Boost your fantasy team with overlooked goalies from the Blue Jackets and Sabres. Target these low-rostered assets for immediate impact.
On every game day this season, THN Fantasy will highlight players and goalies for fantasy hockey managers to stream, roster or utilize in standard leagues and/or DFS games. Players and goalies highlighted for streaming in standard leagues are rostered in less than 50 percent of Yahoo leagues.
11 games on Saturday, March 21
Connor Hellebuyck, WPG at Arturs Silovs, PIT (1 p.m. ET)
Akira Schmid, VGK at Justus Annunen, NSH (2 p.m. ET)
Jake Oettinger, DAL at Filip Gustavsson, MIN* (4 p.m. ET)
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, BUF* at Darcy Kuemper, LA (4 p.m. ET)
Dan Vladar, PHI at Alex Nedeljkovic, SJ (4 p.m. ET)
Joey Daccord, SEA at Elvis Merzlikins, CBJ (5 p.m. ET)
Ilya Sorokin, NYI at Jakub Dobes, MTL (7 p.m. ET)
Anthony Stolarz, TOR at Linus Ullmark, OTT (7 p.m. ET)
Joel Hofer, STL at Nikita Tolopilo, VAN (7 p.m. ET)
Jeremy Swayman, BOS at John Gibson, DET (8 p.m. ET)
Andrei Vasilevskiy, TB at Connor Ingram, EDM (10 p.m. ET)
* = confirmed
Goalies
Elvis Merzlikins, CBJ vs. SEA (9% rostered) – FanDuel $7,800
Either Merzlikins or Jet Greaves will be good options against the Kraken, whose offense has gone quiet (again) and scored just three goals in their past two games and lost six of their nine games so far in March. Under Rick Bowness, the Jackets have been excellent, and they’re going for their fourth straight win after keeping opponents to three goals or less in their past six wins.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, BUF at LA (47% rostered) – FanDuel $7,900
It doesn’t quite matter who the Sabres put in net, with Luukkonen and Alex Lyon each posting shutouts in their previous starts. The Sabres have been arguably the league’s best team since December, and now face a low-scoring team whose defense will likely have trouble keeping the Sabres offense at bay. The drawback to this start is that this is an early matinee, though the Sabres have been on such a roll that the early start time won’t disrupt their rhythm very much.
Arturs Silovs, PIT vs. WPG (16% rostered) – FanDuel $6,900
Silovs’ win against the Avs was his first strong performance after a string of three games where he allowed 13 goals, so his performances can certainly be volatile. However, asides from their first line, the Jets offense doesn’t pose much of a threat, ranking 24th in goals per game. The Pens, while facing a tough goalie in Connor Hellebuyck, do not have much trouble scoring and should provide enough goal support for the win even if Silovs isn’t sharp.
Akira Schmid, VGK at NSH (21% rostered) – FanDuel $7,400
Schmid was a perfect 14-for-14 in a relief appearance for Adin Hill against Utah on Thursday, and with a back-to-back coming up he should draw the start. (Hill would still be a good option in this matchup, by the way). The problem is the Knights offense has been blanked in two straight games, otherwise this is a favorable matchup for the Knights, who may face the Preds’ backup Justus Annunen after Juuse Saros was held out of Thursday’s game due to injury. The Preds had a good run from December to mid-January, but since Jan. 17 they’re 8-8-5 with the sixth-most goals allowed per game.
Jordan Binnington, STL at VAN (45% rostered) – FanDuel $7,900
Don’t discount the Canucks offense now that Elias Pettersson has broken his slump, but Binnington has good career numbers (7-2-3, .908 SP, 2.69 GAA) against them. Other than a five-goal outburst against the Panthers, the Canucks offense tends to be quite muted with few elite finishes and they’re the second-lowest scoring club in the league in goals for per game. There’s naturally not a lot of confidence because it’s Binnington, but most signs signal a Blues win. If Joel Hofer gets the start, then the Blues’ odds of winning are a little higher.
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