The Fantasy Hockey Weekly Planner is the essential guide to setting your lineup for the upcoming week. Every Friday, we provide you with top matchups, the latest news and give you the scoop on injured players.

Projections are for Nov. 12-18 games and all stats are through Thursday.

Number of games on the schedule for each team this week
Four games Three games Two games
Carolina Montreal Anaheim Atlanta
Columbus N.Y. Islanders Calgary Boston
Florida N.Y. Rangers Chicago Buffalo
Minnesota Philadelphia Detroit Colorado
New Jersey Pittsburgh Edmonton Dallas
San Jose Toronto Los Angeles Ottawa
Nashville Tampa Bay
Phoenix Washington
St. Louis
Vancouver
Bold indicates a team has at least three home games.
Italics indicates a team has at least three road games.
The following teams have back-to-back games in the upcoming scoring period, which means it's likely a backup goalie could start the second game: Buffalo, Calgary, Carolina, Chicago, Detroit, Edmonton, Florida, Minnesota, Montreal, New Jersey, N.Y. Islanders, N.Y. Rangers, San Jose and St. Louis.

On tap: Week 7 brings us eight nationally televised games in either the United States or Canada: Carolina at Florida (US) on Monday; Detroit at St. Louis (US) on Tuesday; Edmonton at Vancouver (CAN) on Wednesday; Montreal at Buffalo (CAN) on Friday; Ottawa at Toronto (CAN) and Calgary at Edmonton (CAN) on Saturday.

F A N T A S Y   S P I N S

Daymond Langkow suffered a concussion after getting hit by Vancouver's Matt Cooke on Thursday. It's unclear what his status will be for the coming scoring period ... Rangers coach Tom Renney swapped out Brendan Shanahan and Petr Prucha on the first and second scoring line. Renney is still trying to find the perfect lineup. He had been moving free-agent signee Chris Drury around earlier in the year ... Patrik Elias and Scott Hartnell just aren't having a great first quarter. Elias hasn't scored in 10 games and he's on pace for 37 points, which is his lowest number since 1997. Hartnell still hasn't scored his first goal in his first year with Philadelphia through 15 games. He had five goals in his first 15 games last season with Nashville ... With Scott Gomez moving on to play with the Rangers, Dainius Zubrus was expected to flourish this season in New Jersey. He finally scored his first goal of the season against Philadelphia on Thursday ... Matt Cullen has an assist in eight consecutive games through Thursday, with 11 assists total ... Lightning D Dan Boyle will have a second surgery on his left wrist to re-attach two of the three ligaments that were originally torn in a freak accident in the preseason. The team hasn't confirmed how long he's expected to be out, but months (plural) are our expectations ... Rookie RW Patrick Kane's 16 points in the month of October were the most by a rookie since Teemu Selanne had 20 for Winnipeg and Joe Juneau had 17 for Boston in 1992-93. To put that in perspective, Sidney Crosby had 14 points and Alex Ovechkin had 13 points in their rookie Octobers in 2005-06.

Three Stars of the Week

Steve Reinprecht, C, PHO: Centering the Coyotes' first line gave the seven-year veteran three goals (2 PPG) and four assists, with a plus-five rating, this past week.

Mathieu Schneider, D, ANA: After finally getting back on the ice with a healed ankle, Schneider has been as good as ever. He has two goals and four assists in just four games this year.

Henrik Lundqvist, G, NYR: It's not uncommon to see a second-year goalie have a serious letdown, but the Swedish sophomore is dominating right now. This past week, he went 3-1-1, with a 1.48 GAA in four games. He's 8-2 with a 1.30 GAA in 10 games at Madison Square Garden this year.

F I V E   T E A M S   W I T H   F A V O R A B L E   M A T C H U P S
The following five teams have the best matchups for the upcoming week. That doesn't necessarily mean they will post the best Fantasy stats, but if you're looking for a one-week start or are trying to make a difficult decision between two players to use, lean toward players from these teams:
Team 11/12 11/13 11/14 11/15 11/16 11/17 11/18
Carolina Hurricanes @FLA -- @TB -- ATL FLA --
The Canes have four games this week -- all against teams with horrible goal differentials. Carolina's opponents have scored 122 goals so far this season while allowing 157.
Pittsburgh Penguins NJ -- -- NYI -- NYR --
Sidney Crosby and friends have three home games against the Islanders, Devils and Rangers, who are a combined 5-12-3 on the road this season.
Minnesota Wild -- @CAL -- @EDM @VAN -- COL
Four games to score Fantasy points, and while three are on the road, they do get to face the Oilers (29th in goal diff.), the Flames (25th in GAA) and at Vancouver (1-6-0 at home).
Vancouver Canucks -- -- EDM -- MIN -- CAL
While the Canucks haven't played well at home so far this season, remember that Roberto Luongo was 26-11-4 with a 2.35 GAA at home a season ago. They do have three games at General Motors Place this week.
Philadelphia Flyers NYI -- -- NYR -- NJ --
The Flyers have three games at home, where they are undefeated in four games. No team faces more shots on goal though, but Martin Biron has so far been able to withstand the barrage (8-5, 2.27 GAA).
F I V E   T E A M S   W I T H   P O O R   M A T C H U P S
The following five teams have the worst matchups for the upcoming week. That doesn't necessarily mean you should reserve every player from these teams, but try to avoid less-heralded performers from these squads if you have a better alternative:
Team 11/12 11/13 11/14 11/15 11/16 11/17 11/18
Washington Capitals -- -- -- @FLA @TB -- --
The Caps are on the road for two back-to-back games this week. They travel to face Florida and Tampa Bay, who are a combined 11-3-1 at home.
Chicago Blackhawks -- -- @CMB @NAS -- @DET --
Blackhawks' owners can't be excited about the upcoming stretch of three games away from the United Center. One of those comes against Columbus, which has a 1.86 GAA (second in the NHL).
Colorado Avalanche -- -- -- -- @DAL -- @MIN
Two road games at Dallas and Minnesota does not spell success for the Avs. The Wild have a 1.75 GAA at home.
Toronto Maple Leafs -- MON -- @BOS -- OTT --
The Leafs face three teams in the top 10 among lowest goals-against average (under 2.36).
Florida Panthers CAR @ATL -- WAS -- @CAR --
The Cats might have four games, but two are against Carolina, which has the biggest goal differential in the league right now (3.87 GFA/2.40 GAA) through 15 games.

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