As far as regular season games go, Blues versus the Blackhawks from last night was one of the best games I’ve seen in years and definitely the best from this year. The Blackhawks were incredible offensively scoring 5 goals in the first only for the Blues to tie it up in the 2nd period at 5! Then Vladimir Tarasenko took care of business in overtime to earn a big two points for St. Louis early in the season. Tarasenko, who ended with a goal, assist, one shot and +3 with a -13 Corsi, was one of 7 Blues and 11 players total in the game who had two points; that’s simply absurd.
Let’s take a deeper look at this game along with the other three games from Wednesday night:
Robby Fabbri – Goal, assist with five shots and +2 Corsi (tied for best among Blues forwards). I’d like to see him playing more than 11 minutes because he has a ton of offensive upside.
Jay Bouwmeester – Goal and assist with two shots, two PIM and a team worst -18 Corsi. It’s a shame his offensive game never developed as much as people expected when he was drafted. He’s a solid defenseman but is largely irrelevant in fantasy with the role that he has. He’ll lost his power play spot soon with Kevin Shattenkirk returning in the near term, possibly this weekend.
Alex Steen – Two goals on four shots with four PIM and -14 Corsi, worst among Blues forwards. While it’s discouraging that the top line for the Blues was dominated in terms of zone time for most of the game, it’s good to see these guys producing in their limited opportunities. St. Louis came into the game as the second best possession team in the league so it’s more of an outlier than anything. Being on the second of a back to back against a very good Chicago team didn’t help.
Alex Pietrangelo – Two assists with a shot, +3 Corsi. He had four offensive zone starts and ten defensive zone starts so ending up with a positive Corsi is impressive. However, this is a regular split for Pietrangelo which caps his offensive upside for fantasy purposes.
David Backes – Goal and assist with two shots and 2 PIM, +2 Corsi. Finally starting to get rolling giving the Blues some support for the top line. Love Backes’ game, especially in leagues that count hits, blocks and PIM.
Colton Parayko – Two assists and four shots. What else is there to say about him on top of all I’ve said the last week plus? Looks to be this year’s big waiver find for defenseman.
Jake Allen – 27 saves on 28 shots in the win in relief of Brian Elliott (11 saves on 15 shots). Looking more and more like Allen’s show going forward for the Blues.
Brent Seabrook – Goal and assist with four shots. I’d ride Seabrook for the time being and when Duncan Keith is close to returning, sell immediately.
Marko Dano – Goal and three shots. My favorite preseason sleeper, Dano finally got the recall to Chicago (why he was down to start, I have no idea) and looked good in the offensive zone. He only played 9 minutes but I’m still grabbing him in 12’ers. His upside is enormous and it should only be a matter of time until he plays his way into the top 6.
Teuvo Teravainen – Goal, assist, two shots and 2 PIM, +5 Corsi. A multi point streamer call, woohoo! He almost played 20 minutes so I’m adding him everywhere I can.
Patrick Kane – Goal, assist, five shots and 2 PIM. Not much to see here, we know Kane is that good.
Corey Crawford – 23 saves on 29 shots. Yikes. He had been great to start the year; chalk it up to one tough start against a top notch team.
Bryan Little – Shorthanded goal, assist, and three shots. The most underrated line in hockey keeps rolling. It’s strange that Little and Blake Wheeler (two assists and two shots) have been great to start the year but Andrew Ladd (three shots) hasn’t been keeping up with them points wise. This situation reminds me of Patrick Sharp in Dallas; it’s only a matter of time until Ladd gets rolling. He’s a great trade target.
Nikolaj Ehlers – No points but +2 and three shots with a +9 Corsi, best on the team. Minutes are starting to creep up into the middle to upper teens and his line is one of the best possession lines in the league so far so he can even improve on his excellent start to his NHL career.
Mark Scheifele – Goal on 2 shots, +3. The other linemate, Mathieu Perreault, had two assists. The top 6 for Winnipeg is rolling right now; if for some reason either of these two are on your waivers, I’d look to grab them except in the shallowest of leagues.
Dustin Byfuglien – Goal, five shots, 2 PIM and +6 Corsi. Big Buff doing Big Buff things.
Joffrey Lupul – -3 and zeros across the board otherwise. Only right to call myself out on a horrible stream call after giving myself credit for Teravainen. Yikes.
Nazem Kadri – Two shots and a -2. I put him here because he has 1 goal on 48 shots this year which is absurd. He’s going to get on a hot streak very soon so I’d see if he’s available in your league and grab him, at the least to stream.
David Perron – Goal on his own shot with 2 PIM. Only played 12:40. It’s nice he gets to play with an elite center but he’s not with them on the power play. He’s fringe in a 12’er; I’d rather look to stream him in good matchups than hold him.
Phil Kessel – Two assists, two shots, two PIM and a team best +6 Corsi. I still feel like the Penguins offense is going to breakout in a massive way soon.
Sidney Crosby – Goal on three shots. So strange to see him with only 6 points at this point in the year. Again, this shouldn’t last.
Roberto Luongo – 37 saves on 39 shots in the shootout loss to Anaheim. Great game from Luongo spoiled by Corey Perry (goal on two shots and 2 PIM) scoring with 6 seconds left. He looks great though so I’m looking to acquire Luongo. Perry is starting to show signs of life which I’ve talked about for a couple weeks.
Chris Stewart – Goal and two shots plus the shootout winner. He’s super streaky but I still don’t want anything to do with him.
Fredrik Andersen – 23 saves on 25 shots and the win. Looked like he was going to be a hard luck loser again with the lack of goal support but Perry saved the day. He’s another goalie I’m looking to acquire where possible.
Thursday Streamers: There’s a big 9 game schedule on Thursday so there shouldn’t be much need for streaming but just in case you need them, here are some top options:
Carl Soderberg (27.5% owned) – Playing with Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene plus the first power play unit, Soderberg also gets an outstanding matchup against the Coyotes. You won’t find a better spot than this for Soderberg.
Tobias Rieder (25.3%) – A great spot going against Colorado (that game should be high scoring) and he’s getting huge minutes lately.
Dustin Brown (15.8%) – Still playing on the top line and hasn’t scored a goal on 44 shots. Like Kadri, regression towards the mean is inevitable and the Kings are going against a Columbus team they should dominate in terms of possession.
That’s all for now. I’ll be back on Friday with a recap of the big Thursday slate. As always, feel free to post any comments or questions below. Take care everyone!
