On every game day this season, THN Fantasy will highlight players and goalies for fantasy managers to stream or roster for the rest of the season. The recommended players and goalies are rostered in less than 50 percent of Yahoo leagues and can be selected in standard fantasy leagues or for daily fantasy games.
13 games on Saturday, April 5
* = confirmed
Igor Shesterkin, NYR at Jacob Markstrom, NJ (12:30 p.m. ET)
Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA* at Linus Ullmark, OTT (2 p.m. ET)
Tristan Jarry, PIT at Casey DeSmith, DAL (3 p.m. ET)
Lukas Dostal, ANA at Kevin Lankinen, VAN (4 p.m. ET)
Calvin Pickard, EDM* at Darcy Kuemper, LA (4 p.m. ET)
Frederik Andersen, CAR at Jeremy Swayman, BOS (7 p.m. ET)
Andrei Vasilevskiy, TB at James Reimer, BUF (7 p.m. ET)
Elvis Merzlikins, CBJ at Joseph Woll, TOR (7 p.m. ET)
Samuel Ersson, PHI at Sam Montembeault, MTL (7 p.m. ET)
Mackenzie Blackwood, COL at Jordan Binnington, STL (7 p.m. ET)
Connor Hellebuyck, WPG at Karel Vejmelka, UTA* (7 p.m. ET)
Adin Hill, VGK at Dustin Wolf, CGY (10 p.m. ET)
Joey Daccord, SEA at Alexandar Georgiev, SJ (10 p.m. ET)
Goalies
Casey DeSmith, DAL vs. PIT (18% rostered)
The Pens offense shouldn’t be underestimated – Evgeni Malkin could return as well – but DeSmith should be a good play for a win. He’s been excellent in his past four starts, winning three of them and allowing only six goals.
DeSmith should be the best streaming option for Saturday. The matinee start worries me but the Stars are excellent at home (28-7-2) and DeSmith has not lost a game in regulation since Jan. 18 against the Avs. This will be DeSmith’s first ever appearance against his former team.
Lukas Dostal, ANA at VAN (40% rostered)
Dostal came in relief for John Gibson in their previous game and likely gets the start in an early matinee. The Ducks have lost two of their past three but they have a good chance to win this game. The Canucks have lost numerous key players to injury, with veteran defenseman Tyler Myers expected to miss this game, and scoring goals has been quite difficult.
Dostal is 1-5-1 in his career against the Canucks but the odds are far more even considering the Canucks’ depleted lineup. Dostal has usually been a good source of saves and that’s likely the case again here.
Calvin Pickard, EDM at LA (30% rostered)
Pickard will get his fifth straight start after winning three straight, but this is a difficult matchup. The Kings are historically good at home – their 28 wins is a franchise record – and the Oilers will be without both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
As good as Pickard has been as their interim starter, it’s unlikely he’ll get enough goal support to defeat the Kings on their home ice. The Oilers are 1-0-1 against the Kings this season but both games were decided by one goal, and in both games the Oilers had their top two centers. The better matchup to stream Pickard would be Monday in Anaheim.
Akira Schmid, VGK at CGY (1% rostered)
Schmid played the third period in a 4-0 loss to the Jets in the Knights’ previous game and there are two conclusions we can draw from it. One, the Knights want to give Adin Hill a breather before he starts in Calgary and potentially in Vancouver on a back-to-back; two, they want to give Schmid a look before starting him for the first time this season. Schmid has had a poor season for a mediocre AHL Henderson team, going 9-18-3 with a .886 SP this season.
Don’t be surprised if Hill gets this start and, hopefully, Ilya Samsonov is healthy enough to start in Vancouver. Otherwise, we might see Hill start both back-to-backs when the Knights have been pretty careful about his workload this season. Regardless, if Schmid gets this start, he’s too much of a wild card to be reliable. There’s little reason to think he can be a good streaming option given his body of work this season.
Samuel Ersson, PHI at MTL (16% rostered)
The Flyers are 3-0-0 under new head coach Brad Shaw, scoring 15 goals in the process. Their offense looks freer, but their goaltending remains troublesome. This game should feature a lot of goals; their past two matchups totaled 17 goals.
Saturday night games in Montreal are difficult road games and the Flyers are one of the unluckiest and weaker teams on the road (12-17-8). Because this can be such a potentially high-scoring game, you’re only looking for a win here, and the odds currently favor the Habs.
Karel Vejmelka, UTA vs. WPG (42% rostered)
Quantity. That’s what you’ll get with Vejmelka, who will make his 20th (!) straight appearance. Fatigue is definitely a major consideration here, and for whatever reason, Utah has not been very good on home ice this season. Vejmelka will likely rack up the saves, but he’ll need plenty of goal support to win, and there’s always a danger of an implosion.
The risk is pretty high and the main takeaway will be a high number of saves. The Jets have won four of their past five with only three goals allowed in those wins, so the odds of Utah providing good goal support is quite low.
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