Weekly NHL Forecaster 3/27 -4/2

Weekly NHL Forecaster 3/27 - 4/2

Below is the average of ‘CORSI For per 60 minutes' on the Home team and Away team to tell me if this is going to be a shot filled matchup. The graph below is sorted from the most offensively oriented games to the least offensively oriented. Updated as of 12/28/2016

We are getting into the final 2 weeks of the regular season. Most Fantasy leagues are either in their Semi-Finals or Finals matchups.

Weekly schedule -ranked by CORSI:

Ten Notes:
1. Calgary Flames. They came down to earth a bit with back to back loses but they have 4 games and all of them are at home. Their opponents are a combined 57-72-16 on the road. San Jose is the only one of them with a record above .500 on the road. Everyone buy San Jose is bottom ten in goals scored on the road. A good week for Brian Elliott and their plus/minus numbers. Especially Alex Chiasson (0% owned).

2. Florida Panthers. I'm not feeling so bullish on my prediction of the Panthers making the playoffs. They sit about 7 points out right now with a week of nothing but road matchups against Buffalo (decent chance), Toronto (7-2-1 over their last 10), Montreal (6-3-1 over their last 10) and Boston (5-5 over their last ten but fighting in that last playoffs spot).  Florida has not scored over 3 goals in any of their last 5. Furthermore their power play is ice cold right now.

3. New Jersey Devils. They continue to free fall with their 2 wins in the last 10 games. There are some decent contributions from Kyle Palmieri, Adam Henrique, John Moore, Joseph Blandisi and Taylor Hall but they are getting wildly outscored and playing nothing close to solid defense currently. Most of their production is coming from Power Plays.

4. Philadelphia Flyers. Consider this a fight or flight week for the Flyers. I'm inclined to think they will not fight but if they want ANY chance at a playoff spot, it will come in a week where they have 3 divisional matchups. Even then they basically have to win out the last 10 games of the season.

5. Arizona Coyotes. I imagine there aren't many players to grab off that roster which is fine because they have an awkward home and away week against some tough defensive teams.

6. Washington Capitals. They have a strange week with all road games. The two bookends (Minnesota and Columbus) will prove tough and the two middle games (Colorado and Arizona) will be considerably easier. I'll be curious if some minutes are cut down a bit to avoid the fatigue next week and into the playoffs from a week of non-stop traveling. It's not uncommon to see some struggles on long road trips with Washington.

7. Edmonton Oilers. They have won 4 of their last 5 as they  are hoping to have that playoff spot secured soon. Meanwhile they play the same home matchups that the Flames have without the Colorado freebie. They have been improving their play at home compared to earlier this year and should see some production. Patrick Maroon (46% owned) benefits on that top line while Mark Letestu (4% owned) is getting power play bump from playing with Connor McDavid there.

8. St. Louis Blues. They are now 9-1 in their last 10 having allowed just 14 goals in 10 games!! This week they face Arizona twice and Colorado. PICK UP BLUES PLAYERS! Plus/Minuses are surging with Alex Pietrangelo (85% owned) at 7 points and a +10 in his last 8 games, Patrik Berglund (5% owned) has 5 points and a +3 in his last 8, Magnus Paajarvi (0% owned) has 6 points, Jaden Schwartz (53% owned) has 6 points and David Perron (13% owned) has 5.

9. Carolina Hurricanes. I'm always very intrigued with 5 matchups in one week (especially when the playoffs are within reach but a far reach). Carolina has Detroit in back to back games, Columbus and then a Saturday/Sunday combination of Dallas and Pittsburgh. That is a combined 26-20-4 over their last 10 which is a fair matchup across the board. Carolina doesn't score much at home (22^nd in the league) but they don't allow goals either (8^th in the league). You are trading out a week of an extra game with low scoring. A few good names: Elias Lindholm (21% owned) has 9 points in his last 8 games, Jaccob Slavin (19% owned) has 7 points in his last 8 and Jordan Staal (24% owned) also has 7 points in his last 8. The tricky part has been in their line combinations which are all over the place right now.

10. Tampa Bay Lightning. They are within 3 points of the playoffs. They are 6-3-1 over their last 10.  They have 4 home games this week against a mix of good and bad teams. Their top player is holding off until he's 100% to return in assurance not to reinjure himself. The following two low ownership players are averaging a point per game over last 7: Brayden Point (8% owned) and Ondrej Palat (34% owned) -both of them are on the top line and top Power Play unit.