Posted by Tim Kavanagh, Special to ESPN.com
Although eight games filled the schedule on Thursday night, the lion's share of fantasy riches came from the two games taking place in the Keystone State.
In Pittsburgh, the outcome of the game was never really in question as the Penguins got up early on the Islanders and kept their foot on the gas winning by the video game-esque score of 9-2. Joey MacDonald looked lost for the Isles, as the first Penguins goal came from a long shot by Pascal Dupuis that trickled by MacDonald. He was later bested on equally long shots by Philippe Boucher and Petr Sykora. Yann Danis came on at the start of the second period with his best fireman's outfit, but could not quell the flames of the Penguins onslaught, and ended the game allowing five goals against himself.
AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar
It took Petr Sykora 871 games to record his first NHL hat trick.
By game's end, both Dupuis and Sykora had registered hat tricks, and for the latter, it ends the NHL record streak for most two-goal-games without a hat trick from the start of a player's career. (He had 38 two-goal games before Thursday's hat trick.) Since Sykora is such a pure scorer, he will sometimes go a few games without a point (he's had two three-game pointless streaks this season in 26 games played) but then make up for it with an outburst like this. That makes his owners in head-to-head leagues ride the proverbial rollercoaster of production. Dupuis is not recommended to add in any format, as the three goals doubled his season total in his 26 game this season, and he is prolific in neither penalty minutes nor hits.
One Penguin who is still underowned is defenseman Alex Goligoski, whose point-scoring keeps him in the top 10 for rookies, but whose contributions in plus-minus and average ice-time can pay great dividends to those hurting in those categories. Now that Boucher has returned, it might signal a bit of a letdown in ice-time, but given Boucher's recent injury track record, his time on active duty might be limited.
While the Penguins were lighting up the Islanders, their cross-state rivals were having the same done to them by the Hurricanes. However, despite of a 5-1 cushion going into the third period, Michael Leighton and the Canes were unable to withstand the Flyers' third-period barrage that forced a shootout, which Philly won. This was not a fun game for Leighton or Antero Niittymaki owners, to say the least, as they finished with .865 and .839 save percentages, respectively.
On the other hand, this game was lovely for owners of Scott Hartnell. Scoring the lone Flyer goal in the second period, Hartnell backed that up with two more in the third. He also finished with two hits, one of which sparked a tussle with Casey Borer in the first period, with Borer emerging much worse afterward. Also for the Flyers, Andrew Alberts retained his status of mediocre production, with two assists and four penalty minutes. Alberts will not score very much, but for those owners who use the defenseman slots to fill up their tertiary categories, the Minnesota native is a force in penalty minutes, with 265 in 210 career games, and will also help out in plus-minus.
While Eric Staal had a three-point night, he'll need about six more of those in the short term to satisfy all the disgruntled fantasy owners with torches outside his castle. The player who you should take away from this game is Tuomo Ruutu. While Staal's 19 points this season have been a great disappointment, linemate Ruutu's 18 have put him on a pace to shatter his career best. Moreover, while the penalty minutes will come at a little over a one-per-game pace and his hitting prowess will keep him on the first page of that stat sheet, Ruutu has still retained a role on the power play, a unit that should benefit from the new regime of coach Paul Maurice and assistant Ron Francis.
The irresistible force meets the immovable object Saturday afternoon in Philly, so rest your goalies and make sure to activate all your big guns for that one.
Ice Chips
One of the lone bright spots for the Isles continues to be Mark Streit, who is tied for fifth among NHL defensemen with 21 points, 15 of which have come on the power play. He's slightly behind his career-best pace of 62 points from last season, but he's performing much better than both his preseason rank and his average draft position. There's no reason to think he'll drop off the pace at all, but see if you can work a trade for someone with a better plus-minus, because that minus-7 hurts so bad. … My mind continues to be boggled as to the low ownership percentage of Craig Anderson. After 15 games played (13 of them starts), he leads the league in save percentage, and is second in goals-against average and shutouts after blanking the Oilers on Thursday. I refuse to believe that at least one owner in those 70.5 percent of ESPN leagues where he's unowned can't find something to do with that. … At the other end of the ownership spectrum is Evgeni Nabokov, whom we expected to dominate. Another shutout gives him 41 for his career, and he's now 16-2-1 on the season. With Nabokov rolling, any Shark on your waiver wire is a good pickup if you need plus-minus help. … Carlos Colaiacovo picked up his first goal of the season, but the story in Los Angeles on Friday is all about Dustin Brown. With a hat trick against St. Louis, Brown now has an even 20 points to go along with 96 hits and 130 shots, good for fourth and second in the league, respectively. If Brown can continue to convert on more of those shots, he will catapult himself to the upper echelon of fantasy forwards. The window to trade for him before this happens is rapidly shutting. … Even with a new regime fully in place for several weeks, the Lightning are still going to live and die by the production of Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier. The former had two goals and the latter added a goal and an assist in Thursday's win over Montreal. The third-best scorers on the team (Vaclav Prospal and Mark Recchi) are eight points behind St. Louis. As such, stay away from any 'Ning unless they're slotted on the line with the dynamic duo. … After getting hammered by the Blackhawks 7-1 on Sunday, Ilya Bryzgalov recovered nicely with two wins in two days, stopping 30 of 31 shots Thursday to tame the Wild. Phoenix will face the Red Wings on Saturday, but follow that up with softball opponents -- Dallas, Nashville and Columbus -- next week, so feel safe re-activating him once they start that easy streak.
