Fantasy Hockey Schedule, Week 10: Start of December

November is over, and we enter the third month of the NHL season.  Joffrey Lupul and Jonathan Toews both scored 14 points to lead all skaters for the month of November.  Steven Stamkos was the top goal scorer with 10 goals.  Evgeni Malkin put the most shots on net with 64.  Zac Rinaldo had the most penalty minutes with 54.

In net Brian Elliott finished with the best goals against average with 0.99, and Steve Mason had the worst with 4.90.  Both Elliot and Mason also had the best and worst save percentage, Elliott finished with 96.1 percent and Mason with 84.3 percent.  Jimmy Howard and Cam Ward both played in 14 games, which is easy to see why Howard finished with the most wins (10) and Ward finished with the most loss (nine).

The Boston Bruins went undefeated for the month of November with a record of 12-0-1.  The Bruins look to be finally over the Stanley Cup hangover as they outscored their opponents 58-24 and won six games by three or more goals.  No surprise that Zdeno Chara and Brad Marchand lead all players with a plus-14 rating in November.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was named NHL Rookie of the Month for the second straight month.  Nugent-Hopkins recorded five goals and 11 points. 

Games to be played in Week 10:

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

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 December 2, 2011):

HOME: Buffalo (6-7-1), Calgary (5-5-2), New York I (5-6-2), New York R (7-1-1), Ottawa (6-4-1) and St. Louis (8-2-1)

AWAY: Boston (6-2-0), Carolina (3-7-2), Colorado (6-4-1), Dallas (6-6-0), Florida (8-6-0), Minnesota (6-3-2), Phoenix (7-4-1) and Tampa Bay (4-8-2)

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 (December 11, 2011): Chicago, Florida, New York R and San Jose

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. 

Here are the teams that play in back-to-back games this week: Boston, Buffalo, Carolina, Colorado, Edmonton, Florida, New York R, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Jose, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Winnipeg

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 December 2, 2011:

TOP FIVE: Boston (9-0-1), New York R (8-2-0), Detroit (8-2-0), St. Louis (7-1-2) and Vancouver (7-3-0)

BOTTOM FIVE: Carolina (2-7-1), Anaheim (2-7-1), Edmonton (3-6-1), New York I (3-5-2) and Montreal (3-4-3)

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 December 2, 2011:

Vancouver Canucks: 25.7 percent
Toronto Maple Leafs: 23.4 percent
Colorado Avalanche: 22.9 percent
Edmonton Oilers: 21.0 percent
Ottawa Senators: 20.0 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 our own hockey knowledge.  Brouwer writes about fantasy hockey on Bleacher Report. You can contact Coach Brouwer at [e-mail].