By Garrett Rees

WEEKLY BREAKDOWN

Here is the weekly breakdown for this upcoming week, March 11 – March 17:

• 5 GAMES:  BOS
• 4 GAMES:  LAK, NAS, OTT, PIT, WAS, WPG
• 3 GAMES:  ANA, BUF, CAR, CBJ, CGY, COL, DAL, DET, EDM, FLA, MIN, NJD, NYR, PHX, SJS, STL, TBL, TOR, VAN
• 2 GAMES:  CHI, MON, NYI, PHI

Another team with 5 games in one week!  Other than that, it’s a relatively slow week as there are only seven teams playing more than 3 games while there are four teams playing 2.  Looks like Chicago will enjoy the rest as the mighty has fallen and has now lost their first two games this season, both of them in a row versus Colorado and Edmonton.  Here is how the week breaks down per day:

• MON – 2 games
• TUES – 11 games
• WED – 3 games
• THU – 11 games
• FRI – 3 game
• SAT – 13 games
• SUN – 4 games

Some big ups and downs this week, with four or less games on four days this week while the others are sporting at least 11.  Monday features BOS@OTT and CGY@LAK, Wednesday has DET@CGY, OTT@MON, and PHI@NJD, Friday sees DET@EDM, NAS@CGY, and NJD@PHI and Finally Sunday will see matchups of BOS@PIT, BUF@WAS, NAS@EDM, and WPG@OTT.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

These teams are playing all of their games on the road so be aware that fatigue may play a factor in their play:

ANA, CHI, DET, NAS, NYI, NYR

HOME COOKING

These teams are playing all of their games at home this week so they should be rested and practicing:

CBJ, DAL, STL


B2B: BACKUPS TO SEE ACTION?

All of these teams are scheduled to play in back-to-back games this upcoming week, so there are good chances that these teams’ respective backup/alternate goaltenders could see some action:

BOSx2, BUF, DET, LAK, NAS, NJD, OTT, PIT, WAS, WPG

WHO’S HOT

• PIT – 5 wins
• CBJ – 5 wins
• MTL – 3 wins
• ANA – 3 wins

WHO’S NOT

• TBL – 2 losses (2-8-0 past 10 games)
• FLA – 1 loss (2-6-2 past 10 games)
• NJD – 3-6-1 past 10 games
• NAS – 3-6-1 past 10 games

STRONG SCHEDULES
Now let’s take a look at a couple of the most favorable matchups of the week:

Boston Bruins – Opponents: @OTT+@PIT, FLA, WAS+@PIT – Playing five games is never a bad thing for fantasy managers.  The Bruins have been hot lately too, going 8-1-1 in their past 10 games. They start off the week with a back-to-back, have a day off, host the Panthers on Wednesday, have another day off, and then end the week with another back-to-back set.  Technically that’s the only way a 5-game week can happen though since teams aren’t allowed to play games three days in a row, but I digress. Definitely make sure to get your Bruins out there for Week 8.

Ottawa Senators – Opponents: BOS, @MON, @BUF+WPG – The Senators are another relatively hot team after going 6-2-2 their past 10 games and they have a very nice fantasy schedule next week as they are playing 3 of their 4 games on the slow nights of the week. The beginning of the week may not be easy but this team has shown that they can overcome adversity.  First up is Boston on Monday followed by Montreal on Wednesday.  They then have a back-to-back set against Buffalo and Winnipeg on Saturday and Sunday respectively.  

Nashville Predators - Opponents: @DAL, @VAN+@CGY, @EDM – Although they haven’t been winning all that much lately and they will have to be dealing with a lot of travel as everyone of their four games is on the road, but fantasy managers will still want to take advantage of their Week 8 schedule as they are playing their final two games of the week on the oh so slow Friday and Sunday against teams that have the capacity to allow a decent amount of goals.  First up is Dallas on Tuesday followed by a back-to-back set versus Vancouver and Calgary on Thursday and Friday.  They then end the week in Edmonton on Sunday.

WEAK SCHEDULES
...And the least favorable matchups of the week:

Dallas Stars – Opponents: NAS, ANA, CHI – Facing three stingy opponents - including the top two teams in the West - on the three busiest nights of the week might not bode too well for fantasy managers for Week 8.  They face the Preds on Tuesday, the Ducks on Thursday, and then the ‘Hawks on Saturday. When looking at the waiver-wire for Week 8, might be wise to stay away from the Stars.

