power play, and Mathew Barzal ($5500) has 43 shots in 12 games, just two fewer than Alex Ovechkin ($7800). It's not really a great game for DFS play. 

Dessert, anyone? This one's sweet. Late game – Edmonton Oilers @ Seattle Kraken. Teams with as much talent as Edmonton just don't stay cold for this long, and some unfortunate squad will absolutely run into the offensive buzzsaw soon. Like tonight. The Oilers had 41 shots on goal Thursday, and San Jose blocked 35 more. Those aren't often the stats of the losing side of a 3-2 score, and the downward spiral is unsustainable. In fact, Connor McDavid ($9400) and company have averaged 42 SOG through their 0-4-0 November struggles. And through these four losses, ten Oilers have taken at least ten shots, led by….  Warren Foegele ($3800) (?) and McDavid with 15 each. As for the Kraken, even having five victories in their last ten games, they've held their opponents below three scores just once over that span. The over/under here should be 7.5, or the "over" bet will be as tempting as pumpkin pie. Hey, it's November.  Consider stacking Edmonton for the rout – Zach Hyman ($6300), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ($5700), Evander Kane ($5600), Mattias Ekholm ($3800). No, you can't fit everybody. 

My lineup:

Centers McDavid (going for the hat trick) and Coyle, wings Barzal, Hyman, and Foegele, D-men Ekholm and the Kings' Jordan Spence ($2600). In goal I chose Swayman, and for utility player my fifth Oiler, RNH. All or nothing, apparently. I'm thinking it was a paper move only that Spence was assigned to the AHL yesterday, but check on this pre-game. My "sub" would be Vladislav Gavrikov.

Still not sure why I put this out there each week, because last Saturday I hit a new low – 74th of 74 entries. Sure, the Capitals got a 2-1 win, but no points for Ovechkin, then Dallas and Florida were betting disasters. I did put down $10 on San Jose to beat the Flyers Tuesday, so all was not lost.

Statistical fun update:

Two weeks ago, I put in my article that the "all-important" first goal wasn't truly all important, and that conceding the first goal and then scoring the second goal was equally as good, if not better.  I looked at all games, just win vs loss, not considering OTL. For the first three weeks of the season, scoring that second one actually had an advantage. Now, at five weeks in (stats through Thursday), the trend has not reversed.  I'm not a fantasy player that wagers mid-game, but if you are, here's the data – food for thought:

Of the first two scores:

Team scores first, concedes second: 42 wins

Team concedes first, scores second: 51 wins

Team scores both, 84 wins. Neither, 13 wins.

It's Veterans Day in the US – if you know one, thank them. And good luck with all wagers.