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.
9 games on Thursday, March 6
* = confirmed
Connor Ingram, UTA at Cam Talbot, DET (7 p.m. ET)
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, BUF at Andrei Vasilevskiy, TB (7 p.m. ET)
Elvis Merzlikins, CBJ at Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA (7 p.m. ET)
Connor Hellebuyck, WPG at Samuel Ersson, PHI (7 p.m. ET)
Jeremy Swayman, BOS at Pyotr Kochetkov, CAR (7 p.m. ET)
Joey Daccord, SEA at Juuse Saros, NSH (8 p.m. ET)
Dustin Wolf, CGY at Jake Oettinger, DAL (8 p.m. ET)
Sam Montembeault, MTL at Stuart Skinner, EDM* (9 p.m. ET)
Alexandar Georgiev, SJ at Mackenzie Blackwood, COL (9:30 p.m. ET)
Goalies
Connor Ingram, UTA at DET (28% rostered)
Cam Talbot, DET vs. UTA (48% rostered)
The Wings have suddenly lost a bunch of steam while Utah’s three-game winning streak just ended. This is a tough call, and note NHL.com’s odds have both teams at -110 on the money line as of Wednesday. I think both clubs have good offensive players which doesn’t bode well for Ingram or Talbot’s save percentages. In cases like these, I tend to default to the better team, and even more so if they’re on home ice. In this case, it’s the Wings.
Ingram, or Karel Vejmelka, should he start with Utah playing the first game of a back-to-back, and Talbot are both riskier plays for Thursday. This game is a toss-up, but note the Wings are at home and they’ve been a much stronger offensive team under Todd McLellan while Utah has gone through stretches where they’ve been unable to score many goals. I’m going with Talbot for the win but not confident he can provide a stellar save percentage.
Samuel Ersson, PHI vs. WPG (26% rostered)
We might see Ivan Fedotov in this start, who beat the Jets in a shootout in Winnipeg last week, and after Ersson was pulled against the Flames in their most recent game. Two factors work in the Flyers’ favor: the Jets are mired in a three-game losing streak – note they lost all of them by just one goal – and the Flyers are 5-2-0 against them since 2022 with just 1.71 goals allowed (!) per game.
Flyers-Jets matchups in recent seasons have been low-scoring affairs, which gives me confidence Ersson (or Fedotov) can provide a good save percentage and GAA. Although I find it hard to envision the Jets getting swept in the season series, I’m willing to be contrarian and start Ersson in this matchup. He should bounce back from his previous start – he can’t be any worse – and home-ice advantage should tilt the ice a little more in their favor.
Alexandar Georgiev, SJ at COL (39% rostered)
The Sharks won both of their back-to-back games on the road, just the second time they’ve done so this season. They have a chance to tie a season-high winning streak but it’s going to be really tough. Expect Georgiev to get the start after Vitek Vanecek was traded to the Panthers, and Yaroslav Askarov remains in the minor nursing a day-to-day lower-body injury. Georgiev allowed four goals on 31 shots (.871 SP) against his former team earlier this season.
Pass. The Sharks have definitely improved but so have the Avs following their trade with the Rangers and roll into this matchup with a three-game winning streak and four goals allowed. The Sharks offense likely won’t be able to provide enough goal support for Georgiev to win.
Elvis Merzlikins, CBJ at FLA (37% rostered)
The Panthers have won four straight and been on an absolute tear, losing just twice in 10 over the past month. They allowed just one goal per period against an explosive Oilers offense in a 4-3 win and held the Lightning to just one goal in a 2-1 win in their previous game. I don’t have much confidence in Merzlikins in a very difficult matchup and his performances have been very volatile all season.
There’s a chance the Jackets stage an upset, but they’re bad on the road (10-17-4) and tend to have trouble scoring goals on the road, ranking 24th in goals per game. That’s really troublesome because Merzlikins relies heavily on goal support to win games. I’d pass on Merzlikins in favor of a surer bet.
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