Mackenzie Blackwood may make his Avalanche debut while Alexandar Georgiev may have earned a second straight start for the Sharks after the two goalies were traded for each other on Monday.
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 can be used in standard fantasy leagues or for daily fantasy games.
15 games for Saturday, Dec. 14
* = confirmed
Drew Commesso, CHI* at Jacob Markstrom, NJ* (1 p.m. ET)
Darcy Kuemper, LA* at Igor Shesterkin, NYR* (1 p.m. ET)
Samuel Ersson, PHI* at Marc-Andre Fleury, MIN* (2 p.m. ET)
Adin Hill, VEG at Stuart Skinner, EDM (4 p.m. ET)
Tristan Jarry, PIT* at Anton Forsberg, OTT (7 p.m. ET)
Joseph Woll, TOR* at Ville Husso, DET* (7 p.m. ET)
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, BUF* at Logan Thompson, WSH* (7 p.m. ET)
John Gibson, ANA* at Jet Greaves, CLB* (7 p.m. ET)
Sam Montembeault, MON at Connor Hellebuyck, WPG* (7 p.m. ET)
Jordan Binnington, STL at Jake Oettinger, DAL* (8 p.m. ET)
Juuse Saros, NSH at Mackenzie Blackwood, COL* (9 p.m. ET)
Spencer Knight, FLA at Dustin Wolf, CGY* (10 p.m. ET)
Jeremy Swayman, BOS at Thatcher Demko, VAN (10 p.m. ET)
Karel Vejmelka, UTA at Vitek Vanecek, SJ* (10 p.m. ET)
Andrei Vasilevskiy, TB at Philipp Grubauer, SEA* (10 p.m. ET)
Goalies
Mackenzie Blackwood, COL vs. NSH (54% rostered)
Blackwood went from being rostered in less than 15 percent of leagues earlier in the week to being rostered in the majority of Yahoo leagues. After battling an illness, and with the Avs coming off a 4-1 loss, we could see Blackwood make his debut.
Jared Bednar hinted Blackwood might be their 1A option, and perhaps more than that, down the road. This gives Blackwood a ton of fantasy value, and this is a good matchup with the Preds missing basically half their defense.
Tristan Jarry, PIT at OTT (20% rostered)
Are we believers? The Sens are much better at home than on the road, but they played Linus Ullmark on the road vs. the Canes on Friday, leaving backup Anton Forsberg in the second half of their back-to-back. You can feel the confidence really rising with the Pens. Jarry has now won five of his past six starts and I'm willing to roll the dice here.
Karel Vejmelka, UTA at SJ (24% rostered)
Intriguing matchup for goalies. Vejmelka has been solid and even as the road team I'll take him to win the game. However, don't discount the Sharks offense, which ranks 11th in GF/GP (3.31) at home vs. 28th (2.37) on the road. I don't have much issue streaming Vejmelka in this matchup despite being on the road based on his performance and the fact Utah is the better team.
Samuel Ersson, PHI at MIN (17% rostered)
Marc-Andre Fleury, MIN vs. PHI (17% rostered)
This is a hard matchup for the Flyers, though it's made slightly easier with Joel Eriksson Ek and Jacob Middleton out of the Wild lineup. These matinee games are difficult to predict, and Ersson wasn't particularly sharp in his previous two starts, though the expectation is that he'll improve as he works his way back into game shape.
I'd avoid this matchup for Ersson, but I do like Fleury in this start. He's been generally very good this season and I don't think the Wild will roll over for the Flyers like the Wings did on Thursday. Their previous game was a 7-5 win for the Flyers - again, another weird matinee - but I'll take the under on 12 goals this time.
Elvis Merzlikins, CLB vs. ANA (22% rostered)
The Ducks are in a tailspin yet again, and while the Jackets have similar struggled - one win in six games - I have much more confidence in their ability to score goals and win. Merzlikins hasn't been sharp, but note the Jackets have one of the better home records (8-4-2) in the East. Merzlikins' home stats are slightly worse than on the road (.883 SP vs. .895 SP), but the record is much better (6-3-1 vs. 3-5-1).
Spencer Knight, FLA at CGY (8% rostered)
With Sergei Bobrovsky starting three straight, including Thursday's 4-0 loss in Vancouver, I think Knight gets this start with two more road games to go for the Panthers. Knight's play has been up-and-down, but I trust the Panthers will make good on being the favorite. The Flames will likely start Dustin Wolf in place of the injured Dan Vladar, and Wolf has really struggled lately with three straight losses. I suspect this might be a high-scoring game, but if you're looking for a win, Knight should be one of the better options.
Ville Husso, DET vs. TOR (4% rostered)
You're hoping for saves and a good save percentage - that's it. The Wings offense is so anemic I don't think they can provide any goal support, and the Leafs defense has been excellent lately. Through six starts, Husso still has yet to win a game, and I think his leash will be very short.
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