Florida Panthers – Opponents: TBL, @BOS, NYI – The Panthers have been struggling lately going 1-4-1 in the month of March while scoring more than 2 goals in a game only once in that span. Playing on the three busiest nights of the week doesn’t help fantasy managers out at all, either. I’d look elsewhere for help during Week 8.

Minnesota Wild – Opponents: ANA, COL, @COL – Another case of playing all of their Week 8 games on the three busiest nights of the week. Look elsewhere for help for your squad during Week 8.

Good luck out there, everyone.  Hit me up on Twitter @G_Rees with any questions or comments

This really is happening again. How could anything go wrong on a night where only three games were played? For that answer we have enlisted the help of the Detroit Red Wings. Without further adieu, here is our presentation of shame.

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Jonas Gustavsson -- G -- Detroit Red Wings

Congratulations! You really flipped the bird of many fantasy owners who thought hey Calgary has been awful of late, what is the worst that could happen here? You gave up FIVE goals on 22 shots. That is good for a lousy .773 save percentage that Ilya Bryzgalov might be proud of against New Jersey and Pittsburgh. That may have flew in Toronto but surely Mike Babcock was reaming you a new oriface after this third period of disaster. The boxscore does not lie. You sucked! In an even more cruel twist, Miikka Kiprusoff who stunk to high heaven the last two games went and stopped 36 of 38 shots for the win. I'm just saying!

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Who will we have tomorrow night? Stay tuned!

It is great to talk about the great fantasy hockey players of the night but no one talks about the ones that absolutely kill your fantasy team. This kid has the right message!

Here we are. The F**K YOU Fantasy POTN is going to be a bit of a regular column here on The Hockey Program. It will be fun and hey you get a chance to revel in our misery. That is always fun, isn't it? It will be kept brief to protect the innocent. Now thanks to Rachel Cena and myself here are our middle fingers out for the following two players.

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F**K You POTN #1:

Kari Lehtonen -- G -- Dallas Stars 

But it was the safer start of the two between him and Pekka Rinne. I swear! Lehtonen at home versus Rinne on the road. Dallas was scoring goals at a pretty good clip and then this game happened. Dallas outshot Nashville 32-21 but Nashville pounded home four goals on Kari Lehtonen. That generally is never a good thing and Rinne got his fifth shutout of the season (no other goalie has three). Sometimes the unexpected result just makes you stick out that middle finger proud and high!

F**K You POTN #2:

Jonathan Quick -- G -- Los Angeles Kings

And here we go...... Hey Quick looked really good stopping 23 of 24 shots against the Calgary Flames. Then they made the short ride to Phoenix and it went all south in an ugly 5-2 loss. The Coyotes kept scoring and scoring to the tune of five goals on 29 shots. That is generally a bad save percentage of .827 which is similar to some of the clunkers that Quick is still putting up far too often this year. This was the first back end of a B2B that Quick played in and it showed. He looked slower and yet so many probably still started him. Someday he'll keep that save percentage above .900.....someday!

If you have some candidates....send them to us @ChrisWasselTHW on Twitter....we will consider them and thanks for reading!

The injury bug is back, so the “Net Effect” takes a look at some goalie situations worth monitoring.

Carolina Hurricanes- Cam Ward will be out for up to two months with an MCL sprain. Bad news for the Hurricanes, as he has been one of the better goalies over the last five seasons. Dan Ellis will get the bulk of starts, and is probably owned in your league, but take a look at Justin Peters. He got the win making 37 saves in a 4-3 win over the Sabres on Tuesday since Ellis was out sick. He’s been on the Hurricanes for four seasons but only appeared in 29 games, although he put up a solid goals against average and save percentage last season.

Florida Panthers- Jose Theodore was placed on injured reserve and will miss 5-6 weeks with a groin injury.  He hadn’t been playing well anyway, but then again, neither has backup Scott Clemmenson.  That’s why the Panthers decided to let Jacob Markstrom get a crack at the job. Well, he looked good Tuesday allowing only one goal in a 4-1 win over the Jets. He may not give you the most wins due to the team he plays on, but he should put up solid numbers in the other categories, if you need depth.

Ottawa Senators- Craig Anderson is still out with an ankle injury, and Ben Bishop has gotten most of the starts in his absence. But Robin Lehner has now started two of three. Lehner has lost both starts, but has looked very good in each, stopping 33 shots in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Islanders, and 44 in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Bruins. He’s only played ten games in his career prior to this season but in this small sample size, has shown he can keep the Senators in games.

