October 22, 2013

Dobber Sports

2013-10-22

If you're not a fan of goal scoring, then Monday was the night for you.

 

Colorado beat Pittsburgh 1-0 in game that figured to be high scoring, but produced next to nothing. Sidney Crosby had a season high seven shots, but was held pointless for the first time all year.

 

Chris Kunitz saw his four-game point streak snapped.

 

Chris Conner played just under nine minutes for the Pens in his second game after being called up. He skated in over 12 minutes on Saturday, so his ice-time was cut slightly.

 

Matt Niskanen on the other hand received 21 minutes and over eight of those came with the man advantage. He seems to getting increased opportunities while Kris Letang remains sidelined.

 

Marc-Andre Fleury suffered his first loss of the year despite Colorado only putting up 14 shots.

 

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Jean-Sebastien Giguere recorded the shutout after making 34 stops. He has three wins in as many starts this year and two of those have been shutouts. Giguere has now stopped 101-of-103 shots he has faced so far on the campaign.

 

Jan Hejda was solid for the Avs putting up four hits and six blocks in over 27 minutes of ice-time. Hejda also played nearly nine of those minutes on the penalty kill.

 

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San Jose defeated Detroit in a shootout in another contest that lacked goals.

 

The Wings were able to slow down the Sharks high-powered offense though as they held Patrick Marleau without a point for the first time this season and snapped Joe Pavelski's four game point streak.

 

The Sharks were without Brent Burns in this one because of an injury to his mouth that he aggravated recently. He should be back for San Jose's next game.

 

Antti Niemi had the shutout and clinched it with this spectacular stop in the shootout against Todd Bertuzzi.

 

 

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Niklas Kronvall is still out for the Red Wings and Jonathan Ericsson missed the game because his wife was in labor, so Xavier Ouellet played his first NHL game and saw over 17 minutes of action.

 

Danny DeKeyser also saw over 21 minutes and posted four shots, two hits, and three blocks.

 

Jimmy Howard had a much needed solid performance stopping all 27 shots he faced. After a rough outing on Saturday against Phoenix and with Jonas Gustavsson playing so strong last week, Howard restored a bit of confidence for his owners.

 

Pavel Datsyuk saw his five-game point streak snapped.

 

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Karri Ramo got his second straight start for Calgary in their 3-2 win over the Kings on Monday. He stopped all 24 even strength shots he faced, but gave up a power play goal and a shorthanded marker. The net is still up for grabs between Ramo and Joey MacDonald in Calgary.

 

Sean Monahan found the back of the net once again. How can the Flames even think of sending this guy down?

 

Jiri Hudler picked up two assists and quietly has points in every game so far this season.

 

Mark Giordano also chipped in with two helpers and played nearly 29 minutes. He now has five points in his last four games.

 

Mike Cammalleri looked good in his first game of the year, scoring a goal and an assist.

 

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Slava Voynov is still stuck on three points this year. This might be a good time to buy low on the young blueliner who was supposed to be in for a big year.

 

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The Sharks have acquired Mike Brown from the Edmonton Oilers for a fourth round pick in next year's draft. Brown doesn't have much fantasy value, unless your league has 'punches to the face' as a category.

 

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Michael Grabner was suspended two games for his hit on Nathan Gerbe and Cody McLeod received five games for hitting Niklas Kronvall.

 

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Jordan Schroeder has a foot injury and has been sent back to Vancouver to have it further examined.

 

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You can add Chris Kreider's name to the list that may benefit from injuries to Ryan Callahan and Rick Nash. Kreider was reportedly skating with Brad Richards and Derek Stepan Monday at Rangers practice.

 

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There's something interesting going on with the Sedins in Vancouver right now. Normally Daniel and Henrik feed off one another to produce points, but at the moment one is on fire, while the other is slumping. Daniel is struggling with just one assist in his last four games, yet Henrik has points in five straight contests. This isn't likely to continue for very much longer as Daniel is destined to factor in the scoring if Henrik keeps up this pace. However, it's worth noting that Vancouver seems to be using the points more early in this season and the blueliners may be vulturing a point or two away from Daniel.

 

The Canucks have 26 points from their defensemen this year and Jason Garrison ranks second in the league with nine. All six of their D-Men have at least two points so far in 2013-14 and Henrik's last two assists came on goals scored by defensemen.

 

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Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane have just one point combined in the last four games. Both guys are heavily relied upon in fantasy, so it's a blow to plenty of rosters out there right now. Hopefully their troubles finding the scoresheet doesn't last long, but in the meantime you might want to give Brandon Pirri a look. The youngster was recently called up and now has three points in his last two games. If he cools off he could be sent back down to the AHL, but he's a nice short-term option at the very least.

 

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As shocking as picking up a Philadelphia Flyers goalie sounds, Steve Mason isn't a bad option right now. Philly has struggled mightily this season, but Mason has played well. He's sporting a .924 save percentage and hasn't given up more than three goals in a game so far on the campaign. Mason actually had a .944 save percentage in seven games with the Flyers late last year as well. It's too early to say he's regained the form he had from his rookie season, but these are encouraging signs.

 

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Lubomir Visnovsky has been placed on injured reserve with a concussion. Look for the Islanders to increase the minutes of Travis Hamonic and Andrew MacDonald in Visnovsky's absence.

 

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Brandon Prust will be sidelined for around a month because of a shoulder injury. The Montreal Canadiens have called up Michael Blunden and Patrick Holland to fill in.

 

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Roman Hamrlik, who believe it or not was once a first overall pick, officially announced his retirement on Monday.

 

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Dustin Penner suffered a head injury on Sunday against the Dallas Stars and could miss some time. According to the team, he was briefly knocked out. Ryan Garbutt is facing a hearing because of the hit.

 

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Solid post here by Justin Bourne on what shooters are trying to do in the shootouts.

 

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Kari Lehtonen has been activated off injured reserve by the Dallas Stars and Jack Campbell has been sent back down to the AHL.

 

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Patrik Elias will miss his second straight game on Tuesday due to an illness.

 

 

Michael Amato is an Associate Editor for DobberHockey and a News Editor for theScore. You can follow him on Twitter at @amato_mike

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