
Opening Analysis / Round 1 / Round 2 / Round 3 / Final
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| Malkin and Crosby are the top two in the playoff scoring race, but will not factor into the pool outcome in the final round. |
Round three started off quickly with a number of challengers charging on to the leaderboard, only to stall and ultimately find themselves a few points (or a few players) short. Reuben-Apollo Jackaman-Slipacoff continues to lead but saw his margin shrink from 13 to 5 points, and now without any players left is expected to drop. Rachelle Gaudet climbed early from 13th into the top three, but has also lost all players and will only drop from her current fourth place. John Thompson made a late charge from 28th to 4th and still has a chance in a Nashville victory, but needed Anaheim to prevail for a real shot. As each Cup contender went down through the first three rounds, more poolies found themselves without the picks needed to win - until finally the Penguins scored their double overtime game seven goal to eliminate the Senators and salvage most of the remaining picks in the pool.
It's unusual for two goalies on the same team to be among the leading players in the playoffs, and especially in the same round. But after Marc-Andre Fleury picked up a shutout in game 2, Matt Murray returned from injury, delivered three wins, an assist, and a shutout of his own to lead all players in pool points. He also turned the series around for the Penguins. Between Murray and Fleury was Nashille's Filip Forsberg with seven points in round three to lead the Predators to the final.
With most of the entries locked in with their final players - all of the contenders have Crosby and Malkin, rendering them irrelevant, except for the pool leader who has nothing left - it will be action on the fringes that will determine the final outcome. The main battle is whether the Penguins lift the Cup, and with it the fortunes of the top few who took them to win. Beyond that, a battle between Phil Kessel and Justin Schultz, a few people counting on a some love from their Predators picks, and a long-longshot of Matt Murray delivering a shutout or two, are the things to watch in the final round.
Only one poolie has a full slate of six players in the finals, and that is Matt Steeves. While he starts in 12th, offence from his Nashville players will see him quickly climb the ladder - Matt has a better chance in a Penguins victory (with the 10-point bonus) but can also place in the money if Nashville wins.
In the case of a Pittsburgh win, Michael McShane will look to triumph with four players including PK Subban. Further back of Matt Steeves, Shane Kozlowich will try to hold off Jessica Thompson, who with a shutout or two from Murray can finish on the podium for the fourth year in a row.
If Nashville wins, the pool leader Reuben-Apollo Jackaman-Slipacoff has a small chance to hang on - especially if the Pens big guns are silent - but otherwise those right behind him, Phil Victor, Pasqi Porco and others, will try to chip away at each other.
Good luck to all!
| Pittsburgh win | |
| | Nashville win | |
| Reuben-Apollo Jackaman-Slipacoff | 115 | none | |
Reuben-Apollo Jackaman-Slipacoff | 115 | none |
| Michael McShane | 103 (+10) | Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Subban | |
Phil Victor | 110 | Crosby, Malkin, Schultz |
| Shane Kozlowich | 103 (+10) | Crosby, Malkin, Schultz | |
Pasqi Porco | 109 | Crosby, Malkin, Kessel |
| Kamerni Pillai | 102 (+10) | Crosby, Malkin, Schultz | |
John Thompson | 104 | Crosby, Malkin, Kessel |
| Matt Steeves | 101 (+10) | Crosby, Malkin, Sheary, Rinne, Arvidsson, Josi | |
Michael McShane | 103 | Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Subban |
| Jessica Thompson | 97 (+10) | Crosby, Malkin, Murray | |
Shane Kozlowich | 103 | Crosby, Malkin, Schultz |
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Glenn Zyzanski | 103 | Arvidsson, Subban, Johansen |
| | | | |
Matt Steeves | 101 | Crosby, Malkin, Sheary, Rinne, Arvidsson, Josi |
| Hot |
Pos. Gain (R2,R3) |
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Hot |
Rd3 Pts. |
| Kara Rive |
92 (143,51) |
|
Jessica Thompson |
31 |
| Steve Sealy |
83 (164,81) |
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John Thompson |
28 |
| Daryl James |
81 (121,40) |
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Emma and Andrew Fielding |
27 |
| Todd Beaman |
78 (245,167) |
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Daryl James |
27 |
| Nathan Slack |
77 (175,98) |
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Evie Christie |
25 |
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Gary Brewster |
25 |
| Not |
Pos. Loss (R2,R3) |
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Not |
Rd3 Pts. |
| Molly McNulty |
64 (49,113) |
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80 People with: |
0 |
| Blair Phillips |
62 (57,119) |
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| Brett Kirkpatrick |
61 (42,103) |
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| Owen Thompson, Jeff Wener |
60 (38,98) |
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| Top Players |
| Forwards |
Team |
Pts |
Picks |
| Evgeni Malkin |
PIT |
24 |
47 |
| Sidney Crosby |
PIT |
20 |
114 |
| Phil Kessel |
PIT |
19 |
34 |
| Ryan Getzlaf |
ANA |
19 |
65 |
| Jake Guentzel |
PIT |
16 |
1 |
| Leon Draisaitl |
EDM |
16 |
69 |
| Bobby Ryan |
OTT |
15 |
1 |
| Filip Forsberg |
NAS |
15 |
4 |
| Jakob Silfverberg |
ANA |
14 |
2 |
| Ryan Johansen |
NAS |
13 |
3 |
| Rickard Rakell |
ANA |
13 |
11 |
| Nicklas Backstrom |
WAS |
13 |
163 |
|
| Defense |
Team |
Pts |
Picks |
| Erik Karlsson |
OTT |
18 |
43 |
| Ryan Ellis |
NAS |
11 |
0 |
| Roman Josi |
NAS |
10 |
1 |
| P.K. Subban |
NAS |
10 |
6 |
| Justin Schultz |
PIT |
10 |
28 |
| Cam Fowler |
ANA |
9 |
14 |
| Mattias Ekholm |
NAS |
8 |
0 |
| Shea Theodore |
ANA |
8 |
0 |
| Goalies |
Team |
Pts |
Picks |
| Pekka Rinne |
NAS |
25 |
1 |
| Marc-Andre Fleury |
PIT |
19 |
0 |
| Cam Talbot |
EDM |
18 |
15 |
| Craig Anderson |
OTT |
17 |
2 |
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| Teams |
| IN |
Picks |
Cups |
| Pittsburgh |
253 |
28 |
| Nashville |
18 |
0 |
|
| OUT |
Picks |
Cups |
| Anaheim |
156 |
11 |
| Ottawa |
67 |
1 |
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Sadly going 2-0 in Round 3 (just a game 7 double OT bounce from being happily wrong) puts me at 10-4 overall and ensures I'll finish at or above .667 this year. Too bad this never translates into pool victories! It's hard to dislike either Pittsburgh or Nashville. But you can never count out Crosby and the Penguins so I'm picking Pittsburgh for the second year in a row.
Here are the projected scores and rankings for after
round 4, not including the Cup winner bonus. The projection assumes (wrongly, of course) that the players you
have alive will produce in round 4 at the same average rate as in the first
three rounds. Of course, if you have no players left, you will definitely have the same score as you have now!
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