If you do not succeed at first then try try again! Give the Philadelphia Flyers credit in this sense. They find ways to win even when they seem to find ways to lose. That sounds really odd but with Philadelphia, truer words were never more well spoken. Now the Phoenix Coyotes have found a way to get to Pekka Rinne. It is very clear and painfully obvious that Rinne’s game is just off. If you look at his body language and movements, there is no injury but the fluidity is non-existent. It will be interesting to see if Nashville can come back in Game 3 and make this a series. However if the netminder does not find a way to get his game somewhat back, he is going to look more like Corey Crawford did in the last round than anything else.
So who was last night’s Fantasy POTN? That was a tough one. There were plenty of good candidates out there but only one who could reign supreme. Let’s see who it was.
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FANTASY POTN:
Danny Briere, W, Philadelphia Flyers
It just seems that Briere for whatever reason is the Claude Lemieux of our time. He often appears to get lost in the regular season mix at times. This year in particular Briere struggled mightily for stretches but the playoffs came and the litle guy that could now has a whopping seven goals in the postseason (tied for first with Claude Giroux). Now technically Briere scored three goals but as seen in the video above, kicking the puck in generally does not result in a goal but is admirable for its soccer skills. When all is said and done, Briere just produces in the playoffs and is a must in pools.
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SCHEDULE TIME:
Monday, April 30, 2012 |
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| Teams | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | at | NY Rangers | 7:30 PM | Gameday | ||
| Los Angeles | at | St. Louis | 9:00 PM | Gameday | ||
With the second round moving onward and becoming more gritty, it will give us the opportunity to look ahead even toward next fantasy season. In the meantime, for our poolies who still have a shot, above is the schedule complete with TSN Gamedays. Again this is a very halpful fantasy tool for quick information.
Now let us get down to the bottom line and our players to look out for and more….
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KEEP AN EYE ON:
Alex Pietrangelo, D, St. Louis Blues
First off, will he even play tonight? Right now he is officially questionable so keep an eye on it. How effective is he going to be if he plays is the more obvious question. What was abundantly clear was that Kevin Shattenkirk was not the same player without Pietrangelo on his side as Shattenkirk was turning the puck over all over the place (-2 in Game 1). Los Angeles has a chance to exploit whatever pairing they make with Shattenkirk honestly. It has become a key point of emphasis in the gameplan of the Kings. Let’s see what happens.
Rangers And Capitals Offense……?
Both teams were horrendous in Game 1 and one has to figure it will not continue in Game 2 despite the rhetoric uttered from both sides. Whether it was 31 or 32 combined shots does not matter, the bottom line was that game was a trainwreck in every sense of the word. These teams have to create better scoring chances and do the classic “stick on puck on ice”. It sounds so god awful cliche but it is 100% true. You are not going to score in close if one does not subscribe to that simple adage. Yes the Capitals came close and hits posts and such but they had too many lapses and a goalie who needs a little offensive help in this series. It will not be like Boston. Also, Marian Gaborik has to find the back of the net. He only has one goal in the playoffs and had a team high five scoring chances in Game 1. Alex Ovechkin has to also show up in this series. Either he is mentally broken or he is just going through the motions out there. Maybe its both. Keep an eye on how Dale Hunter mixes lines in Game 2. Washington needs a spark more than the Rangers…let’s be honest.
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OUR THREE STARS (Projected from Rangers game):
1. Henrik Lundqvist
2. Marian Gaborik
3. Derek Stepan
Brooks Laich almost made the cut…almost but in the end this one seems like a Rangers win.
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OUR THREE STARS (Projected from Blues game):
1. David Backes
2. Dustin Brown
3. Jonathan Quick
This involved a lot of tough choices but keep in mind this is more fantasy purpose oriented than hockey purpose.
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Good luck with your fantasy pools and coming soon will be some projections for next year. Yes we are starting those already because it is never too early.
