Fantasy Hockey Week 5: Detroit Red Wings Visit Western Canada

The first month of the season is over, and teams are starting to hit their stride.  The Detroit Red Wings start the month of November off with a road trip to western Canada.  Pavel Datsyuk enjoys playing on the West coast, scoring four goals and nine points in six games last season.  Valtteri Filppula didn’t produce so well in Alberta, with just one point in three games, but in Vancouver he scored four points in two games.  Look for Nicklas Lidstrom to break the his western Canada pointless streak this season, as he went pointless there last season.  Jimmy Howard is day-to-day with back spasms, so expect Chris Osgood to be the starter.  Over his career Osgood is 13-8-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary, 7-5-1 at Skyreach Center in Edmonton and 5-2-3 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

Games to be played in Week 5:

Four Games: Carolina, Chicago, Rangers, Philadelphia and Vancouver

Three Games: Anaheim, Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Edmonton, Florida, Minnesota, Montreal, Nashville, New Jersey, Islanders, Ottawa, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Jose, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Washington

Two Games: Calgary, Colorado and Los Angeles

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 all their games at home or on the road (minimum two games) and their home/road records up to October 21, 2010:

HOME: Anaheim (2-1-1), Colorado (2-2-0), Los Angeles (4-0-0) and Washington (4-1-0)

AWAY: Detroit (2-1-0), Nashville (3-1-0), Pittsburgh (4-1-1) and Tampa Bay (4-1-0)

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):

Anaheim (1-0), Chicago (0-0), Edmonton (1-0), Nashville (1-0), Rangers (1-0), Philadelphia (0-0), St. Louis (0-0) and Washington (0-0)

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):

Atlanta (1-3), Boston (1-0), Buffalo (1-3), Carolina (1-2), Chicago (2-1), Dallas (1-0), Detroit (1-0), Florida (0-1), Minnesota (0-2), Montreal (1-1), Nashville (2-0), Islanders (1-1), Rangers (2-0), Philadelphia (2-0), Phoenix (0-3), Pittsburgh (2-0), St. Louis (1-0), Tampa Bay (2-0), Toronto (0-0) and Vancouver (0-1)

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 October 31, 2010:

TOP FIVE: Montreal (7-2-1), Tampa Bay (7-2-1), Washington (7-3-0), Los Angeles (7-3-0) and St. Louis (6-1-2)

BOTTOM FIVE: Buffalo (2-6-2), New Jersey (3-7-0), Edmonton (3-4-2), Phoenix (3-4-3) and Florida (4-5-0)

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 October 21, 2010 for the past seven and 14 days:

SKATER PAST SEVEN DAYS: Joe Thornton, SAN (3GP, 3G, 5A); Ryan Callahan, NYR (4GP, 4G, 3A); Dany Heatley, SAN (3GP, 3G, 4A); Duncan Keith, CHI (3GP, 1G, 6A); and Chris Stewart-COL (3GP, 4G, 2A)

SKATER PAST 14 DAYS: Steven Stamkos, TAM (6GP, 5G, 8A); Joe Thornton, SAN (6GP, 3G, 9A);  Chris Stewart, COL (6GP, 6G, 5A); Dany Heatley, SAN (6GP, 4G, 7A); and Milan Hejduk, COL (6GP, 3G, 8A)

GOALTENDERS PAST 14 DAYS: Tim Thomas, BOS (4GS, 4W, 2SO); Jaroslav Halak, STL (5GS, 4W, 2SO); Antero Niittymaki, SAN (4GS, 4W); Miikka Kiprusoff, CAL (5GS, 3W, 2S); and Michal Neuvirth, WAS (5GS, 3W, 1SO)