Studs & Duds - Tuesday 11/05

[sixhands]

Apparently the memo about not finishing the game in regulation didn’t make it to some of the teams last night. There were 9 games and only 3 had a final result at the end of 60 minutes. Two games ended in overtime and the other 4 went to shoot-outs. Some people like the skills competition but if your league has a bonus for game-winning goals then last night didn’t deliver. However there were still 53 goals scored and some were quite spectacular.

STUDS

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Wilson floats away with stellar performance.

You know the game is already over when Tom Wilson is on the ice at the end of the game with Ovechkin and Backstrom. But just because you are given the opportunity doesn’t mean you will also be given the points. Tom Wilson still had to prove himself and he did just that. The 19 year old 1st round draft pick of 2012 scored his first NHL goal and his first assist last night. The goal was on the power play towards the end of the 3rd period and meant more to him than it did the outcome of the game.

In addition to his first NHL points Wilson also had 12 PIM, finished +1 with 4 shots on goal and also had a hit and a takeaway. Pretty impressive for someone that only played 10 minutes and 5 seconds.

Ovechkin and Backstrom also had fantasy owners jumping for joy with 2 goals, 1 assist, 4 shots, 2 hits and 3 assists, +1, 3 shots, 1 block and 1 hit respectively.

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Minnesota Mild? I think not …

Zach Parise extends his point scoring streak to 3 games and now has 14 points in 16 games. The home town hero from Minneapolis had those in “points only” leagues jumping for joy. Zach had 2 goals (one of which was on the power-play), 1 assist, 5 shots on goal, +2 and also had a hit and a takeaway.

Mikko Koivu joined Parise on all of his points and he finished the night with the following stat line. 1 goal, 2 assists, 2 penalty minutes, +2, 1 hit and 1 blocked shot. If your league counts face off wins then he was fantasy gold for you last night by winning 11 of 15 face-offs.

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King Karlsson Crushes Columbus

Erik Karlsson started the scoring and he also finished it. A breakaway from his own blue line resulted in the first goal after some dumb defender coughed up the puck. The last goal was an empty netter to put the game away for good. I will continue to try and acquire Karlsson for my keeper league but after nights like this one his price inflates exponentially. He ended the night with 2 goals, 2 penalty minutes, +3, 1 hit and his usual barrage of shots (7).

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Two Benns, One Shot!

The Dallas/Bruins game was fun to watch, exactly as expected. Hits, shots, fights and pretty much everything else Boston usually brings to games. Unfortunately the Stars didn’t register their first shot on goal for almost 10 minutes. Good thing for them the first attempt went in. Jordie got the puck to Jamie who skated down the right hand side and fired a beautiful wrist shot to Rask’s glove side. The rest of the game was equally fun to watch and Fiddler’s penalty shot to tie the game at 2 was a thing of beauty. Jamie Benn concluded his night with 1 goal, 1 assist, 2 penalty minutes, 2 shots on goal, 2 hits and won roughly 50% of his face-offs.



DUDS

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Giroux? Giroux who?

Claude Giroux broke his mini slump with an assist, yes just one! The Philly center is also searching for his first goal of the season. Hey Giroux, you know we’re almost a quarter the way into the season. Whenever you’re ready buddy. With 23 minutes of ice-time all that he could muster was the 1 assist, -1 and a measly 2 shots on goal. Is your wrist still hurting you?

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Chara does NOT mean happiness!

The name Chara is a greek derivative which means “happiness”. After last night it should be changed to mean “disappointed”. Zdeno Chara did pretty much nothing with his almost 30 minutes of ice-time. Finishing the night a -1, 1 block and 3 hits (only 3? That’s it!)

By the way, Chara is also a girls name which probably explains his lackluster performance.

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Paging Pacioretty …. Paging Pacioretty …. The score-sheet would like to see you!

Not much to say about Patches other than he is now in a 3 game scoring slump, and he was on the ice for both goals against. The only Montreal player who accomplished that last night was him. He did have 3 shots on goal if you’re looking for a silver lining. Max Pacioretty has 3 points on the season and is a -5.

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You Berra be better next time!

That thud you heard was the Calgary Flames crashing back to earth, or maybe it was frozen waste from an airplane toilet? Either way they both stink, just like the goaltending provided by Reto Berra last night.
He let in 5 goals on 24 shots for a pathetic save percentage of 0.792

And if that wasn’t bad enough, he allowed 2 goals in just 33 seconds. But just to throw some additional fuel on the fire, the second of those goals was scored by Zenon Kenopka.

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Cheers

six