Sunday was a crazy night in the NHL. There were a couple eliminations, an incredible comeback, and just think Monday could feature three eliminations. Potentially, the possibility exists of no Game 7’s in round number one. That is a pretty scary prospect. Hopefully that does not happen because everybody loves a Game 7.
It was tougher than usual picking the three best and come mid-week, we will have the three best from round number one also. Yes a busy week is coming but first we present the three stars from an incredible Sunday.
Fantasy Hockey Three Stars
Third Star — Corey Crawford — G — Chicago Blackhawks
You have to give Corey Crawford a ton of credit. St.Louis dominated most of the first two periods. They were drawing the penalties and they were getting the lion’s share of the scoring chances. Yet Crawford was the one who stood tall. He made 17 huge saves in the second period to keep Chicago in the game and then the Chicago Blackhawks broke out with four third period goals in their series clinching 5-1 victory. However, without Crawford’s heroic holding the fort, that just does not happen. People may give the goaltender a good amount of grief but he has won the Stanley Cup and does seem to step it up when it counts. Now, the Blackhawks are headed to the second round and Corey Crawford is a big reason why. It is just not a Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane operation in Chicago.
Second Star — Nick Bonino — F — Anaheim Ducks
Clutch is everything! It looked like a Game 7 was all but signed, sealed, and delivered all to Anaheim but Bonino flipped the script. This was a tough call as Trevor Daley was extremely close to a star with his two goal, one assist effort. However Bonino was worth all the accolades today, even if he did his hardest work in about a five-minute span. The bottom line is the increased time on ice was encouraging and so are the results. The forward also has had some success against both Californian teams so it should be interesting to see how Bonino is used going forward. He took a whopping 35 faceoffs also on Sunday night. He is going to be receiving close to 20 minutes of ice time per night. That is worth it in your fantasy pools.
First Star — Duncan Keith — D — Chicago Blackhawks
The rarity of two players on the same team making this list is quite amazing. Keith will likely win the Norris Trophy and on Sunday his four point night was quite impressive. That included playing 25+ minutes, was a +3 and added the final exclamation point on a play where most defensemen would have gone to the bench for an extra player. Because Keith stayed out there, he was able to receive a pass and hammer it home for the final tally. That is simply a mark of a top caliber player and another reason why Chicago has to be considered as a team to beat in these playoffs. They just seem to have fantasy hockey owners in minds at some times.
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Thanks again for reading and we will have more tomorrow. That is the fun part of playoff hockey. There is always a new hero just around the corner.
