Fantasy Hockey Schedule Week 27: Final Week of the Season

It’s the final week of the 2011-2012 NHL season and there is still so much to play for. 

The St. Louis Blues are only one point up on the New York Rangers and three points up on the Vancouver Canucks for the President’s Trophy and, more importantly, home-ice advantage for all of the playoffs.

The Southeast, Northeast and Pacific division are still up for grabs, which makes it impossible to predict first round matchups just yet.

Finally, there are three teams fighting for the final two playoff spots in the Eastern conference and five teams fighting for the final three playoff spots in the Western conference.

There is still a lot up for grab and here are the games to be played in week 27:

	GP	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN
ANAHEIM	3		@VAN		@EDM		@CGY
BOSTON	3		PIT		@OTT		BUF
BUFFALO	3		TOR		@PHI		@BOS
CALGARY	2				VAN		ANA
CAROLINA	3		@OTT		MON		@FLA
CHICAGO	2				@MIN		@DET
COLORADO	2				CBJ		NAS
COLUMBUS	3		@PHO		@COL		NYI
DALLAS	3		SJ		@NAS		STL
DETROIT	3			@STL	NJ		CHI
EDMONTON	3	@LA			ANA		@VAN
FLORIDA	3		WPG		@WAS		CAR
LOS ANGELES	3	EDM			SJ		@SJ
MINNESOTA	3		@NAS		CHI		PHO
MONTREAL	3			TB	@CAR		TOR
NASHVILLE	3		MIN		DAL		@COL
NEW JERSEY	3		NYI		@DET		OTT
NY ISLANDERS	3		@NJ		WPG		@CBJ
NY RANGERS	3		@PHI		@PIT		WAS
OTTAWA	3		CAR		BOS		@NJ
PHILADELPHIA	3		NYR		BUF		@PIT
PHOENIX	3		CBJ			@STL	@DAL
PITTSBURGH	3		@BOS		NYR		PHI
SAN JOSE	2				CBJ		NAS
ST. LOUIS	3			DET		PHO	@DAL
TAMPA BAY	4	WAS		@MON	@TOR		@WPG
TORONTO	3		@BUF		TB		@MON
VANCOUVER	3		ANA		@CGY		EDM
WASHINGTON	3	@TB			FLA		@NYR
WINNIPEG	3		@FLA		@NYI		TB

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 will enjoy 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 March 30, 2012):

HOME: Calgary (21-11-6), Colorado (22-15-2) and San Jose (24-12-3)

AWAY: Anaheim (12-16-9), Chicago (16-18-4) and Tampa Bay (12-21-5)

If you participate in any type of head-to-head hockey pool, 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 (April 8, 2012):

SUNDAY: There are no games on that Sunday as the regular season ends on Saturday, April 7, 2012 when every team in the NHL will play their final game.

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 back-to-back games 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. 

Here are the teams that play in back-to-back games this week:

BACK-TO-BACK: Detroit, Montreal, Phoenix, St. Louis and Tampa Bay

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 over their last 10 games up to March 20, 2012:

TOP FIVE: Chicago (7-1-2), Buffalo (7-1-2), NY Rangers (7-3-0), Los Angeles (7-3-0) and Vancouver (6-3-1)

BOTTOM FIVE: Columbus (3-7-0), Winnipeg (3-7-0), Toronto (3-6-1), Detroit (3-5-2) and Tampa Bay (4-6-0)

Fantasy hockey is all about offense and what better place to generate offense then the power play.  Here are the top-five power plays up to March 30, 2012:

Nashville Predators: 21.7 percent
Edmonton Oilers: 21.0 percent
San Jose Sharks: 20.4 percent
Vancouver Canucks: 20.4 percent
Philadelphia Flyers: 20.2 percent

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 hockey knowledge. Email: [e-mail].