Fantasy Hockey Schedule Week 18: Are the Caps on the Right Path?

The Washington Capitals have changed their system to focus more on defense in order to be more successful during the playoffs but will that shift pay off? During the month of December the Capitals finished with a record of 5-6-3, which included an eight game losing streak. Washington followed up December with a 5-3-4 record in January and sit in fifth spot overall in the Eastern Conference. The Capitals were shutout three times in January and only scored two or fewer goals in seven of the 12 games. This new system has fantasy players so frustrated as they drafted Capitals expecting a lot of offense. Alexander Ovechkin scored just nine points and Nicklas Backstrom scored ten points in the month of January. Only time will tell if the Capitals are on the right path to the Stanley Cup.

Here is some great information for helping you to decide who to dress for the upcoming fantasy hockey week.

Aaron Brouwer is the co-creator of www.fantasyhockeycoach.com.  FHC is a free fantasy hockey service that developed a ranking system combining post-lockout statistics, current factors and our own hockey knowledge.  Brouwer writes about the Calgary Flames on Bleacher Report. You can contact Coach Brouwer at [e-mail].

Games to Be Played in Week 18:

Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

PITTSBURGH, PA - JANUARY 08: Kris Letang #58 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates with the puck against the Minnesota Wild on January 8, 2011 at CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)

Four Games: Montreal, New Jersey and Pittsburgh

Three Games: Atlanta, Boston, Calgary, Carolina, Colorado, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Edmonton, Florida, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Nashville, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Jose, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington

Two Games: Anaheim, Buffalo and Chicago

Home and Away Games

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

RALEIGH, NC - JANUARY 29: Loui Eriksson #21 of the Dallas Stars shoots against Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens in the accuracy shooting part of the Honda NHL SuperSkills competition part of 2011 NHL All-Star Weekend at the RBC Center on January

When it comes to dressing your players for the upcoming week, especially your goalies, it is important to know which team is on a long road trip and which team is enjoying an extended period at home. Listed below are the teams that play at least three home/away games this week or play all their games at home or on the road (home/road records up to January 27, 2011):

HOME: Montreal (16-6-4) and Tampa Bay (16-4-2)

AWAY: Chicago (10-7-4), Florida (11-14-0) and Los Angeles (10-13-0)

Games On Sunday

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TORONTO, CANADA - JANUARY 22: Mike Green #52 of the Washington Capitals shoots during warmup before game action at the Air Canada Centre January 22, 2011 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Abelimages/Getty Images)

If you participate in any type of head-to-head hockey pool then you are likely dressing a lineup for each scoring period, which usually ends on Sunday. As the week comes to an end and you find yourself in a close battle for those wins you want as many players as possible playing for you. Here are the teams that play on Sunday (record for Sunday games up to and including Week 17):

Montreal (0-3), New Jersey (2-2), Pittsburgh (0-1), St. Louis (3-1), Tampa Bay (2-3) and Washington (6-1)

Back-to-Back Games This Week

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

RALEIGH, NC - JANUARY 29: P.K. Subban #76 of the Montreal Canadiens shoot on Marc-Andre Fleury #29 of the Pittsburgh Penguins during the elimination shootout part of the Honda NHL SuperSkills competition part of 2011 NHL All-Star Weekend at the RBC Cente

When you are deciding which goalie to dress you need to look at the NHL schedule to see if your goalie's team will play in a back-to-back game that week. Most coaches will not dress the same goalie in back-to-back games so that is something to consider when you are thinking about which goalie to dress for the week. Here are the teams that play in back-to-back games this week (record of second game of back-to-back up to and including Week 17):

Buffalo (four to eight), Columbus (seven to four), Detroit (five to three), Edmonton (two to four), Florida (three to seven), Los Angeles (three to five), Montreal (five to six), New Jersey (three to eight), NY Islanders (three to eight), Ottawa (two to seven), Phoenix (five to six), Pittsburgh (six to three), San Jose (three to five) and Vancouver (five to three)

Montreal plays in two sets of back-to-back games in week 18.

Top Five and Bottom Five Teams

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

RALEIGH, NC - JANUARY 30: Team Lidstrom player Danny Briere #48 of the Philadelphia Flyers scores a third period goal against Team Staal player Henrik Lundqvist #30 of New York Rangers in the 58th NHL All-Star Game at RBC Center on January 30, 2011 in Ra

Knowing which team is on a hot streak or cold streak will help in making your lineup decisions, for example you definitely want to dress a goalie from teams that are on a hot streak. Here are the top five and bottom five teams up to January 27, 2011.

TOP FIVE

Philadelphia (8-2-0), Dallas (7-2-1), Boston (7-3-0), Tampa Bay (7-3-0) and Anaheim (7-3-0)

BOTTOM FIVE

 Ottawa (1-6-3), Edmonton  (2-7-1), NY Islanders (2-7-1), St. Louis (2-7-1) and Columbus (3-5-2)

Streaking Skaters

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PHILADELPHIA, PA - JANUARY 20: Claude Giroux #28 of the Philadelphia Flyers skates against the Ottawa Senators on January 20, 2011 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Most elite stars are consistent scorers, but there are several players who are very streaky so keep an eye on their stats so that you can dress them while they are on a hot streak. Here are the top five scorers up to January 27, 2011 for the past seven and 14 days.

SKATER PAST 7

Claude Giroux-PHILADELPHIA (4GP 1G 6A)
Mike Richards-PHILADELPHIA (4GP 2G 5A)
Keith Yandle-PHOENIX (4GP 1G 6A)
David Moss-CALGARY (4GP 4G 2A)
Michael Grabner-NY ISLANDERS (5GP 4G 2A)

SKATER PAST 14

Keith Yandle-PHOENIX (8GP 2G 11A)
Lee Stempniak-PHOENIX (8GP 5G 6A)
Claude Giroux-PHILADELPHIA (8GP 3G 8A)
Jeff Carter-PHILADELPHIA (8GP 7G 3A)
Steven Stamkos-TAMPA BAY (7GP 7G 3A)

Hot and Cold Goaltenders

Harry How/Getty Images

RALEIGH, NC - JANUARY 29: Eric Staal #12 of the Carolina Hurricanes scores on Tim Thomas #30 of the Boston Bruins during the eliminatin shootout of the Honda NHL SuperSkills competition part of 2011 NHL All-Star Weekend at the RBC Center on January 29, 2

Here are the top five goaltenders and bottom five goaltenders up to January 27, 2011 for the past seven and 14 days.

HOT GOALTENDERS PAST 14

Marc-Andre Fleury-PITTSBURGH (4GS 4W 1SO 1.25 GAA)
Sergei Bobrovsky-PHILADELPHIA (5GS 5W 1.79 GAA)
Martin Brodeur-NEW JERSEY (6GS 4W 1SO 1.98 GAA)
Tim Thomas-BOSTON (6GS 5W 1SO 2.01 GAA)
Henrik Lundqvist-NY RANGERS (6GS 3W 2SO 2.15 GAA)

COLD GOALTENDERS PAST 14

Brian Elliott-OTTAWA (5GS 0W 3.45 GAA)
Nikolai Khabibulin-EDMONTON (4GS 0W 3.31 GAA)
Rick DiPietro-NY ISLANDERS (4GS 1W 3.29 GAA)
Tomas Vokoun-FLORIDA (4GS 1W 2.28 GAA)
J-S Giguere-TORONTO (4GS 1W 2.91 GAA)