Coming off an ugly loss to the Predators, it was a near certainty that the Kings would come out firing on Tuesday night. They certainly did but it wasn’t enough because of Devan Dubnyk. Dubnyk had arguably his best start of the season stopping 38 of 39 shots, including a few massive point blank saves, in the 2-1 win over the Kings. After laying a huge egg against the Devils, Dubnyk has had three excellent starts in a row with this one being the best. The win puts the Wild one point ahead of the Avs for the last playoff spot in a battle that should come down to the wire. This is perfect for Dubnyk owners because he should start at least 7 of the Wild’s final 8 games, if not all of them. Keep him in your lineup every time he starts. Here’s what else I saw around the league on a busy Tuesday night:
Chad Johnson – 25 saves on 27 shots in the 3-2 win over the Hurricanes. I’d expect him to start almost every game the rest of the way. That said, I wouldn’t own him right now in head to head leagues because the Sabres only have one more game this week. Grab him Friday for Saturday’s game against the Jets if you need a goalie.
Sam Reinhart – Assist and three shots. Streamer success! Strong end to the year for the rookie and should finish well.
Evander Kane – Goal on five shots playing over 21 minutes. He’s at 20 goals on the season now despite missing time. Add in over 4 shots per game and 89 PIM and there’s a ton of value here. The assists are lacking but in the early to mid rounds, Kane is an excellent target.
Johan Larsson – Goal on three shots with two PIM. He’s played very well for the better part of two months now and while it’s nowhere near 12’er worthy, I think Larsson is a sneaky late pick in 16’ers or deeper next year.
Steve Mason – 51 saves on 53 shots in the 3-2 shootout loss to the Blue Jackets. Incredible game for Mason who was 1:05 away from a 45+ save shutout only to give up two goals, including one with 8 seconds left, to end up losing the game. Expect him to start every game the rest of the way for Philly.
Brayden Schenn – Two assists with a shot. Huge year for Schenn as he now sits at 24+27. The only scary thing for next year is that it’s no guarantee he stays on the first line.
Sergei Bobrovsky – 31 saves on 33 shots in the win. Obviously it’s been a disappointing year for Bob but I’ll be back on him next year. Getting healthy over the offseason is the main priority.
Boone Jenner – Goal on five shots with two PIM. 26 goals, over 200 shots and 67 PIM already. He’ll be in the top 100 next season in that group of guys who put up solid PIM and goals.
Jakob Silfverberg – Two goals on four shots. He’s heating up right now putting him firmly on the streaming radar. One of the most frustrating players in the league for me because he always leaves me wanting more.
Ryan Getzlaf – Assist and four shots. Decent chance Getzlaf ends up getting to 50 assists on the season.
Mike Brown – Goal and an assist with two shots. And there’s your annual Mike Brown update!
Joel Hanley – Two assists in his second career game. He’s a non-prospect though so no reason to go there.
Alex Galchenyuk – Goal on four shots. Insane second half for Gally to get up to 27 goals and 22 assists. I’ll be super high on him next season.
Braden Holtby – 28 saves on 30 shots in the 4-2 win over the Senators. Standard Holtby at this point.
Nicklas Backstrom – Goal and an assist with two PIM. The shots have really disappeared but he should still get to 20+50. It’ll keep him out of the top 20 for me going into next year because if you take him, you need to take a ton of big shot guys to make up for it. Say, his linemate Alex Ovechkin, who had a goal on four shots.
Mike Hoffman – Two assists and four shots. The Sens might be a mess but Hoffman is finishing the year strong, especially with assists which is nice to see for his future.
Erik Karlsson – Assist and six shots playing almost 32 minutes. The fact that some people think Drew Doughty deserves the Norris blows my mind. Karlsson is on another planet.
Anthony Mantha – Assist and two shots. Absolutely in love with Mantha in dynasties and will be my go to late round pick next season. The offensive potential is through the roof.
Steven Stamkos – Goal and an assist with two shots. Massive end to the year for Stamkos. Please come to Buffalo next year Stammer! Please!
Brian Boyle – Two assists with three shots. And there’s your annual Brian Boyle update! Also he looks like Guy Fawkes.
Victor Hedman – Two assists with a shot. Hedman has been really unlucky in the goals department but his plus-minus is very good again, the PIM are solid as are the assists.
Erik Condra – Two goals on five shots. He’s an advanced stats darling with how well Condra dominates the puck when he’s on the ice. Unfortunately it doesn’t lead to much in the fantasy realm.
