Well, Luongo was scheduled to finally return to the Canucks crease tonight, but that won't be the case after he was shipped to Florida. Lack allowed three goals on 27 shots in a loss to the Senators in the Heritage Classic. He has gone 1-1-1 with a 1.31 GAA and .943 SV% with one shutout in his three previous starts.

Eight games in the NHL today with Philadelphia and Washington starting things off with a 12:30 game in Washington.  Steve Mason is (CONFIRMED) to start for the Flyers. He has been strong lately winning 4 of his last 5 games, but Braden Holtby (CONFIRMED) has been even hotter for the Capitals with 4 straight wins.  Go with Holtby on this one.  San Jose will face the Devils in New Jersey. Antti Niemi is (LIKELY) for the Sharks, and while he is having a good year with 29 wins, he has only gone 2-3 in his last 5 games.  Cory Schneider has been (CONFIRMED) for New Jersey, as the Martin Brodeur era in New Jersey appears to be ending. Schneider's 1.85 GAA is outstanding.  In a match of two floundering teams Florida will be at the Islanders.  Tim Thomas is (LIKELY) for the Panthers and he has lost 4 of his last 5 games and his .908 SP is not so great. Evgeni Nabokov (LIKELY) has not done any better for New York with 4 straight losses.  This one is a pickem. Craig Anderson has been (CONFIRMED) for Ottawa today at Vancouver in the Heritage Classic Game. This will be ihis first game since February 8 so he may be a little rusty.  Eddie Lack has been (CONFIRMED) for the Canucks, and boy Roberto Luongo is not happy about it.  Lack has a solid 2.05 GAA this year.  I like Vancouver in this one. Tuukka Rask (LIKELY) and his Bruins travel to New York to face the Rangers and (LIKELY) Henrik Lundqvist. Both goalies looked a liitle jetlagged in their first games back from the Olympics.  They should be more adjusted now, and we expect Rask to get the better of Henrik, who has not had his usual dominating season.  Tampa Bay will visit Colorado in a matchup of two goaltenders who are having outstanding seasons in Ben Bishop (LIKELY) for Tampa and Semyon Varlamov (CONFIRMED) for the Avalanche. Varlamov looked sharp in his first game back, so go with him in what should be a tough match. Ryan Miller (CONFIRMED) will make his first start for St. Louis today against Phoenix after the big trade. Mike Smith (LIKELY) should start for the Coyotes. Miller may be a little nervous in his first game for the Blues, but you have to go with Miller in this one.  In the final match of the day Carolina is at Anaheim. Cam Ward (LIKELY) who is having a season to forget is supposed to be the starter despite how well Anton Khudobin has been playing. Expect Jonas Hiller (LIKELY)who is having a great season to be in goal for the Ducks. Please go with Hiller. FANTASY MUST STARTS: Jonas Hiller, ...

Welcome folks, it's that time of the week again. This week's edition of SMC is being brought to you by 'Steve' as Ray gets the day off. Let's start by handing out major kudos to Jaromir Jagr and Alex Oveckin for their milestone moments last night. JJ gets his 700th goal. AO gets his 800th point. Future fantasy hockey Hall of Famers for sure! Is there a better big-game player than Jonathan Toews? He absolutely dominated in Chicago's 6-1 romp of Pittsburgh at Soldier Field. A game of huge stars dominated by one. Eddie Lack is projected to start the Heritage Classic for Vancouver. How much more disrespect can Roberto Luongo take? You think Marty St. Louis is playing with a chip on his shoulders since returning from Sochi? Four goals in the last two games, while apparently making it clear he wants out. If he stays put and Stamkos gets back soon, they should be the best fantasy forward tandem over the last 20 games or so. Phil Kessel has made James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak very fantasy relevant this season. Just like he did for Joffrey Lupul last year. In Steve Mason we trust? The Flyer's starting goalie had a 7-goal clunker sandwiched between 2 great wins against Colorado and the New York Rangers. So much for Team Russia's meltdown and a IOC suspension slowing them down... Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom are on "fire" for the Washington Capitals. Fantasy owners should enjoy the ride. Looking for a nice sleeper goalie with solid starting fantasy value? Darcy Kuemper that's who. It's looking less likely that Minnesota will be trading for a goalie by the deadline. If Johan Franzen can stay healthy for Detroit, he will put up big numbers with Henrik Zetterberg out. Big "IF" though.. Is Alex Semin hurt again? What else is new? Will Daniel Sedin ever score again? Tortorella's defensive scheme is "kryptonite" to the fantasy values of offensive stars. I am loving Jarome Iginla as solid fantasy option the rest of the way. The Olympic Break has done the 36-year old plenty of good. He has great chemistry with Krejci and Lucic. He is also perennially a second-half stud. Do you need anymore evidence? Now, speaking of second-half duds, hopefully many Kyle Okposo owners "sold high" when the news of JT's season-ending injury broke out. His numbers are about to get even worse if Vanek is dealt soon. Under Paul Maurice, Winnipeg goalie Ondrej Pavelec is very startable in all fantasy formats. Those poor Edmonton Oilers.. All these claims of incredible offensive ...

