Christmas came early for the Washington Capitals who finally stopped their losing streak at eight games. The Capitals went down 2-0 early to the Ottawa Senators on Sunday but fought their way back and won the game 3-2. Expect the Capitals to return to their old, high offense self now that the streak is over.
When dressing your team this week be sure to the check the schedule as there are no games on Friday or Saturday this week due to Christmas. Be sure not to dress any player from the Philadelphia Flyers or New York Rangers as they only play a single game this week.
Games to be played in week 12:
- Four Games: Atlanta, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Tampa Bay and Vancouver
- Three Games: Anaheim, Calgary, Carolina, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Edmonton, Florida, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Montreal, Nashville, New Jersey, NY Islanders, Phoenix and Washington
- Two Games: Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Colorado, Ottawa, San Jose and Toronto
- One Game: NY Rangers and Philadelphia
When it comes to dressing your players for the upcoming week, especially your goalies, it is important to know which team is on a long road trip and which team is enjoying an extended period at home. Listed below are the teams that play at least three home/away games this week or play all their games at home or on the road (home/road records up to December 20, 2010):
- HOME: Boston (8-5-3), Buffalo (7-9-1), Chicago (10-9-0), Colorado (10-4-1), Dallas (11-3-2), NY Rangers (8-8-1), Philadelphia (12-5-2), San Jose (8-4-3) and St. Louis (10-3-2)
- AWAY: Anaheim (6-9-3), Calgary (5-9-3), Edmonton (6-6-3), Florida (7-10-0), Montreal (7-7-0), Nashville (9-7-1), Phoenix (9-5-3), Tampa Bay (9-8-2) and Vancouver (7-5-2)
If you participate in any type of head-to-head hockey pool then you are likely dressing a lineup for each scoring period, which usually ends on Sunday. As the week comes to an end and you find yourself in a close battle for those wins you want as many players as possible playing for you. Here are the teams that play on Sunday (record for Sunday games up to but not including Week 12):
- Anaheim (3-3), Atlanta (2-1), Carolina (0-2), Chicago (3-1), Columbus (0-1), Dallas (1-0), Detroit (2-1), Edmonton (3-2), Los Angeles (0-2), Minnesota (1-1), Montreal (0-1), New Jersey (0-1), NY Islanders (0-2), Ottawa (1-1), Phoenix (2-2), Pittsburgh (0-0), St. Louis (2-0), Tampa Bay (0-2), Toronto (0-0), Vancouver (2-2) and Washington (4-1)
When you are deciding which goalie to dress you need to look at the NHL schedule to see if your goalie's team will play in a back-to-back game that week. Most coaches will not dress the same goalie in back-to-back games so that is something to consider when you are thinking about which goalie to dress for the week. Here are the teams that play in back-to-back games this week (record of second game of back-to-back up to but not including Week 12):
- Anaheim (3-5), Atlanta (2-6), Calgary (1-4), Detroit (2-2), Florida (1-5), Nashville (2-3), NY Islanders (1-5), Pittsburgh (5-1), St. Louis (4-3), Tampa Bay (4-3) and Vancouver (2-2)
Knowing which team is on a hot streak or cold streak will help in making your lineup decisions, for example you definitely want to dress a goalie from teams that are on a hot streak. Here are the top five and bottom five teams up to December 20, 2010:
- TOP FIVE: Nashville (8-1-1), Vancouver (8-1-1), Pittsburgh (8-2-0), Philadelphia (7-1-2) and Colorado (6-1-3)
- BOTTOM FIVE: New Jersey (2-8-0), Washington (2-6-2), NY Islanders (2-6-2), Columbus (2-5-3) and Minnesota (3-5-2)
Most elite stars are consistent scorers, but there are several players who are very streaky so keep an eye on their stats so that you can dress them while they are on a hot streak. Here are the top five scorers up to December 20, 2010 for the past 7 and 14 days:
- SKATER PAST 7: Matt Duchene-COLORADO (4GP 4G 3A), Tomas Fleischmann-COLORADO (4GP 4G 3A), Loui Eriksson-DALLAS (4GP 2G 4A), Jonathan Toews-CHICAGO (4GP 2G 4A) and Dustin Brown-LOS ANGELES (4GP 1G 5A)
- SKATER PAST 14: Matt Duchene-COLORADO (7GP 5G 5A), Ryane Clowe-SAN JOSE (8GP 4G 6A), Pavel Datsyuk-DETROIT (8GP 4G 6A), Corey Perry-ANAHEIM (7GP 4G 6A) and Tomas Fleischmann-COLORADO (7GP 5G 4A)
- GOALTENDERS PAST 14: Anders Lindback-NASHVILLE (7GS 5W 2SO 1.78 GAA), Brian Boucher-PHILADELPHIA (4GS 4W 1.22 GAA), Roberto Luongo-VANCOUVER (4GS 4W 1.95 GAA), Craig Anderson-COLORADO (7GS 6W) and Antero Niittymaki-SAN JOSE (3GS 3W)
Fantasy Hockey Coach Brouwer
"Because 2nd place is the 1st loser!"
http://fantasyhockeycoach.com
