As anticipated, once we bash Sidney Crosby he shows up and scores back-to-back tallies against Ryan Miller. We gave a fantasy hockey warning tonight on Miller, which was to NOT start him in daily leagues, so if you did then you’re feeling the wrath of Sid the Kid.  Think of the Sidney bashing as a subtle form of reverse psychology to jump start fantasy hockey owners who are somewhat disappointed in his performance thus far. You are welcome. 

Other high performers include, daily man-crush Ryan Getzlaf who tallied his 9th goal, which was a game winner and Anaheim backup Jonas Hiller, who recorded a shutout. Watch Hiller closely, Giggy wasn’t on the bench this afternoon. Not to stroke our egos here at puckblogging.com, but George Parros did find Matt Walker in a pretty decent scrap. Yes. We called this shot as well. Cue Marty McFly and his Delorean…Here’s a link to the fight video: Parros vs. Walker. 

Lastly, early season favorite and cancer survivor Phil Kessel recored his 11th goal of the year and added an assist as well. We are on record in saying Kessel will have his first 30 goal campaign and we firmly stand by that statement (barring injury of course). Kessel is an inspiration and we are routing for him regardless of his stats. Fantasy wise, Kessel has been a late rounds gem. He’s a plus 7 with 11 goals and 19 points in 23 games. Although we do not believe he will be a point per game player, we do believe 30 goals is a lock and his shots on goal will hover in the 250’s. He’s only 7 goals behind his last year goal total and if he continues to play with Marc Savard and Milan Lucic, he’s a must play in all fantasy hockey formats. He’s finally living up to the 5th overall potential. Keep it up Phil, you’re an inspiration. 

Out West, Dan Boyle has scored twice in the first two periods and the Sharks are spanking yet another team. Boyle is now second in goals by a defensemen with 8. Are we surprised? The only thing that will prevent Dan Boyle from scoring 20 this year is a falling skate. San Jose’s defense has had somewhat of a resurgence this year and Rob Blake, who was recently thought of as a vote off on Survivor, has scored 19 points in 23 games. He hasn’t looked this good since his glory days with the Kings. Not last year—90’s Kings. I haven’t even finished writing and Blake has scored yet another goal 5-1 San Jose over Dallas in the 2nd period.