Lack stopped 22 of 23 shots in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Wild on Friday. Head coach John Tortorella will reward Lack with his third consecutive start over veteran Roberto Luongo despite Sunday being and the outdoor Heritage Classic. Lack is 1-0-1 with just one goal allowed on 45 shots in his last two starts.

Lack stopped all 20 shots in a 1-0 win over the Blues on Wednesday. Lack improved to 3-0-0 with a 0.97 GAA and .960 SV% against St. Louis this season. Tonight he will take on the Wild for the first time in his young career. Lack enters play 9-8-3 with a 2.11 GAA and .924 SV% on the season.

Well the NHL started back up in earnest last night with 4 games after the two week break for the Olympics. Some interesting news as gold medal winning goaltender for Canada, Carey Price, has a LBI and will miss at least 2 games. Maybe he is just tired and jet-lagged from his efforts in Sochi....Center Marian Gaborik has been activated by Columbus after missing 22 games with a broken collarbone. Grab him immediately if you can.  He appears to not be going to the AHL for conditioning like Pekka Rinne. Rinne should be back soon as the Predators starting goalie....Pittsburgh goaltender Tomas Vokoun has been medically cleared to play again, as he has recovered from his blood clot problem. This puts a big logjam in goal for the Penguins with Marc-Andre Fleury, Jeff Zatkoff and now Vokoun. This can't help any of their fantasy values.  Expect Zatkoff to be sent down....It appears that Vancouver center Ryan Kesler hurt his hand at the Olympics playing for the US. Also, there are reports that he has asked for a trade from the Canucks, so we will keep an eye on that.  Kesler has 38 points on the season, which makes him a marginal 6th forward. The Sabres beat the Bruins 5-4 in OT as right wing Matt D' Agostini scored the game winner. With only 8 points on the season, he is not fantasy worthy.  Buffalo center Zemgus Girgensons had 2 goals. Now that is a tough name to spell correctly.  Girgensons has great speed and, at 20 years of age, he has a lot of upside but he figures to be more of a second line defensive forward than a scorer....A lot of starting goaltenders were on the bench last night because of their efforts in Sochi.  One such instance had Chad Johnson in goal in place of Tuukka Rask for Boston. After last night, expect Rask to be quickly back in goal....In a tight match in Montreal, the Red Wings won 2-1 in OT, with Gustav Nyquist scoring the game winner. Nyquist has 25 points on the season, but it is in only 34 games.  If he is available in your pool and you need some forward help, pick him up.  He has a lot of skill. LA center Anze Kopitar had a big night with 2 goals and an assist against Colorado in a 6-4 win. Kopitar has 50 points on the season and he is a top fantasy forward.  Right wing Justin Williams had a goal and an assist for the Kings, but with only 31 points on the season we can't recommend him. He once scored 76 points for Carolina in the 2005-2006 season, but he has aged into a 50-55 point player....Young center Ryan O'Reilly had a goal ...

