I’m in Las Vegas and just getting ready to see the Golden Knights take on the Colorado Avalanche in what should be a great game. I’m also sticking around Sunday for the Anaheim game. Read more about the Colorado-Vegas game in the Saturday Dose.
Don’t forget, for everything NHL, check out Rotoworld’s Player News, and follow @Rotoworld_ HK and @mfinewaxhockey on Twitter.
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WEEK OF OCTOBER 28-NOVEMBER 3
4 Games - Calgary, Vancouver
3 Games – Anaheim, Arizona, Buffalo, Carolina, Chicago, Colorado, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Edmonton, Florida, Minnesota, Montreal, Nashville, New Jersey, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Jose, Tampa Bay, Washington, Winnipeg
2 Games – Boston, Los Angeles, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Vegas
1 Game - Ottawa
Calgary plays all four games on the road.
Anaheim, Carolina and Nashville play three games at home.
Chicago, Edmonton, Montreal, Tampa Bay, Vancouver and Winnipeg play three games on the road this week.
INJURIES
Mikko Rantanen is out for a while with a lower-body injury. (Click here to see the rest of the injury list.)
Note: A tired team is one that has played the day or night before and is going against a team that did not play the previous day or night. The reverse is true for a rested team.
ANAHEIM
Games this week
vs. Winnipeg, vs. Vancouver, vs. Chicago
Rested Team: vs. Chicago (Sunday)
Tired Team: None
Notes
John Gibson continued his stellar play this season as he gave up two goals on 29 shots Thursday to Dallas. Unfortunately, the Ducks only scored once and Gibson’s record dropped to 4-5-0 with a 2.23 GAA and a .927 save percentage. Maxime Comtois scored his first of the season Thursday. He had two points in six games but could have some fantasy value after picking up seven points last season in only 10 games. Jakob Silfverberg leads the Ducks with five goals and eight points. Nick Ritchie has a goal and three assists but leads the Ducks with 20 penalty minutes.
ARIZONA
Games this week
@ Buffalo, vs. Montreal, vs. Colorado
Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None
Notes
Clayton Keller has yet to find the back of the net in nine games but has seven assists. The team-leader in points is Nick Schmaltz with three goals and nine points in nine games. The Coyotes had major problems scoring last season but have 26 in nine games thus far. As usual, they are getting solid goaltending from Darcy Kuemper (4-3-0 with a 1.87 GAA and a.934 save percentage) and it helps they now have a solid backup in Antti Raanta who is 1-0-1 with a 2.43 GAA and a .926 save percentage. Kyle Capobianco scored his first NHL goal on October 19th in only his sixth NHL game. The defenseman is highly regarded by the Coyotes.
BOSTON
Games this week
vs. San Jose, vs. Ottawa
Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None
Notes
David Pastrnak had an awesome week and was named the first star of the week as he had seven goals and two assists in three games. Included in that effort was a four-goal game against Anaheim. Pastrnak has eight goals and 11 points in his last four games and leads the NHL with 10 goals. David Krejci has missed the last three games with an upper-body injury but is close to returning. The Bruins have played nine games and while Brad Marchand is tied for the lead in penalty minutes with Sean Kuroly, Charlie McAvoy and Zdeno Chara, they have only six minutes apiece. Tuukka Rask is off to a great start and a reason could be is that Jaroslav Halak has started four of the nine games, giving Rask plenty of rest. Rask is 4-1-0 with a 1.77 GAA and a .944 save percentage.
BUFFALO
Games this week
vs. Arizona, @ Washington, vs. New York Islanders
Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None
Notes
Jimmy Vesey suffered an upper-body injury Thursday against his former New York Ranger teammates and did not return. The Sabres are getting great production from a couple of young first round picks and that does not even include Jack Eichel who leads the team in points with 14 in 11 games. Rasmus Dahlin, the 19-year-old sophomore sensation on the blueline, has a goal and 10 points in 11 games while Casey Mittelstadt, who struggled mightily as a rookie last season, has three goals and seven points in 11 contests. Evan Rodrigues has sat out the last four games as a healthy scratch. Carter Hutton was the third star of the week with a pair of shutouts in his two games played. He stopped 70 shots in the process but will not be considered this week after giving up six goals on 24 shots to the Rangers in a loss.
