The New Jersey Devils find themselves in unfamiliar territory this season. The Devils who are usually a Stanley Cup contender and can be found near the top of the standings each season is currently sitting 14th overall in the Eastern Conference and 28th overall in the NHL. What is more surprising is the fact that the Devils have yet to win a game at home this season! New Jersey only plays two games this week but both are home games so could this be the week they finally get a win for the home fans? Let's see what other plays are head in this weeks Fantasy Hockey Schedule.
Games to be played in week six:
- Four Games: Anaheim, Atlanta, Edmonton, Phoenix, Tampa Bay and Washington
- Three Games: Boston, Buffalo, Calgary, Carolina, Chicago, Colorado, Detroit, Florida, Minnesota, Montreal, Islanders, Rangers, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, San Jose, St. Louis, Toronto and Vancouver
- Two Games: Columbus, Dallas, Los Angeles, Nashville, New Jersey 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 all their games at home or on the road (minimum two games) and their home/road records up to November 6, 2010:
- HOME: Columbus (4-3-0), Detroit (4-1-1), Los Angeles (5-0-0), New Jersey (0-5-1), Rangers (2-3-1) and San Jose (2-2-1)
- AWAY: Calgary (2-3-0), Dallas (3-1-0), Edmonton (1-2-2), Minnesota (1-1-1), Islanders (2-6-1) and Vancouver (2-3-1)
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):
- Anaheim (1-0), Atlanta (0-0), Chicago (0-0), Edmonton (1-0), Minnesota (0-0), Rangers (1-0), Tampa Bay (0-1) and Washington (0-0)
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):
- Anaheim (1-2), Atlanta (1-3), Boston (1-0), Buffalo (1-3), Calgary (1-0), Chicago (2-1), Colorado (1-1), Dallas (1-0), Edmonton (1-0), Florida (0-1), Minnesota (0-2), Islanders (1-1), Phoenix (0-3), Pittsburgh (2-0), St. Louis (1-0), Tampa Bay (2-0), Toronto (0-0), Washington (1-1)
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 November 6, 2010:
- TOP FIVE: Los Angeles (8-2-0), Detroit (7-2-1), St. Louis (7-1-2), Washington (7-3-0) and Boston (7-3-0)
- BOTTOM FIVE: Buffalo (2-7-1), Edmonton (2-6-2), New Jersey (3-7-0), Islanders (3-6-1) and Toronto (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 November 6, 2010 for the past 7 and 14 days:
- SKATER PAST 7: Loui Eriksson-DAL (3GP 4G 4A), Alex Ovechkin-WAS (3GP 3G 4A), Brad Richards-DAL (3GP 3G 3A), Mike Green-WAS (3GP 3G 3A) and Alex Semin-WAS (3GP 3G 3A)
- SKATER PAST 14: Joe Thornton-SAN (6GP 3G 8A), Brandon Dubinsky-NYR (8GP 7G 3A), Loui Eriksson-DAL (6GP 5G 5A), Ryan Callahan-NYR (7GP 4G 6A) and Claude Giroux-PHI (7GP 4G 6A)
- GOALTENDERS PAST 14: Jaroslav Halak-STL (4GS 4W 3SO), Mathieu Garon-CLB (3GS 3W 2SO), Roberto Luongo-VAN (3GS 3W 1SO), Jonathan Quick-LOS (5GS 5W 1SO) and Sergei Bobrovsky-PHI (5GS 5W)
