Another Outdoor Game, Four-Week Fantasy Playoff Schedule, plus more…

The NHL went outdoors on Saturday evening, this time at the U.S. Naval Academy. This latest Stadium Series game saw the Capitals defeat the Leafs 5-2.

Alex Ovechkin scored his 40^th goal of the season, making him the sixth player in NHL history to record nine 40-goal seasons. In this day and age where 40-goal scorers are rare, let alone 50-goal scorers, this is quite the accomplishment. Ovie is a consistently high first-round pick in fantasy drafts and arguably the top fantasy player over the last decade given his dominance in the goals and shots on goal categories. I hope he reaches 50 this season; otherwise, we may have yet another season without a 50-goal scorer.

Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and John Carlson each scored a goal and added two assists in this game, chasing Frederik Andersen from the game. The Great Dane allowed five goals before getting pulled midway through the second period. Andersen’s numbers might not show it, but his success is absolutely critical for the Leafs, who give up a ton of shots. Andersen leads goalies with 1722 saves, over 100 more than the next-highest goalie (who I’ll mention later).
 

#Caps Braden Holtby has 0 shutouts this season. He had an NHL-high 9 shutouts last season.

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) March 3, 2018

Holtby didn’t earn his first shutout of the season, but he did earn a win. His owners should probably be satisfied with that, as he had not registered a win in his previous six starts. Holtby had a February to forget with an un-Vezina Trophy-like 4.62 GAA and .873 SV%. Yet another goalie that was counted on that has struggled at times this season.

Of course, the outdoor game might be most remembered for the power outage.
 

hello darkness my old friend pic.twitter.com/sXjiLM3hko

— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) March 4, 2018

Good thing the Leafs went with those all-white uniforms.

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Like many of you, I found the “Schedule – Stretch Run” section of the Midseason Guide to come in handy when planning for the fantasy playoffs. However, I have discovered that the fantasy playoffs in both my head-to-head leagues span four weeks (starting March 12). The reason for this: A two-week final in both leagues. Fortunately, I have already clinched a first-round bye in one of my leagues, so the three-week schedule in the Midseason Guide comes in handy anyway.

I’m not sure if anyone on this site or elsewhere has already done this, or for that matter has a more detailed schedule than me. But for those of you in the same situation as me, I’ve listed below the number of games remaining for each team over the last four weeks.

I was going to spend much of the afternoon manually entering this table. But then I remembered Dobber mentioning the Game Planner in Frozen Pool. Just set up a custom date range to run your own report if you are trying to figure out any kind of games played schedule.

As is the case for many two- and three-week playoff series, Panthers and Senators players are worth loading up on (15 games each). This is where a player like a Nick Bjugstad could be a strong pickup not only now because he is hot (five points over his last five games), but also over the rest of the season.

Meanwhile, if you’ve been hanging on to borderline options from the Blackhawks, Flames, and/or Penguins (12 games each), you may want to consider dropping them soon. For example, there’s no chance I’ll drop Sidney Crosby or Kris Letang, but I’ll need to ensure adequate coverage over the week of March 12 to 18, as the Penguins only play twice that week.

In case you're having trouble reading that on your phone, I'll list out the remainder of the teams:

14 games: Jets, Golden Knights, Blues, Sharks, Predators, Canadiens, Kings, Oilers, Red Wings, Avalanche, Hurricanes, Bruins, Coyotes, Capitals

13 games: Devils, Canucks, Maple Leafs, Lightning, Flyers, Blue Jackets, Islanders, Ducks, Wild, Stars, Sabres, Rangers

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With scoring as a whole up this season compared to last, high-scoring games are happening more frequently. The first game of the day was an example of that, as the Lightning and Flyers combined for 12 goals in a game that ended with the Lightning winning in a shootout.

Steven Stamkos had a monster game with two goals, three assists and seven shots on goal, while Victor Hedman scored two goals and added two assists. At this point there isn’t much that hasn’t already been said about Stamkos, Hedman, and Nikita Kucherov (three assists). It goes without saying that you start your top-tier Bolts every time they suit up.

