As the National Hockey League rolls on towards Week 3, we here at The Fix want to make sure you are ready to plan ahead for your weekly lock lineup leagues as well as your weekly salary cap games. Here’s a look ahead to the games this coming week and some start/sit musings.

Before we review the week ahead, let’s check in with our game pick predictions for last week in the NHL:

We finished 20-19 last week. Hopefully we can improve this week; although, we did nail the “start all Sharks” prediction against the New York Rangers, who they ended up beating 9-2. Tomas Hertl, who I recommended be picked up for that game (owned in 3.3% of leagues at the time), went on to score four goals in the victory!

Sunday October 13^th:

PHX @ CAR: 1:00 p.m. Our pick- Carolina

LA @ FLA: 3:00 p.m. Our pick- LA

NJ @ WPG: 8:00 p.m. Our pick- Winnipeg

OTT @ ANA: 8:00 p.m. Our pick- Anaheim

 

Monday October 14^th:

 

DET @ BOS: 1:00 p.m. Our pick- Boston

EDM @ WSH: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- Washington

MIN @ BUF: 7:30 p.m. Our pick- Minnesota

 

Tuesday October 15^th:

 

MIN @ TOR: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- Toronto

BUF @ NYI: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- New York Islanders

VAN @ PHI: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- Vancouver

EDM @ PIT: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- Pittsburgh

CHI @ CAR: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- Chicago

LA @ TB: 7:30 p.m. Our pick- Tampa Bay

CBJ @ DET: 8:00 p.m. Our pick- Columbus

SJ @ STL: 8:00 p.m. Our pick- St. Louis

FLA @ NSH: 8:00 p.m. Our pick- Nashville

MTL @ WPG: 8:00 p.m. Our pick- Montreal

DAL @ COL: 9:00 p.m. Our pick- Dallas

OTT @ PHX: 10:00 p.m. Our pick- Phoenix

 

Wednesday October 16^th:

 

NYR @ WSH: 8:00 p.m. Our pick- Washington

CGY @ ANA: 10:00 p.m. Our pick- Anaheim

 

Thursday October 17^th:

 

VAN @ BUF: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- Vancouver

CAR @ TOR: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- Toronto

EDM @ NYI: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- New York Islanders

PIT @ PHI: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- Pittsburgh

CBJ @ MTL: 7:30 p.m. Our pick- Montreal

NJD @ OTT: 7:30 p.m. Our pick- Ottawa

MIN @ TB: 7:30 p.m. Our pick- Tampa Bay

BOS @ FLA: 7:30 p.m. Our pick- Boston

STL @ CHI: 8:00 p.m. Our pick- St. Louis

LA @ NSH: 8:00 p.m. Our pick- Nashville

SJ @ DAL: 8:30 p.m. Our pick- Dallas

DET @ COL: 9:00 p.m. Our pick- Colorado

 

Friday October 18^th:

 

STL @ WPG: 8:00 p.m. Our pick- Winnipeg

PHX @ ANA: 10:00 p.m. Our pick- Phoenix

 

Saturday October 19^th:

 

VAN @ PIT: 1:00 p.m. Our pick- Vancouver

EDM @ OTT: 2:00 p.m. Our pick- Ottawa

COL @ BUF: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- Colorado

NSH @ MTL: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- Montreal

BOS @ TB: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- Tampa Bay

MIN @ FLA: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- Florida

NYR @ NJD: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- New Jersey

CAR @ NYI: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- Carolina

CBJ @ WSH: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- Washington

TOR @ CHI: 7:00 p.m. Our pick- Chicago

DET @ PHX: 9:00 p.m. Our pick- Detroit

CGY @ SJ: 10:00 p.m. Our pick- San Jose

DAL @ LA: 10:30 p.m. Our pick- Los Angeles

 

Games by team:

Four games: Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes, Detroit Red Wings, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, Ottawa Senators, Phoenix Coyotes,

Three games: Anaheim Ducks, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Montreal Canadiens, Nashville Predators, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, Washington Capitals, Winnipeg Jets

Two games: Calgary Flames, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers,

 

Back-to-back games to take advantage of:

The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning are two teams that are going to continue to thrive at home due to the fact that teams almost always end up going back-to-back against these two teams since they are so close in distance (and isolated from the rest of the teams in the league).

The Lightning have three games this week, all of them are at home. Additionally, the Panthers have four games this week, three of which are home games. The Panthers and Lightning both play the same three teams at home this week: Los Angeles, Boston and Minnesota. This is a good week to stock up on players from those teams because there is at least one or two of those games for each team where one of them will benefit overtly from the scheduling.

For example, on Friday night, the Panthers benefitted from facing goaltender Jeff Zatkoff off the Pittsburgh Penguins, a backup goaltender making his first career start. The Panthers won 6-3.

Goaltenders Josh Harding (Minnesota) and Ben Scrivens (LA) make intriguing pickups this week in points leagues since they will be getting starts for sure during one of the back-to-back games for their respective teams. In Rotisserie, they are significantly more risky because while they may be fresh, their team may not be, and therefore may collapse on them (especially against the excellent Tampa Bay Lightning offense).

 

Some great offensive players to pick up in the rest of the various back-to-back’s are:

Edmonton Oilers @ Pittsburgh Penguins:

The Penguins are getting a huge benefit from facing the Edmonton Oilers a day after they do battle with the Washington Capitals. Some good Penguin players to pick up for this game are forwards Beau Bennett (3.8% owned), Chuck Kobasew (0.9% owned), and Jussi Jokinen (91.8% owned).

Tuesday- Columbus Blue Jackets @ Detroit Red Wings:

The Detroit Red Wings are getting one of the more fortunate versions of a back-to-back as they at least get to play host in game number two. Regardless, coming off a game in Boston (on Monday) against an incredibly tough Bruins team, I fully expect the Red Wings to be completely exhausted against a Columbus Blue Jackets team that can score. Columbus forwards Nick Foligno (11.4% owned), Ryan Johansen (0.1% owned), and Artem Anisimov (1.2% owned) are all great selections.

Tuesday- Minnesota Wild @ Toronto Maple Leafs:

Good pickups: Mason Raymond (53.6% owned), Tyler Bozak (45.2% owned), Dave Bolland (18.7% owned)