11/4/11- Studs & Duds

[TK12555]

In a very hectic Friday night, the NHL saw its fair share of studs and duds. Let's get to this:

Studs

3)He's "Benn" Productive

Last year, Angus preached to the Dobber community about Jamie Benn, a forward in Dallas that had little recognition. Jeff boldly stated the Benn was a future 85-90 point player, sparking some skeptics. Time would only tell to see if Benn would pan out to what this forum hoped he could become, and tonight' performance further proves the point that he can.

Jamie Benn exploded tonight, scoring a tying goal with four minutes remaining, and tallied three other assists (one of which in overtime) to lead the Dallas Stars to a thrilling 7-6 victory over the Avalanche. Benn was one of two players to have a four point night, and was a clutch player overall. With two primary assists early in the second period to tie the game, the Stars owe the majority of the victory to Benn, who overshadowed a sub-par defensive night. The 22 year old superstar has 14 points in 12 games, and will continue to produce at extremely high levels.

2)S"Carey" Good

After a fantastic 2010-2011 season, Carey Price had high expectations from the vast majority of Canadiens fans, critics, and fantasy hockey players. However, the slow start of the Habs left Price with lacklustre statistics, angering those who had faith in him. On Friday, Price had what was arguably his best game of the short season. Carey stopped 33 of 34 shots in a 2-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators. With a .971 sv% and stymieing the Sens on four powerplay opportunities, no fantasy hockey owners of the star goaltender can be upset, and should hope for more performances like that in the future.

1)The Boys are Back

Friday night was a time of redemption and re-introduction for two players that have been gaining many critics over the past few months. Matt Duchene has had an incredibly weak start to the season, only recording 6 points (and 2 goals) through 12 games. Friday's game against the Stars was a change of pace, in which Duchene recorded two-thirds of the points that he had in the first dozen games. A hattrick and an assist gave the third-year center first star honours, and the dual-award of first stud.

The second superstar that earns the title of first stud had a night of redemption, but in a whole different way. Steven Stamkos exploded out of the gate last season, and slowed down tremendously. While he's been solid, Stamkos has not had that explosive night that the Lightning have been craving. However, Stammer had a breakout night, recording a hattrick that sparked his team to a 5-4 overtime victory over the Blackhawks. If Stamkos continues to have nights like these every so often, the Lightning will find themselves in a very nice position heading into the postseason.

Duds

3)Lone Star State Law

As there have already been two studs from the Stars/Avalanche game, it is fairly obvious that this game was one of the most exciting of the year. Dean Youngblood (@RossyYoungblood) tweeted

"Tonights Dallas Stars/Colorado Avalache 7-6 game was likely the second best NHL game this season only trailing the 9-8 Flyers/Jets game"

While this is very true, a reason for this was the irresponsibility of the players when it came to penalty situations. The two teams combined for 11 minor penalties, and allowed an accumulative 5 goals while down a man. Had one of the teams stayed out of the box, it could have been an easy win. Notable culprits involved in the barrage of penalties were Ryan O'Byrne, Mike Ribeiro, David Jones, and Trevor Daley.

2)Below .500

Being one of seven members of the "Studs and Duds" team, I try to stray away from repetition from the prior night. As Brandon mentioned yesterday, the Canucks were dubbed "second dud". However, for the second night in a row they will be given that honour. With the brothers, Edler, and Hamhuis going -7, the Canucks fell victim to T.J Oshie and the St. Louis Blues. While this would not normally be worthy of a "dud", the Canucks fell below the .500 mark, rocking a 6-7-1 record thru 14 games. While this is likely just a slump, Vancouver fans must not be happy, as this team was one of (if not the best) team in the league last season.

1)Negative Impacts

Nick Leddy and Jamie McBain are two young defensemen in the NHL, with bright futures ahead of them. Friday was a night each youngster would like to forget. In an abysmal outing, the two defensemen each finished -4, as they saw their respective teams allow lose. While it seems bad on the surface, it becomes worse. Both the Washington Capitals (who played the Hurricanes) and the Tampa Bay Lightning (who played the Blackhawks) scored 5 goals en route to 5-1 and 5-4 victories. To make these abysmal statistics worse, each team that scored 5 goals scored one on the powerplay. Therefore, it can be concluded that Leddy and McBain were on for every even-strength goal against in their matches. An incredibly forgettable night for the two Americans, who will look for bounce back games on Sunday.

Points of Interest

- Congratulations to Cody Eakin, who recorded 1 goal and 1 assist in his 2nd career NHL game. Eakin, best known for his role on the 2011 Canadian World Junior team, had a fantastic night, one that he'll never forget.

- The COL/DAL game had 13 goals scored, more than the VAN/STL (5), MTL/OTT (3), and BUF/CGY (3) combined

- Many players recorded three point nights: Patrick Kane (3), Matt Duchene (4), Jamie Benn (4), Stephane Robidas (3), Steven Stamkos (3), Martin St. Louis (3), Loui Eriksson (3), and T.J Oshie (3)

- Eric Staal has more penalty minutes (8) than points (5). He also has a +/- of -14, good for last in the league

- Fantasy stud alert: Daniel and Henrik Sedin combined for -3, no hits, no penalty minutes, no points.

- Jhonas Enroth is just outplaying Miller. .971 sv% and the win tonight.

- The Ottawa Senators scored SH goal tonight, making them the 7th team to have multiple Shorties this year.

- The Montreal Canadiens became the 5th team to allow multiple shorthanded goals this year.

[metaldude26]

Can I give NHL GameCenter an honourary Dud for the night. When I noticed the game jump from 2-2 to 4-4 in the blink of an eye I figured it would be a must watch game. ****ing GameCenter kept denying me access and thus I missed out on what I just know was a fantastic game. I'll try to watch the archive later but it's just not the same as seeing it unfold live. Piss me right off.

Nice work TK. Fantastic Friday for you.

[bondon]

Great job Tyler! Didn't even realize Leddy and McBain were each -4 on the night.

Also missed the Canucks game again but from what I heard/read it was just as crappy as last night. Really needed them to destroy Elliott tonight too, just like last time and FAILURE.

[mounD]

Can I give NHL GameCenter an honourary Dud for the night. When I noticed the game jump from 2-2 to 4-4 in the blink of an eye I figured it would be a must watch game. ****ing GameCenter kept denying me access and thus I missed out on what I just know was a fantastic game. I'll try to watch the archive later but it's just not the same as seeing it unfold live. Piss me right off.

Nice work TK. Fantastic Friday for you.

I can confirm that it was a great game to watch. You should definitely seek it out somewhere. If you are a fan at all of Jamie Benn or Duchene you will be thoroughly pleased. Duchene was DOMINANT, just threatening Dallas D all night long, and Benn really was awesome. Truly fun to watch, tonight. You won't be disappointed. Straight-up firewagon hockey. Not to mention there was almost a full minute of 3-on-3 to start the OT period...

[dyzfunctioned]

Leddy and McBain were god awful.

Anyway, great job TK!

[GMGates]

Great read man, maybe even your best yet!