Fantasy Recap: Apr. 11

By CHRIS NICHOLS -- SLAM! Sports

 Montreal 3 Boston 2 (Boston leads series 2-1)

 The Habs needed a big game from their big gun and they got it Sunday. Alex Kovalev came through with two goals in the first period and now has three points in three games on the series... Saku Koivu (Two assists Sunday, three points in the series) and Richard Zednik (One assist and six SOG Sunday that gave him his only point in the series so far) had some productive shifts together and will need to sizzle to beat Andrew Raycroft more often... After being a point stud in the regular season, Sheldon Souray has yet to find his way onto the score sheet in this series... Fantasy pools almost never count points from goalies, so Jose Theodore's two assists likely went to waste... Mike Ribeiro's display of incredible poor sportsmanship when he feigned an injury is likely going to get him on the wrong end of a few nasty hits from the Bruins when next year's regular season rolls around.

 Michael Nylander did not play Sunday afternoon. The official team line during the game was the flu, but media speculation was that he was shaken up after a big hit during Game Two... Joe Thornton has no points and is -2 in three games, but the good news is the Bruins are still ahead in the series with their stud not producing - if he can get going despite the ribs, watch out... Thornton's linemates are also sputtering, with Mike Knuble only having one goal and Glen Murray being held pointless so far... Despite the loss and three goals against, Andrew Raycroft still made 29 saves and looked pretty good at times.

 Nashville 3 Detroit 1 (Detroit leads series 2-1)

 Tomas Vokoun has been pretty solid for this whole series, but he was out and out spectacular at times Sunday against Detroit. He robbed several Wings and looked pretty sharp stopping 41 shots in all. 22 of those saves came in the third period alone with the Wings storming the net... Adam Hall scored and had an assist - it was his second goal of the series already, after scoring only 13 goals all season... Scott Hartnell's goal was his second point of this young series and he's the kind of regular fantasy player that can get you 40 points/ 200+SOG/ 100 PIM's with a decent +/-... In a complete shock, Steve Sullivan has now gone three straight games without a point.

 Brett Hull recorded his first goal of the series Sunday and he had eight shots on net. Hull is the epitome of a clutch playoff scorer and there is absolutely no doubt more points are on the way... Derian Hatcher had an uncharacteristic giveaway that lead to a Nashville goal... Matt Schneider had no points Sunday, but has two in the series... Nick Lidstrom only has one point (assist) in the entire series, but he pumped seven shots at Vokoun Sunday after having only two shots total in the first two games.

 Vancouver 2 Calgary 1 (Vancouver leads series 2-1)

 Memo to the refs in this series: eyeglass prescriptions can be filled at a variety of places on the way to the rink...where was the penalty shot call on Markus Naslund during Jarome Iginla's breakaway or the boarding call on Ohlund in the last minute? Dan Cloutier injured himself - again - and Johan Hedberg admirably filled his shoes. Don't forget Hedberg was in net as a rookie for the Pens several years ago when they got all the way to the Conference Finals against NJD and lost... Jarome Iginla has looked really strong in the past two games and actually fought Ohlund since the refs wouldn't take care of business... Ohlund has looked strong defending Iggy in this series, but Iginla has still found ways to get scoring chances... Chris Simon had a first period goal and fanned on a glorious chance for what could have been his second goal in the third period. He's looked highly effective on the first line and is a very nice sleeper pick in this series with three points in three games... Craig Conroy left the game at one point, but returned wearing a full visor and played well.

 Naslund continued his stellar play with another goal (Five points in the series now) and four shots on Miikka Kiprusoff... Matt Cooke scored and has a couple of points so far, looking good on Vancouver's top line when he's there... Speaking of which, Brendan Morrison's assist gives him four points thus far... Jovocop has averaged an assist per game vs. the Canucks.

 In addition to analyzing fantasy hockey for us, Chris also writes a weekly column for ESPN's fantasy hockey section. 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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