It’s isn’t rare for a goalie to steal a game in the NHL. That said, I don’t think anyone does it more than Roberto Luongo does. Luongo puts up crazy 35 save performances with regularity and on Monday, Luongo posted a 39 save shutout against the Lightning, winning 1-0 on an Aaron Ekblad goal with 21 seconds left (I told you to target him yesterday!) The Panthers were outshot 39-20, the Corsi was 55-34* Tampa and had only one player have a positive Corsi in the game, yet Luongo shut down the Lightning and stole two points for the Panthers. His numbers on the season are about what you’d expect, winning half the time but with a solid goals against average and an elite save percentage. His owners have to be happy so far with his overall performance and thrilled with the great start to the week.
Here’s what else happened on Monday night:
*All Corsi stats in this article are provided from War on Ice
Brock Nelson – Goal and an assist on two shots, +5 Corsi. I told you to stream him yesterday here so hopefully you did! If you did stream him, I’d hold onto him for now and I’d grab him everywhere you can. As long as he’s on John Tavares‘ line (up next), he’s going to produce.
John Tavares – Two goals and an assist with four shots, 0 Corsi. Finally, the big game his owners have been waiting for. That quickly he’s up to 17 points in 16 games. Definitely top 10 going forward.
Kyle Okposo – Three goals and three shots, +4 Corsi. The first line killed it Monday night. The shot rate isn’t where it normally is but it’s still acceptable and he has 16 points in 19 games. Keep rolling him.
Frans Nielsen – Goal and an assist with five shots, +4 Corsi. I said yesterday that I grabbed Nielsen where he’s available here. What are you waiting for? Eh, wait a minute, read the rest of the article first.
Johnny Boychuk – Assist with two shots and two PIM, -10 Corsi. A rare bad game in real life by his standards as he usually dominates the puck possession but he still contributed to fantasy owners. Big fan of Boychuk going forward.
Jaroslav Halak – 31 saves on 33 shots in the win. With a GAA under 2 and sv% at ,927, he’s extremely unlucky to be 5-4-1. The wins will be coming.
Martin Hanzal – Goal on five shots, +3 Corsi. Having an incredible season with 17 points in 16 games. His previous high in a season is 40 points (in 65 games) so even though he should break that total with relative ease, don’t expect him to keep up this pace.
Ryan Getzlaf – Goal and an assist with one shot, -7 Corsi. Not a great performance by Getzlaf he salvaged it with an empty netter. Hopefully that gets him going; I’d try to buy low if I could.
Carl Hagelin – Goal and two assists, two shots and two PIM, -3 Corsi. The Ducks third line won them the game tonight as Shawn Horcoff (goal and assist, three shots and two PIM) and Andrew Cogliano (two assists and two shots) took advantage of their opportunities. Horcoff is fantasy irrelevant at this point in his career. Hagelin and Cogliano can be decent streamers in deep leagues but won’t carry much value barring an injury to a Duck in the top 6.
Anton Khudobin – 24 saves on 25 shots in the win. He’s a solid streamer but not ownable in 12’ers since he doesn’t start much.
Justin Faulk – Assist and four shots. Somehow he was -4 in a 4-1 loss and he did two things that are extremely unlikely; the fact that he was -4 considering the assist was at even strength (he made the pass but then went off the ice so no +1) or that he did that with a positive Corsi rating. He’s been great for his owners so far but -12 is rough.
Noah Hanifin – First career goal on his only shot, +3 Corsi. He’s an amazing talent at 18 years old and should blossom into a first pairing defenseman sooner rather than later. That said, he won’t have much value in 12’ers this year barring an injury to Faulk. If you’re in deep leagues or a dynasty, Hanifin should be on your radar.
Daniel Sedin – Goal and five shots, -2 Corsi. He’s up to 17 points in 19 games and almost four shots per game; everything looks great.
Jared McCann – Goal on two shots, -4 Corsi. It was nice to see him on the first power play unit; he belongs there with all of his talent. He’s up to 6 goals this year but he isn’t getting more than 13-14 minutes so it’s hard to own him in 12’ers.
Tomas Fleischmann – Goal and an assist with three shots, +2 Corsi. Still only streaming him in 12’ers until his minutes increase.
Max Pacioretty – Goal on eight shots, +5 Corsi. That’s five straight games with a point and four straight games with at least 6 shots. Times are good for Patches owners.
P.K. Subban – Assist with four shots and two PIM, +7 Corsi. The assists look great and with one goal on 48 shots, the goals will be coming.
Gustav Nyqvist – Goal and an assist with three shots, -1 Corsi. The Red Wings top 6 is absolutely loaded with the return of Pavel Datsyuk (+8 Corsi, 2 shots) so expect these guys to take off soon.
Tomas Tatar – Goal on three shots, +5 Corsi. I keep saying that he’s going to get rolling and he’s getting a point every game.
Mike Green – Two assists and three shots. Starting to show some signs of life finally.
Dylan Larkin – Goal and two shots, two PIM, +6 Corsi. His goal was a thing of beauty, absolutely torching Erik Karlsson and banking it in off Craig Anderson. Looked great on Datsyuk’s wing; he’s up to 12 points with 12 PIM and +12. Great stuff.
Mike Hoffman – Goal and an assist with three shots, +8 Corsi. That’s 14 points in 14 games for the Hoff. I love it when I’m right!
Bryan Little – Goal on four shots, +9 Corsi when the Corsi was 38-28 Blues. When the first line was off the ice for the Jets, they were an absolute disaster; when they were on, they played great. I still think they’re the most underrated line in hockey.
David Backes – Two goals and an assist with three shots, +3 Corsi. He got a shot on the first line and showed why he’s a star and can produce offensively when placed in that role. A hot streak is coming if he sticks there.
Kevin Shattenkirk – Two assists with a shot, +3 Corsi. He’s another guy with a hot streak coming.
Vladimir Tarasenko – Goal and an assist on four shots, +3 Corsi. It’s almost surprising when Tarasenko doesn’t score a goal at this point.
Tuesday Streamers: There are eight games on Tuesday so there are plenty of options to choose from to stream. Here are my top picks:
Joffrey Lupul (30.3% owned) – A little higher owned than most of my streamer calls but if he’s available, he’s my top option. He’s taking a ton of shots and the Leafs should control the puck possession game against the Avalanche.
Tanner Pearson (5.5%) – Talked about him the last few recaps but to reiterate, he’s on the top line right now and top power play unit. The Kings should dominate the Flyers giving Pearson ample opportunity.
Mattias Janmark (0.7%) – He’s been moved up to the second line on Jason Spezza‘s wing and the second power play unit. The Stars should control the game against the Stars so look for Janmark to get on the scoreboard.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Wednesday with a recap of Tuesday’s games. As always, feel free to ask any questions and leave any comments below. Take care everyone!
