A light four-game slate for Wednesday highlights left wingers Ivan Barbashev and Jake Neighbours as the Knights and Blues complete their home-and-home series, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi's potential reversion to the mean.
Ivan Barbashev, C/LW, VEG at STL (31% rostered)
Obviously, his scoring pace has fallen way off since last season, but his play is trending upwards. He’s scored three goals in his past three games and played a season-high 19:21 in Monday’s loss against his former team. This will be the second half of a home-and-home series and the Knights should be able to split the series, and also provide more than just one measly goal.
Jake Neighbours, LW, STL vs. VEG (19% rostered)
Neighbours has now gone two games without a goal after a red-hot November where he scored eight, but he’s not in danger of losing his role on the top line opposite Pavel Buchnevich with Robert Thomas at center. The good news is Neighbours managed to register six shots on goal during those two games, keeping his shot volume up to provide a higher floor than usual.
Jesperi KotkaniemiJesperi Kotkaniemi, C, CAR at EDM (18% rostered)
Kudos if you’re still holding onto Kotkaniemi, whose scoring has once again fallen to minimal levels with only two goals in his past 10 games. However, there’s a sign that good things are coming.
First, he’s facing the Oilers, who are porous on defense and in net, and with the way the Canes can generate a high volume of shots very quickly, odds are they’re going to score a couple goals. Second, over the past two weeks, Kotkaniemi has been really snakebit; he ranks first among Canes forwards with 5.98 expected goals at 5-on-5 even though he’s been on the ice for only two of them, per naturalstattrick.com. His 2.82 on-ice shooting percentage is absurdly low, and the Oilers might just be the team that gives him an opening to bounce back.
