This article is part of our Darryl's Dispatch series.
Last week the Wild played a pair of crazy improbable games. On October 27th, they traveled to New York for a game against the Rangers and then would head off to Boston to complete about as tough a pair of back-to-back road games as you're going to see this season. The Ranger game featured Henrik Lundqvist and Darcy Kuemper while the Bruins game featured Tuukka Rask and Niklas Backstrom. Four pretty good goalies, eh? Well, in just 24 hours the splendid four all had games to forget: Henrik Lundqvist: four goals on 30 shots; Darcy Kuemper: five goals on just 20 shots; Tuukka Rask: four goals on 42 shots; and Niklas Backstrom: three goals on 28 shots. WTF!? After totally out playing the Rangers for two periods the Wild led 3-0. In the third period, things got quickly out of hand and the Wild lost that first game 5-4. This was a classic example of a team – in this case, the Wild – losing control of a game after they stopped being aggressive and setting the pace. Note that Minnesota plays a particularly strong two man fore-check and, when the will is there, this aspect of the Wild can give anyone fits.
The next night in Boston, the Wild fell behind 3-1 after two periods but in the third their two-man fore check was reenergized and the Wild fed off that energy and stormed back to win 4-3. "I think a lot of it
Last week the Wild played a pair of crazy improbable games. On October 27th, they traveled to New York for a game against the Rangers and then would head off to Boston to complete about as tough a pair of back-to-back road games as you're going to see this season. The Ranger game featured Henrik Lundqvist and Darcy Kuemper while the Bruins game featured Tuukka Rask and Niklas Backstrom. Four pretty good goalies, eh? Well, in just 24 hours the splendid four all had games to forget: Henrik Lundqvist: four goals on 30 shots; Darcy Kuemper: five goals on just 20 shots; Tuukka Rask: four goals on 42 shots; and Niklas Backstrom: three goals on 28 shots. WTF!? After totally out playing the Rangers for two periods the Wild led 3-0. In the third period, things got quickly out of hand and the Wild lost that first game 5-4. This was a classic example of a team – in this case, the Wild – losing control of a game after they stopped being aggressive and setting the pace. Note that Minnesota plays a particularly strong two man fore-check and, when the will is there, this aspect of the Wild can give anyone fits.
The next night in Boston, the Wild fell behind 3-1 after two periods but in the third their two-man fore check was reenergized and the Wild fed off that energy and stormed back to win 4-3. "I think a lot of it started in the second period," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We started playing on our heels, we stopped playing on our toes and being first to the puck, or at least create the battle. We should have been the fresher team tonight. That should have been the case. We knew they were going to compete hard; that's the way that team plays all the time. It was up to us to push the pace all night long and we didn't do that. Wild coach Michael Yeo added. "The way the back-to-back games all worked out, I'm not too disappointed," Yeo went on to say. "We learned a couple lessons on the trip. We learned that we can't take our foot off the gas when you have the lead and we learned that we can come back if we stay with it."
Just a couple of lessons indeed. For the fantasy manager, these kind of nights will happen from time to time. My simple message to you is that you can't afford to get caught up in the moment of last night's game good or bad because, when you do, you set yourself up to make rash mistakes. A veteran fantasy manager would stick to the script and if they had both, they would have played both Wild goalies. How many people didn't start Backstrom after the Wild loss in New York the night before? Inexperienced fantasy managers are often guilty of just such a maneuver. Avoid the temptation of over-managing. Remember, things in the NHL have a way of balancing out over the long haul, so play your key goalies each night and you will be sitting pretty when the pendulum swings back your way.
Goalie Recall Strategy
The Devils placed goaltender Scott Clemmensen on waivers this past Monday. If he clears waivers (and he should), Clemmensen will be sent to Albany. With Corey Schneider starting all 11 games so far, the need for a backup has been limited. Clemmensen has made just two relief appearances this season, and sports an ugly 6.49 goals-against average to match a dismal .765 save percentage. So the move makes total sense. For now Keith Kinkaid is likely to be recalled. But, stranger things have happened. If you have the roster space AND have both Devil goalies (Schneider and Clemmensen) it makes sense to add Kinkaid short term but only if you use them as your first pair since Clemmensen's stay in Albany is likely to be brief. Everyone else should pass.
