Niemi is off to a fantastic start to the 2013-14 campaign, he is 8-1-1 with a 1.68 GAA .927 SV%. Despite the Sharks dominating the Bruins on Thursday, he was outplayed by Tuukka Rask in a 2-1 loss. He will take on a 6-4-0 Habs team tonight, he is a must-start regardless of matchup.

After the whole Lightning team laying a "goose egg" in the 5-0 defeat to Boston in their last time out, superstars Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis combined for 6 points in the come-from-behind victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. Stamkos's 4 points gives him 8 in the last five games, while the OT game-winner by St. Louis plus an assist is 7 points in his last five. There is a perfect blend of fantasy "magic" between the 23-year old center, who is entering his prime and the 39-year old, who continues to defy the odds at his advanced age. Continue to roll both players with extreme confidence, as their team's success is completely tied to them leading the offense.. Not a great start for Chicago defenseman Nick Leddy, who played a season-low 11:26 minutes tonight, and now has gone scoreless in seven of the last eight games. Fantasy owners will not reap the complete rewards of Leddy's fantasy potential until he enhances his reputation as defensive liabilty. Stay patient, as the youngster is too talented not to keep scoring for long. Rask Shines In Goalie Duel: Even though David Krejci sealed the Boston win with one second left in the game, it was goalie Tuukka Rask who earned top fantasy honors with his brilliant 38-save performance. Shark's counterpart Antti Niemi was not nearly that busy, facing 17 shots but allowing two goals in the loss. It's a tossup between the netminders on who is the better fantasy option, but Rask has the early edge with a 1.26 GAA( 3rd in NHL) and .957 SP(2nd in NHL). If I had to take one.. give me a heavy dose of "TUUKKA"! My reasoning is entirely based on the fact the Boston Bruins usually perform better down the stretch, which is also known as "fantasy crunch-time". Get my point? All kidding aside, not much separation between the two.. With forward Loui Eriksson out indefinitely, veteran RW Jarome Iginla slides up the fantasy rankings as he will be leaned on more heavily to provide goals for the "B's". With his first goal of the season, he now has three points in the last two games. Iginla is starting to heat up, so get him in your lineups. Other Fantasy Game Notes: Anze Kopitar scored his first goal in 27 games for Los Angeles, including two assists in their 7-4 win over Phoenix. Despite his scoring drought, our fantasy outlook has not changed on the slick Slovenian pivot, who is a perennial draft bargain in the 4-5 rounds with point-per-game numbers every season... it's safe for Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen to be activated ...

After the whole Lightning team laying a "goose egg" in the 5-0 defeat to Boston in their last time out, superstars Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis combined for 6 points in the come-from-behind victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. Stamkos's 4 points gives him 8 in the last five games, while the OT game-winner by St. Louis plus an assist is 7 points in his last five. There is a perfect blend of fantasy "magic" between the 23-year old center, who is entering his prime and the 39-year old, who continues to defy the odds at his advanced age. Continue to roll both players with extreme confidence, as their team's success is completely tied to them leading the offense.. Not a great start for Chicago defenseman Nick Leddy, who played a season-low 11:26 minutes tonight, and now has gone scoreless in seven of the last eight games. Fantasy owners will not reap the complete rewards of Leddy's fantasy potential until he enhances his reputation as defensive liabilty. Stay patient, as the youngster is too talented not to keep scoring for long. Rask Shines In Goalie Duel: Even though David Krejci sealed the Boston win with one second left in the game, it was goalie Tuukka Rask who earned top fantasy honors with his brilliant 38-save performance. Shark's counterpart Antti Niemi was not nearly that busy, facing 17 shots but allowing two goals in the loss. It's a tossup between the netminders on who is the better fantasy option, but Rask has the early edge with a 1.26 GAA( 3rd in NHL) and .957 SP(2nd in NHL). If I had to take one.. give me a heavy dose of "TUUKKA"! My reasoning is entirely based on the fact the Boston Bruins usually perform better down the stretch, which is also known as "fantasy crunch-time". Get my point? All kidding aside, not much separation between the two.. With forward Loui Eriksson out indefinitely, veteran RW Jarome Iginla slides up the fantasy rankings as he will be leaned on more heavily to provide goals for the "B's". With his first goal of the season, he now has three points in the last two games. Iginla is starting to heat up, so get him in your lineups. Other Fantasy Game Notes: Anze Kopitar scored his first goal in 27 games for Los Angeles, including two assists in their 7-4 win over Phoenix. Despite his scoring drought, our fantasy outlook has not changed on the slick Slovenian pivot, who is a perennial draft bargain in the 4-5 rounds with point-per-game numbers every season... it's safe for Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen to be activated ...

