Fantasy Recap: Apr. 19

By CHRIS NICHOLS -- SLAM! Sports


Montreal 2 Boston 0 (Montreal wins series 4-3)

A choke job or a great comeback? I guess it depends on your perspective, but since I picked Boston to win and they ruined my streak of five straight correct series picks - I'm calling it a choke job by the Bruins. Jose Theodore had a strong series overall and capped off a great regular season by allowing only three goals in those final three Montreal wins... The Richard Zednik/ Saku Koivu/ Alex Kovalev line was huge in those three games where Montreal stormed back to take the series, with Zednik (3G, 2A and 6 total series points), Koivu (2G, 5A and 10 points total) and Kovy (2G, 2A and 8 total points) combining for 7G, 9A in those three wins... The defensive trio of Sheldon Souray (2A), Patrice Brisebois (1G, 1A) and Andrei Markov (1G, 2A) combined to give the Habs seven points from the blueline... Joe Thornton had a good game Monday, but finished with no points in the series and a -6 rating... Sergei Samsonov led the team with seven points... Michael Nylander (6GP: 3G, 3A) gives the Bruins hope for consistent scoring from the second line next season, so remember him in the middle rounds of your draft... It should come as no surprise that Sergei Gonchar's five point total equals the combined total of all of the other Boston defensemen... Glen Murray and Mike Knuble combined for 4G, 1A; not bad considering Thornton's lack of production and the line shuffling that went on various times.

Calgary 3 Vancouver 2 OT (Calgary wins series 4-3)

Game Seven and overtime, with a tying goal scored with mere seconds left in regulation. Does it get any better than this? Thank-you Martin Gelinas for securing me my sixth correct series prediction of the seven decided so far. Ed Belfour can deliver me a 7 for 8 record with a great game tonight... Jarome Iginla was huge in this game (2G, 1A) and this series (5G, 3A) and this is the kind of play that had me urging you not to drop or trade him earlier in the regular season with his struggles... The goal from Gelinas marked the second straight game he scored... Craig Conroy's pair of assists cranked up his series totals to 1G, 5A... Matt Cooke scored both Vancouver goals Monday and had four points total against Calgary... Markus Naslund had two assists, including that Herculean effort on the GTG at the end of regulation. He finished with 2G, 7A and only enhanced his reputation as a scoring stud, despite the series loss... Alex Auld was phenomenal in relief of Johan Hedberg/ Dan Cloutier and has likely opened some eyes in the Vancouver organization... The blueline of Vancouver combined for 13 points in seven games... Whether it's Chris Simon (Injured) or Oleg Saprykin skating with Conroy and Iginla, it's always the CSI line... Marcus Nilson was solid for the Flames after the trade, but only had one assist in this series... Matt Lombardi had four points against Vancouver.

In addition to analyzing fantasy hockey for us, Chris also writes a weekly column for ESPN's fantasy hockey section during the regular season and periodically during the rest of the year. He can also be found at Mckeenshockey.com, where his News & Notes section is featured seven days a week through the end of the playoffs.

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