The Ducks have temporarily, at least, lost John Gibson who incurred a lower-body injury during the pregame warmups against Colorado this past weekend. Jason LaBarbera will replace Gibson for now as he did earlier this season. The win over Colorado left the Ducks at 3-1-0 on the road trip. With Frederik Andersen at less than100% the Ducks have been forced to juggle their goalies a bit. They even briefly suited up goaltending consultant Dwayne Roloson, just in case. But, the 45-year-old former NHL goalie did not enter the game.
Goalie Injuries Strategy
Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is headed to the IR (fractured finger). Curtis McElhinney will be called upon to replace him short term (likely 2 weeks). The Blue Jackets have also recalled Anton Forsberg. With Columbus slumping as of late (losers of five straight contests), it would be wise to exercise a little caution before deploying McElhinney. If you own both Bobrovsky and McElhinney as your first tandem, then it's perfectly acceptable to roll with McElhinney and add Forsberg if you have the room on your bench. It will be a tough couple of weeks but likely no worse than it has been lately for you. All other owners should stay clear of McElhinney and Forsberg for the time being.
Goalie Forecast Strategy
A quick reminder of the color key: Tier I is green. Tier II is yellow, Tier III is blue and Tier IV is red. To help you find your first goalie's backup a little quicker, you will find that all backups share the same color as their team's starter. (For example, since Rask is green all other Boston goalies will be green as well.) Here are the 40 goalies that have had the biggest impact so far.
Goalie Stats to Date:
| RANK | PLAYER | TEAM | GP | WINS | SO | 1W+2SO |
| 1 | Marc-Andre Fleury | PIT | 9 | 7 | 3 | 13 |
| 2 | Darcy Kuemper | MIN | 8 | 6 | 3 | 12 |
| 3 | Ryan Miller | VAN | 9 | 8 | 1 | 10 |
| 4 | Pekka Rinne | NSH | 10 | 7 | 1 | 9 |
| 5 | Frederik Andersen | ANA | 8 | 7 | 1 | 9 |
| 6 | Jonathan Quick | LAK | 10 | 5 | 2 | 9 |
| 7 | Henrik Lundqvist | NYR | 9 | 5 | 2 | 9 |
| 8 | Antti Niemi | SJS | 9 | 6 | 1 | 8 |
| 9 | Carey Price | MON | 10 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 10 | Ben Bishop | TBL | 10 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 11 | Jonas Hiller | CGY | 8 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| 12 | Ondrej Pavelec | WPG | 11 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| 13 | Brian Elliott | STL | 8 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| 14 | Cory Schneider | NJD | 11 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 15 | Ben Scrivens | EDM | 10 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| 16 | Roberto Luongo | FLA | 8 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| 17 | Tuukka Rask | BOS | 9 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 18 | Jimmy Howard | DET | 9 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 19 | Jonathan Bernier | TOR | 8 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| 20 | Braden Holtby | WAS | 8 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| 21 | Ray Emery | PHI | 6 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 22 | Kari Lehtonen | DAL | 9 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 23 | Sergei Bobrovsky | CBJ | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 24 | Jake Allen | STL | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 25 | Jaroslav Halak | NYI | 7 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 26 | Robin Lehner | OTT | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 27 | Corey Crawford | CHI | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 28 | Chad Johnson | NYI | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 29 | James Reimer | TOR | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 30 | Devan Dubnyk | ARI | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Here is a forecast of the games for the early part of November. This chart goes pretty far out so remember to use the watch list feature of your RotoWire subscription to track the day-to-day changes that will no doubt occur. (As part of your membership you can have updates sent directly from RotoWire to your email.) This tool is critical for those in daily leagues but, as the season continues, you will find that this handy forecast will be pretty accurate. In the coming weeks, more detailed goalie analysis will be added to the forecast but this is what you need for now. Until then, remember watch those out-of-town broadcasts. You can be certain that your league's leaders are.