CALGARY
Games this week
@ Carolina, @ Nashville, @ Columbus, @ Washington
Rested Team: @ Columbus (Saturday)
Tired Team: @ Washington (Sunday)
Notes
The Flames are on the road for all four games and play three games in four nights. David Rittich will likely start three games with Cam Talbot playing once. Rittich has started nine of Calgary’s 12 games and despite his 5-3-1 record, he has not been kind to his fantasy owners with a 3.06 GAA and .901 save percentage. Tobias Rieder finally snapped a 75-game goalless drought on Tuesday with a marker. He was rewarded by being a healthy scratch Thursday. Sam Bennett returned to action Thursday after missing two games with a lower-body injury and scored his second of the season. Matthew Tkachuk had a pair of goals Thursday and leads the Flames in pints with 10.
CAROLINA
Games this week
vs. Calgary, vs. Detroit, vs. New Jersey,
Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None
Notes
Petr Mrazek is another goaltender who has disappointed fantasy owners despite his 4-1-1 record. Mrazek has a 2.86 GAA and a .888 save percentage. Backup James Reimer is only 2-2-0 but his peripherals are a lot better than Mrazek, especially with a .918 save percentage. Dougie Hamilton leads the Hurricanes with 11 points. His six goals are second on the team only to Erik Haula’s seven markers. Sebastian Aho is showing signs of ending his slump as he has two goals in his last four games. The young center led the Canes with 83 points last season but has only three goals and four points in 10 games. Andrei Svechnikov has a five-game pointless drought. He has eight points in 10 games with all his points coming in four multi-point games.
CHICAGO
Games this week
@ Nashville, @ Los Angeles, @ Anaheim
Rested Team: None
Tired Team: @ Anaheim (Sunday)
Notes
Dylan Strome is off to a bit of a slow start with only four points in eight games. The trade with Arizona is not looking as great as it did last season as Strome is slumping, Brendan Perlini has been in the press box for all but one game, and Nick Schmaltz is thriving in Arizona where he leads the team in points. That being said, it is still early. Duncan Keith has only two assists in eight games while long-time Blackhawk defenseman Brent Seabrook has only one goal in eight games. Patrick Kane leads the team with eight points. Kirby Dach, the third overall pick in 2019 is making a case for himself to remain in the NHL past the nine-game mark which would trigger using up the first year of his entry level deal. It is something to keep an eye on.
COLORADO
Games this week
vs. Florida, vs. Dallas, @ Arizona
Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None
Notes
The Avalanche play three games in four nights so expect to see Philipp Grubauer to play at twice with Pavel Francouz playing once. The Avs received some bad news this week when Mikko Rantanen suffered a lower-body injury Monday (likely his ankle) and is considered week-to-week. Joonas Donskoi will get the first opportunity to play alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog on Colorado’s vaunted first line. Coach Jared Bednar said that no decision had been made as to who would play with the duo but Donskoi was with them in practice Wednesday. Colorado became the last team to lose in regulation when they dropped a 3-1 decision to the Blues. They are currently 7-1-1.
COLUMBUS
Games this week
vs. Edmonton, @ St. Louis, vs. Calgary
Rested Team: vs. Edmonton (Wednesday)
Tired Team: vs. Calgary (Saturday)
Notes
The Blue Jackets play three games in four nights so look for Elvis Merzlikins to play once with Joonas Korpisalo getting the call twice. Congratulations to Nick Foligno who played in his 500th game Thursday for the Chicago Blackhawks after starting his NHL career with 351 games with Ottawa. Pierre-Luc Dubois is playing through an injury that does not allow him to take any faceoffs. The Blue Jackets beat the Maple Leafs in overtime Monday as Gustav Nyquist scored on a penalty shot. It is only the 16th time in NHL history that a game has ended in overtime on a penalty shot. Alexander Wennberg has two goals in 10 games, the same amount of goals as in 2018-19 when he played in 75 contests.
DALLAS
Games this week
vs. Minnesota, @ Colorado, vs. Montreal
Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None
Notes
Denis Gurianov finally broke loose this season with both goals in a 2-1 win over Anaheim Thursday. Ben Bishop was in form with 29 saves and is 3-4-1 with a 2.38 GAA and a .920 save percentage. The Stars got off to a horrible start but are fighting their way back into contention as they have won three in a row to move to 4-7-1. The Stars need their stars to start performing offensively as Tyler Seguin has only two goals and six points in 12 games while Alexander Radulov has only a goal and three helpers. Jamie Benn is not much better with a goal and five points. Roope Hintz leads the way with six goals and seven points while defenseman Miro Heiskanen is off to a great start as the 20-year-old has three goals and six points.