ALL GOALIES CONFIRMED UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED AT TIME OF PRINT A lot of good matches on the lineup card tonight but one that is a must-see is the San Jose -- Boston contest pitting 2 of the top goaltenders in the game today against each other in Antti Niemi and Tuukka Rask. I'm not calling this one, but I will be watching... Cory Schneider has been anointed the Devils Number 1 goalie by, get this, Martin Brodeur. At least, he is on board with that decision by Head Coach Peter DeBoer.  Brodeur has realized that the changing-of-the-guard is in order, plus the stats don't lie.  Add to the storyline that Schneider will be facing his former team mate and friend Roberto Luongo again, this time on home ice, makes for a storybook ending for Schneider beating the Vancouver Canucks....The New York Rangers are just off to a disheartening start as starting goalie, Henrik Lundqvist, is out now with a nagging injury joining Rick Nash and Ryan Callahan. Cameron Talbot gets his first NHL start in place of Lundqvist as former backup Martin Biron has retired, thus ending his NHL career. This bodes well for Steve Mason and the Philadelphia Flyers who are looking to turnaround their own poor start. Mason has played well ever since coming over from the Columbus Blue Jackets at last year's trade deadline.  He has posted decent numbers (2.37 GAA & .923 SP) but his record doesn't show it. Look for the Flyers to break out offensively and give Mason support for a change...It appears that Nikolai Khabibulin will be making a start against his former team as the Chicago Blackhawks try to avenge their home loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The "Bulin Wall" will have extra incentive as does the entire Blackhawk team who have been struggling somewhat on offense but still managing to win behind their defense and goaltending. Bolts' starter Ben Bishop has been playing lights out but look for Khabibulin to extend Chicago's win streak to 3...Not good news for Pekka Rinne owners as the elite goaltender will miss a minimum of 4 weeks after getting his hip checked out by doctors this morning. Carter Hutton slides into the starting role and played well in his start the other night, but having to fill those skates for a while may prove a little more difficult. However, he will be facing Winnipeg and Ondrej Pavelec who he beat in his only start of the season last week, so maybe the Preds defense can shut down the Jets' offense once again as Pavelec hasn't instilled a lot of confidence in ...

Niemi stopped all 24 shots and all three shootout attempts, including a highlight-reel save on Todd Bertuzzi to preserve the 1-0 win over the Red Wings on Monday. The win was his NHL leading eighth of the season as he moved to 8-0-1. There is no reason not to trust him right now even against a tough team like the Bruins tomorrow.

Quiet night for fantasy owners as some of the biggest names in the NHL were shut down by some top-notch goaltending. Antti Niemi silenced the Detroit Red Wings on the road with a 24-save shutout performance in the 1-0 SO win. Jimmy Howard did the same, but Sharks prevailed in the shoot-out thanks to an insane stop by Niemi on Todd Bertuzzi's last attempt. Last year's Vezina finalist is unquestionably among the fantasy elite, having gone 8-0-1 with a 1.64 and a .930 SP so far. Owners should continue to start the Finn workhorse with confidence. Meanwhile, Colorado backup J.S. Giguere helped the Avalanche take the battle of 7-1 teams in Pittsburgh with a 34-save shutout. One goal decided this "barnburner", as Av's captain Gabriel Landeskog notched the game-winner, his third of the season. Giguere's numbers now stand at 3-0, .067 GAA and .981 SP. The veteran is off to a fantastic start, but the starting job in Colorado belongs to Semyon Varlamov. "Cammy" returns for Calgary: All of a sudden, the Calgary Flames have fantasy options galore as they continue to amaze with their surprising hot start. Last night's victims, the Los Angeles Kings, were foiled by a late T.J. Brodie power-play game-winner in the 3-2 Flame's win. Winger Mike Cammalleri scored a goal and an assist in his season debut, while Jiri Hudler, with 2 assists and 11 points overall in eight games, is on a eight-game point streak. These two forwards are worth snapping off the waiver-wire, as they will play a huge role on the offense, especially with the man-advantage. Rookie sensation Sean Monahan can still be sent down after 10 games, but his eye-popping numbers (6G/3A in 8GP) will make that decision extremely difficult. And what about Mark Giordano? After falling off the fantasy map last season, the new Calgary captain leads the blueline with nine points in seven games. A real fantasy sleeper could be goalie Karri Ramo, who has plenty of untapped upside but had a few shaky starts before his solid win over the Kings last night. Just know this- if the Flames are to shock the hockey world this year, either Ramo or Joey MacDonald needs to step up. Pittsburgh forward  center Sidney Crosby finally had a game where he did not score a point.  Crosby has 17 points in 9 games, and he will almost assuredly win the NHL scoring title if he stays healthy.

