My humblest apologies for the late post.

Tuesday had nine games on the schedule. Fortunately, for those in leagues that award bonus points, there were 8 game winning goals. You can thank the following … Brad Stuart, Sidney Crosby, Nick Foligno, Jeff Skinner, Colin Greening, Ryan Kesler, Antoine Roussel and Shane Doan. The remaining game was a “pseudo” shut-out! I say that because even though the Blue Jackets blanked the Lightning neither goalie was credited with the shut-out. Bobrovsky got the win making 18 saves and McElhinney preserved the donut making 8 saves to finish off the game.

STUDS

Dan Boyle – Even though he isn’t the fantasy stud that he has been in the past, there are still flashes of brilliance from the 37 year old defenseman. Last night was one of those games where he contributed in almost every category. He finished the night with 2 assists, 2 penalty minutes, 3 shots on goal, 1 blocked shot and was plus 1.

Evgeni Malkin – When is this guy going to heat up and actually start producing …? Just kidding, Malkin did what he does best and that’s take the game into his own hands. It was starting to look like the Penguins were doomed, down 2 to nothing with almost 40 minutes played. With 16 seconds left in the second period James Neal gets the puck from Malkin and Kunitz and it’s suddenly a 2-1 game. Malkin also assisted on the game-tying goal and ended the night with 4 penalty minutes, 7 shots on goal and an even rating.

Sidney Crosby – See above Crosby tied the game with 12 minutes remaining and then won the game in overtime with a beautiful solo effort. The current NHL points leader continues to rack up fantasy worthy numbers. Even though he finished -1 with 5 shots on goal and nothing much else, he was the reason they came away with the win.

Ryan Kesler – The injury riddled Canuck is starting to show signs of returning to his glory days. It’s unlikely that he scores 41 goals like he did in 2010-11 but he is currently on pace for 37. That is still music to the ears of most managers. Kesler had 2 goals, 3 shots on goal, 3 hits and finished the night +1

Jonas Hiller – The Anaheim netminder was on fire last night stopping 49 of 51 shots for a save percentage of .961 on the night. The 31 year old, undrafted, Swiss goalie now has a season record of 9-4-4, save percentage of .910 and GAA of 2.64


DUDS

Michael Grabner – I really don’t know what’s going on with this guy. One minute everyone is fighting to add him to their roster and the next he disappears into obscurity. He had 15 minutes of ice-time with nothing but 3 shots on goal to show for it. He has not scored a single point in 18 consecutive games!

Ryan Nugent Hopkins – I realize that his last name is hyphenated but he does not deserve the extra key-stroke from me at this point in time. The 1st overall draft pick of 2011 disappointed many a fantasy GM last night with only 1 shot on goal and 1 hit in almost 18 minutes of ice-time. RNH as an acronym stands for REALLY NOT HELPING.

Justin Schultz – The highly touted rearguard was about as fantasy relevant last night as an ashtray is on a motorcycle. In 25 minutes all he could muster was 1 shot on goal and 2 blocked shots. He was also -3 at the end of the game. But wait, there’s more ….

Nail Yakupov – I don’t mean to pick on the Oilers but for Pete’s sake when you have back to back #1 overall picks surely you must be doing better than this. Yakapoo finished with 2 shots on goal and 2 shits (my bad, that should have been hits!)

Braden Holtby – His play this season reminds me of a kids toy. He’s good one game, bad the next, good , bad, up and then back down. A yo-yo goes up and down but then occasionally it stays down, the string starts to unwind and the kid’s toy just starts spiraling. That’s what happened last night, 4 goals on 23 shots and that was it for him. He finished with a .826 save percentage and a bruised ego. I guess it wasn’t all his fault, he was probably mesmorized by Skinner’s Salchow before he saw the puck go in the back of the net.


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Random observations –

All Sharks finished +1 except for Burns, Hertl and Thornton who each ended with an even rating.

The Ducks/Kings game had 13 minor penalties assessed but only one powerplay goal was scored.


Cheers