Tampa Bay Lightning- Mathieu Garon Is day-to-day with lower body injury after leaving Monday’s game. He had lost four games in a row, prompting the switch back to Anders Lindback in net. Lindback has gone 1-1, but it’s interesting to see how this shakes up when Garon returns soon, since Lindback had been the starter, until the recent handful of starts in a row by Garon.  Cedrick Desjardins (2-0 in 2010-11) will back up Lindback for at least a game or two while Garon is out.

By Garrett Rees
Mid-Week Lite version for Week 7.

WEEKLY BREAKDOWN

Here is the weekly breakdown for this upcoming week, March 4 – March 10:

• 5 GAMES:  NJD
• 4 GAMES:  ANA, CBJ, CHI, COL, DET, EDM, FLA, LAK, MON, NYI, NYR, PHI, PHX, PIT, SJS, STL, TBL, TOR, WAS, WPG
• 3 GAMES:  BOS, BUF, CAR, CGY, MIN, NAS, VAN
• 2 GAMES:  DAL, OTT

Very busy week during Week 7 and yes, our first five gamer of the season! More than 2/3rds of the league are playing at least four games so there are going to be tons of options. Hopefully your team isn’t filled with Dallas and Ottawa players.  Here’s how the week breaks down per day:

• MON – 4 games
• TUES – 11 games
• WED – 4 games
• THU – 11 games
• FRI – 5 game
• SAT – 10 games
• SUN – 10 games

Turns out that Week 7 is almost identical to Week 6 but contains even more games on Wed., Thurs., Sat., and Sun.  Monday will see games of ANA@PHX, NAS@LAK, NJD@TOR, and TBL@PIT and Wednesday will have PHX@ANA, SJS@CGY, COL@CHI, and OTT@TOR so target these teams if you are in need of some help via the waiver-wire on what are again the slowest of days.  Like Week 6, you should have zero problems finding active players to fill your roster on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, or Sunday.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

These teams are playing all of their games on the road so be aware that fatigue may play a factor in their play:

BUF, DAL, EDM, MON, OTT, STL, WPG

HOME COOKING

These teams are playing all of their games at home this week so they should be rested and practicing:

CAR, LAK

B2B: BACKUPS TO SEE ACTION?

All of these teams are scheduled to play in back-to-back games this upcoming week, so there are good chances that these teams’ respective backup/alternate goaltenders could see some action:

CBJ, CGY, CHI, COL, DET, EDM, FLA, LAK, MIN, MON, NAS, NJDx2, NYI, NYR, PHI, PHX, PIT, SJSx2, STL, TBL, TOR, WAS, WPG

STRONG SCHEDULES

Now let’s take a look at a couple of the most favorable matchups of the week:

New Jersey Devils – Opponents: @TOR+TBL, BUF, @CAR+WPG – There’s no way a team that’s playing five games in one weak isn’t going to be on here. The players could definitely get warn down but five opportunities for your Devils to earn you points is too good to pass up.

Chicago Blackhawks – Opponents: MIN+COL, @COL, EDM – The record setting team can’t be beat and will be playing some beatable teams during Week 7. You know the drill already.

Anaheim Ducks - Opponents: @PHX, PHX, CGY, STL – Four games during the week with three of them on the three slowest nights can’t be too bad. Also, they have played only one game so far this season versus each of their three opponents but they have scored a total of 15 goals in those three games so the potential for points is definitely there.

WEAK SCHEDULES

...And the least favorable matchups of the week:

Dallas Stars – Opponents: @LOS, @PHX – Two games on two of the busiest nights during a week with a ton of games is no bueno. Get them in your lineup if you need them during Week 7 but this week’s schedule doesn’t look very hot.

Ottawa Senators – Opponents: @TOR, @NYR – While they are only playing two games, they are playing these games on some slower nights of the week. Get them out there on those two days if you need them but other than that you’re going to be out of luck with your Sens.

Minnesota Wild – Opponents: @CHI, @NAS-VAN – One of the lower scoring teams in the league will be playing three of the better defensive teams in the West. All three of these games will be on the busier nights of the week to boot. Be careful when starting your Wild in Week 7.

Good luck out there, everyone.  Hit me up on Twitter @G_Rees with any questions or comments.