Fantasy Spin: Power-play Pietrangelo; Dubnyk again

Wednesday, 02.04.2015 / 1:09 AM

By David Satriano - NHL.com Staff Writer / Fantasy Spin Blog

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Fantasy Spin Blog
Fantasy Spin: Power-play Pietrangelo; Dubnyk again

The big question for the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday was who would absorb defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk's minutes after the defenseman was injured Sunday. Shattenkirk will have abdominal surgery and his return to the lineup is week-to-week.

Shattenkirk was third on the Blues with 22:54 of ice time and second in power-play minutes (first among defensemen) with 3:23 per game. Chris Butler, who hadn't played since Jan. 10, took his place in the lineup Tuesday and had an assist in 20:45 of ice time.

Alex Pietrangelo
Defense - STL
GOALS: 4 | ASST: 24 | PTS: 28
SOG: 128 | +/-: 0
Alex Pietrangelo, who averaged 25:28 of ice time per game, first on the Blues, played 27:15. He was second among Blues defenseman with 2:24 power-play minutes per game and played 2:17 out of 4:00 Tuesday, which led the defense.

Pietrangelo moved up to the first power-play unit with forwards Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz, David Backes and Alexander Steen, with Steen playing the point in place of Shattenkirk.

-- Goaltender Devan Dubnyk, owned in 51 percent of leagues, had his third shutout in eight starts with the Minnesota Wild, making 24 saves in a 3-0 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Dubnyk has allowed 11 goals with Minnesota (1.48 goals-against average) and was owned in 20 percent of leagues when he was traded from the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 14.

Wild goaltenders have had success in recent years. In 2012-13, Niklas Backstrom tied for the NHL lead with 24 wins, and last season Josh Harding was 18-7-3 leading the League in GAA (1.66) and save percentage (.933) before his season ended because of illness.

-- Erik Cole (6 percent owned, LW, RW) returned for the Dallas Stars after missing three games with an upper-body injury. He scored in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Colorado Avalanche and has a goal in four of six games, and seven in 10 games. Cole skated on the second line with Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky and played 14:34 but not on the power play.

-- Winnipeg Jets goalie Michael Hutchinson (63 percent owned) has been solid all season but has struggled in his three most recent starts; he has allowed four goals or more in each. Prior to that, Hutchinson allowed four goals once in 21 appearances.

Ondrej Pavelec (60 percent owned) made his second start in six games and allowed three goals in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks.

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