Well the NHL started back up in earnest last night with 4 games after the two week break for the Olympics. Some interesting news as gold medal winning goaltender for Canada, Carey Price, has a LBI and will miss at least 2 games. Maybe he is just tired and jet-lagged from his efforts in Sochi....Center Marian Gaborik has been activated by Columbus after missing 22 games with a broken collarbone. Grab him immediately if you can.  He appears to not be going to the AHL for conditioning like Pekka Rinne. Rinne should be back soon as the Predators starting goalie....Pittsburgh goaltender Tomas Vokoun has been medically cleared to play again, as he has recovered from his blood clot problem. This puts a big logjam in goal for the Penguins with Marc-Andre Fleury, Jeff Zatkoff and now Vokoun. This can't help any of their fantasy values.  Expect Zatkoff to be sent down....It appears that Vancouver center Ryan Kesler hurt his hand at the Olympics playing for the US. Also, there are reports that he has asked for a trade from the Canucks, so we will keep an eye on that.  Kesler has 38 points on the season, which makes him a marginal 6th forward. The Sabres beat the Bruins 5-4 in OT as right wing Matt D' Agostini scored the game winner. With only 8 points on the season, he is not fantasy worthy.  Buffalo center Zemgus Girgensons had 2 goals. Now that is a tough name to spell correctly.  Girgensons has great speed and, at 20 years of age, he has a lot of upside but he figures to be more of a second line defensive forward than a scorer....A lot of starting goaltenders were on the bench last night because of their efforts in Sochi.  One such instance had Chad Johnson in goal in place of Tuukka Rask for Boston. After last night, expect Rask to be quickly back in goal....In a tight match in Montreal, the Red Wings won 2-1 in OT, with Gustav Nyquist scoring the game winner. Nyquist has 25 points on the season, but it is in only 34 games.  If he is available in your pool and you need some forward help, pick him up.  He has a lot of skill. LA center Anze Kopitar had a big night with 2 goals and an assist against Colorado in a 6-4 win. Kopitar has 50 points on the season and he is a top fantasy forward.  Right wing Justin Williams had a goal and an assist for the Kings, but with only 31 points on the season we can't recommend him. He once scored 76 points for Carolina in the 2005-2006 season, but he has aged into a 50-55 point player....Young center Ryan O'Reilly had a goal ...

Lack stopped 28 of 29 shots in a 2-0 loss to the Red Wings in his last start (Feb. 3). Tuesday was the first time Luongo skated with the team since before leaving for Sochi, so Lack will get the call in the first game back. Lack is 2-0-0 with a 1.44 GAA and .945 SV% in two starts vs. St. Louis this season.

ALL GOALIES ARE CONFIRMED UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED AT THE TIME OF PRINT An exciting start last night as Olympian Ryan Miller backstopped the Sabres to a last minute 3-2 victory over the Hurricanes. Tonight, Jhonas Enroth gets the nod against Chad Johnson and the Boston Bruins as Tuukka Rask gets a few days rest after the Olympic travel. The Bruins are a better team than the Canes but the Sabres have some momentum after last night's game.  Expect a tight one between these two rivals but go with the Bruins in this one...Jean-Sebastien Giguere will be in net for the Colorado Avalanche as starter Semyon Varlamov will rest another day. Varlamov was less than impressive in Sochi so there may be a little concern about his play going forward.  Giguere has been in Patrick Roy's "chateau bow-wow" for a while now and needs to produce a solid effort against the Los Angeles Kings who may rest US Olympic team starter, Jonathan Quick, in this one.  Martin Jones (LIKELY) looks to prove his mid-season run was not a fluke and needs to keep the Kings in the game until they find some scoring.   Go with the home team Avs in this one....Jimmy Howard will get the Detroit Red Wings back on track in their chase for a playoff spot. Howard's play has been better of late (pre-Olympics) and should continue to make the early season disaster a distant memory.  Olympian hero Carey Price tweaked a lower-body injury (LBI) and will miss the next two games, thrusting Peter Budaj into the starter's role. This should a classic rough-and-tumble affair decided by perhaps the shootout....Jaroslav Halak and the St. Louis Blues will head into Vancouver to take on Eddie Lack (LIKELY) and the Canucks. Halak didn't particularly impress at Sochi and there are rumors circulating that the Blues are perhaps looking for a more dependable option in net. Lack has proven his worth and can steal this one at home. FANTASY MUST STARTS: Chad Johnson, Boston @ Buffalo SLEEPERS: Eddie Lack, Vancouver vs. St. Louis DAILY GOALIE PICKS: Steve: (75-45) TBA Ray: (68-51) Chad Johnson Mike: (58-43) TBA

Lack stopped 28 of 29 shots in a 2-0 loss to the Red Wings in his last start (Feb. 3). Tuesday was the first time Luongo skated with the team since before leaving for Sochi, so it looks like Lack will get the call. Lack is 2-0-0 with a 1.44 GAA and .945 SV% in two starts vs. St. Louis this season.