The Washington Capitals are what the Montreal Canadiens were supposed to be this season: an exciting offensive hockey club, led by a Russian superstar, that's sitting near the top of the conference. Wednesday night just proved how different these two teams really are.
While not necessarily fantasy relevant, the night belonged to sniper Alex Ovechkin, who scored his league-leading 42nd goal with a move that ranks alongside his classic sliding stick-behind-the-head move against Phoenix in 2006. On this night, Ovie was able to pass the puck to himself along the side boards, spin past a defender, then put the puck past Carey Price while sliding on his side along the ice. "He loves to score, and he's going to score no matter how it goes in -- if it's on his stomach, back, whatever, he's going to try to score," teammate Mike Green told reporters after the game. "I think I was more impressed with the backhand around the defenseman." Is there anyone better in the NHL right now?
From a fantasy prospective, the Canadiens' decline has been damning for anyone who invested heavily in the team that played with such flair last season. As we know, Montreal's trio of Andrei Kostitsyn, Plekanec and Kovalev have vastly underproduced. They combined for 206 points last season, but have come up with just 100 this season. The biggest reason for the decline can be attributed to the loss of production from the power play. Well, there is some good news on that front; all three of Montreal's goals came with the man advantage on Wednesday night. The power-play unit lives and dies with Andrei Markov, who had three points against the Capitals and is on pace to better his numbers from last season.
While the addition of Mathieu Schneider helps in this regard -- he had one assist on Wednesday -- I doubt it completely fixes what ails the bleu, blanc et rouge. Schneider replaces the void left by Sheldon Souray and Mark Streit, who bolted for big dollars in free agency in consecutive seasons; however, the Canadiens are still lacking someone with a right-handed shot on this unit. Many experts have said that without a right-handed shooter to stretch the defense and create the threat of a one-timer, and by default more room for Kovalev to operate, this power play may never fully recover. That's why it's been so difficult to recover from the loss of Robert Lang.
If your fantasy squad is reeling in the power-play goal and power-play assist categories due to the struggles of this unit, look to the likes of Ryan Kesler, R.J. Umberger, James Neal or Jiri Hudler. All have been producing on the man advantage over the past month and remain widely available in ESPN.com leagues. Key members of Los Angeles' power-play unit who have also been playing well, underowned and worth picking up, include Jarret Stoll, Kyle Quincey and Drew Doughty.
Montreal GM Bob Gainey will have to make a trade to improve his roster that's long on skill but short on work ethic before I'll buy into a real turnaround from a fantasy standpoint. In the meantime, I'll give the man some credit. He has shown this week that he has some serious guts.
Ice Chips
If the Canadiens needed a lesson on how to run a successful power play, they need not look any further than Detroit. The Red Wings scored five times on the man advantage to drop the Nashville Predators 6-2. It certainly doesn't hurt that they have Nicklas Lidstrom as their quarterback; he had three points in the game. After all that talk of an early slump this season, Mr. Lidstrom has 11 points in his past nine games and 43 points in 55 games in total. ... Now unimpressed New York Rangers fans can say, "Hey, at least we don't cheer for the Islanders." Under intense scrutiny from fans as the club's season spirals out of control, players and management alike were given a nice reprieve with an easy win over the hapless squad from Long Island. Henrik Lundqvist made 25 saves and took home first star honors in a 3-1 win, the Rangers' first victory in regulation since Jan. 26. While it wasn't a high-octane offensive output, three goals marks a significant improvement for the Rangers who have been struggling to score. Chris Drury, who had only three points in his previous 12 games, collected three assists. However, you should avoid playing any Ranger aside from Lundqvist on a regular basis. ... Chris Mason was chased from the crease following the second period of the Blues' 4-3 loss to Columbus. While Mason isn't exactly the most consistent goalie around, he is a safe bet to remain in place as the Blues' No. 1 netminder for the rest of the season. After the club waived Manny Legace, they were left with Chris Holt -- he has only 29 career NHL minutes on the ice -- as their next best option. ... While I wouldn't consider Steve Sullivan for fantasy purposes, you have to give this man some respect for his comeback effort. Sullivan scored twice Wednesday night, his first two goals in two years following a severe back injury that kept him away from the game.