Quiet night for fantasy owners as some of the biggest names in the NHL were shut down by some top-notch goaltending. Antti Niemi silenced the Detroit Red Wings on the road with a 24-save shutout performance in the 1-0 SO win. Jimmy Howard did the same, but Sharks prevailed in the shoot-out thanks to an insane stop by Niemi on Todd Bertuzzi's last attempt. Last year's Vezina finalist is unquestionably among the fantasy elite, having gone 8-0-1 with a 1.64 and a .930 SP so far. Owners should continue to start the Finn workhorse with confidence. Meanwhile, Colorado backup J.S. Giguere helped the Avalanche take the battle of 7-1 teams in Pittsburgh with a 34-save shutout. One goal decided this "barnburner", as Av's captain Gabriel Landeskog notched the game-winner, his third of the season. Giguere's numbers now stand at 3-0, .067 GAA and .981 SP. The veteran is off to a fantastic start, but the starting job in Colorado belongs to Semyon Varlamov. "Cammy" returns for Calgary: All of a sudden, the Calgary Flames have fantasy options galore as they continue to amaze with their surprising hot start. Last night's victims, the Los Angeles Kings, were foiled by a late T.J. Brodie power-play game-winner in the 3-2 Flame's win. Winger Mike Cammalleri scored a goal and an assist in his season debut, while Jiri Hudler, with 2 assists and 11 points overall in eight games, is on a eight-game point streak. These two forwards are worth snapping off the waiver-wire, as they will play a huge role on the offense, especially with the man-advantage. Rookie sensation Sean Monahan can still be sent down after 10 games, but his eye-popping numbers (6G/3A in 8GP) will make that decision extremely difficult. And what about Mark Giordano? After falling off the fantasy map last season, the new Calgary captain leads the blueline with nine points in seven games. A real fantasy sleeper could be goalie Karri Ramo, who has plenty of untapped upside but had a few shaky starts before his solid win over the Kings last night. Just know this- if the Flames are to shock the hockey world this year, either Ramo or Joey MacDonald needs to step up. Pittsburgh forward  center Sidney Crosby finally had a game where he did not score a point.  Crosby has 17 points in 9 games, and he will almost assuredly win the NHL scoring title if he stays healthy.

Niemi allowed three goals on 19 shots in a 6-3 win over the Flames on Saturday. After not allowing more than two goals in his first six starts, Niemi has allowed three goals in each of his last two starts. He has a tough matchup in Detroit tonight.

Niemi allowed three goals on 19 shots in a 6-3 win over the Flames on Saturday. After not allowing more than two goals in his first six starts, Niemi has allowed three goals in each of his last two starts. He has a tough matchup in Detroit tonight.

The marquee matchup of the night is too close to call, as the up-start Colorado Avalanche are paying a visit to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Av's are 4-0 on the road, with backup J.S. Giguere in the net tonight. However, you cannot discount M.A. Fleury's incredible play to start the year, especially at home.. The Calgary Flames will again be riding Karri Ramo in the crease, even though his numbers are 0-1-1 with a 4.37 GAA. Jonathan Quick and the L.A. Kings have won five of six, so go with the hot hand. Huge edge for Quick.. I love those Red Wings, but Jimmy Howard's return in the 5-2 loss to Phoenix now seems untimely, considering backup Jonas Gustavsson had won three straight starts. Antti Niemi and San Jose have been clicking on all cylinders, so their road date at Joe Louis Arena should be a triumphiant one. Niemi wins a close one. FANTASY MUST-STARTS Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles vs. Calgary Antti Niemi, San Jose @ Detroit SLEEPER ALERT None DAILY GOALIE PICKS Steve (10-8) Jonathan Quick Ray (7-11) Jonathan Quick Mike (10-7) Marc-Andre Fleury