Tyler Johnson – Two assists with three shots. It’ll be very interesting to see where his ADP is at next year. After 50 points and then 72, he’s at 35 this season, granted with time missed.
Nikita Kucherov – Goal and an assist with four shots. That’s goal in three straight for Kucherov to get to 28 goals and 60 points on the season. Not bad for someone who has struggling linemates and is still 22 years old.
Ondrej Palat – Goal and an assist with a shot playing almost 21 minutes. Just like Johnson, I have no idea where Palat’s ADP will be next year.
Jacob Markstrom – 47 saves on 48 shots in the 2-0 loss to the Jets. Another hard luck loser because the Canucks offense is a dumpster fire. They haven’t scored in almost 4 games now. Avoid both of their goalies.
Ondrej Pavelec – 28 save shutout in the win. This is more of a case of the Canucks being horrible than Pavelec being good. He had give up 4 goals in each of his previous 2 games and is close to a 3 GAA and .900 sv%.
Mark Scheifele – Goal on six shots. Kid’s a beast and will almost certainly be on all of my teams next season.
Tyler Toffoli – Goal on three shots with four PIM. He’s slowed down a bit but Toffoli now has 27 goals s is +30. I’d dismiss the plus-minus for his future if he wasn’t +21 or better the last three years.
Charlie Coyle – Assist. The lack of penalty minutes hurt but everything else has been great the second half of the season.
Kari Lehtonen – 30 saves on 32 shots in the 6-2 win over the Blackhawks. Another big blowout for the Stars against Chicago to clinch a playoff spot. Nothing has changed for Lehtonen; the wins are great and everything else is hit or miss.
Vernon Fiddler – Two goals. I said it earlier in the year but I feel stronger about it now: I think Fiddler is going to score a massive goal for the Stars in the playoffs. He just seems like one of those guys who gets up for the big games.
Colton Sceviour – Goal and an assist with five shots. The fourth line for Dallas gives them a real advantage over the majority of other teams’ 4th line.
Jamie Benn – Two assists. Beast, plain and simple.
Scott Darling – 11 saves on 15 shots before being pulled in the first period. Yikes. Chalk it up to a horrible day. I still like Darling plenty going forward while Corey Crawford is out.
Artemi Panarin – Assist. The shots are starting to disappear which is a little concerning. That said, with 64 points as a rookie and counting, how can you not love what Panarin has done?
Connor McDavid – Two assists with five shots and two PIM. How good is this kid? It’s ridiculous.
Mike Smith – 27 saves on 29 shots in the 4-2 win over the Oilers. Still prefer to stay away than hold him. The Coyotes goalies all do this from time to time and then implode.
Martin Hanzal – Goal and an assist with seven shots. It’s been a very solid season for Hanzal and he should be even better next year as the young talent gets better around him.
Alex Tanguay – Goal on two shots. I can’t believe how well he’s done since moving to the desert. He now has as many goals in Arizona as he did in Colorado. I’d consider streaming but I still wouldn’t hold in 12’ers.
Brian Elliott – 37 save shutout in the 1-0 win over the Sharks. I would have led off with Elliott but I already wrote the blurb on Dubnyk and didn’t want to delete it. Sue me! It looked like this season was going to be irrelevant with the emergence of Jake Allen but in the end, it’s been an incredible season for Elliot and it’d have been even better if he didn’t get injured.
Robby Fabbri – Goal on two shots. It was an excellent display of patience by the 20 year old on his 17th goal of the season. He has massive breakout potential for next season.
Martin Jones – 23 saves on 24 shots in the loss. His numbers are even better than I expected this year in his first season as a full time starter.
Wednesday Streamers – There are only two games on the slate tonight. Basically anyone who plays tonight on a power play unit is a good enough stream. Here are my top three options:
Ryan Strome (18.3%) – He’s been ice cold but he’s back on the first line with John Tavares and the Senators are a mess.
J.T. Miller (16.6%) – Going back to the well here. It’s a solid spot for him to get back on the scoresheet after two straight blanks.
David Pastrnak (15.7%) – Still in the top six and second power play unit. He has four goals in the last seven and that’s all you can ask for in a two game slate.
That’s all for now guys. With only two games tonight, there will not be daily notes on Thursday morning. I’ll be back on Friday recapping the action from tonight and tomorrow. I will also post my Thursday streamers in the comments section of this article. As always, feel free to ask any questions and leave any comments below. Take care everyone!