J.T. Miller also scored for the Lightning, giving him three points (1g-2a) over three games with his new team. He’s not the lucky guy lining up with Stamkos or Kucherov (Alex Killorn is), but the sizzling Yanni Gourde (16 points over his last 15 games) and Brayden Point aren’t bad forwards for Miller to be surrounded with. I like Miller as a post-deadline waiver-wire grab. You can find more here in my latest from Sportsnet.

Sometimes in these games it’s better to mention who didn’t score as opposed to who did score. With no points on Saturday, Mikhail Sergachev has been held without a point in seven consecutive games. Although he is used on the second-unit power play and has 13 PPP, Sergachev’s lack of even-strength minutes makes him a risky option to count on right now.

On one of my teams where I desperately needed offense today, I had two Flyers playing. Guess what? Neither scored a point. Travis Konecny has cooled off recently with just a single point (a goal) over his last five games. Shayne Gostisbehere has been held without a point in three consecutive games now, although you can’t blame him for lack of trying. Ghost led all skaters with eight shots on goal in this game.

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Your wait for a Jamie Benn goal has ended, as the Stars’ sniper’s overtime goal was his first in 12 games. He did everything he could to score in this game, taking eight shots on goal. With his assist in this game, Benn has at least added assists in each of his past four games. He’s probably not what you’d call an elite fantasy option any longer, but he’s still a very good one.

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The Blackhawks moved Patrick Kane onto the Jonathan Toews/Brandon Saad unit in order to boost the struggling Toews and Saad, and it seemed to pay off. Toews and Kane each scored a goal and added two assists, while Saad chipped in with a helper. Toews and Saad had each been held without a point in their previous five games.

Toews’ point production is down further this season (0.66 Pts/GP from 0.8 Pts/GP last season), but you probably know by now that his reputation as a big-game performer doesn’t mean he’s a player to build around in fantasy leagues. But he’s hasn’t been as much of a bust as Saad, who is currently on pace for 35 points. It’s been a very sad return to Chicago for Saad, who we’ve penciled in for 50 points each of the last few seasons. His shooting percentage is slightly down, but more alarming is the fact that he is on pace for just 16 assists. That’s one assist every five games, which isn’t helping your fantasy team enough.

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Charlie McAvoy left Saturday’s game early in the first period after taking a chop to his foot from Brendan Gallagher.
 

Here’s the Charlie McAvoy play that saw him leave the #NHLBruins #GoHabsGo game early in the first. pic.twitter.com/zSG0Ya1BJD

— Colin Beswick (@CBeswick) March 3, 2018

Torey Krug picked up the slack in McAvoy’s absence, recording two assists while taking 10 shots on goal.

Nick Holden was a healthy scratch for several games after being acquired by the Bruins, but since being inserted into the lineup he has two assists and ten shots on goal in two games. Holden also saw second-unit power play time, so he could continue in that role should McAvoy miss any time.

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Since Monday’s trade deadline, the rebuilding Rangers are 3-0 and are now just three points out of a playoff spot (although they have played more games than the teams they are trying to catch). After amazing back-to-back 50-save performances from Henrik Lundqvist in Vancouver and Calgary, Bulgarian-born rookie Alexandar Georgiev stopped 35 of 37 shots in the Rangers’ 3-2 win over Edmonton. If you hadn’t guessed by now, that goalie with the second-highest save total is Lundqvist with 1602. After watching him make some incredible saves in these games, I’m a believer that Lundqvist is still a semi-decent option through this rebuild, particularly in leagues that count saves.  

After exploding for seven points in his first three games as a Ranger, Ryan Spooner was held off the scoresheet on Saturday.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins returned to the Oilers’ lineup from a rib injury on Saturday, scoring a goal on a pass from Connor McDavid on a play resulting from a delayed penalty. Why is Milan Lucic still on the McDavid line if he is mired in a major slump (no goals since Christmas)? It might be time for someone like the Nuge to have a go there. Only McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have a better points-per-game on the Oilers than Nugent-Hopkins.  

A great hypothetical trade that Elliotte Friedman mentioned on his 31 Thoughts podcast this week (and an Oilers’ fan and I debated for a while shortly after) was Lucic for Loui Eriksson. Which side says no to the deal, which would have major cap implications? The winners of 2016 free agency already aren't winners with these deals. 

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For more fantasy hockey information, you can follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding.