For the majority of the year, I’ve been clamoring for Jonas Gustavsson to get more starts for the Bruins. For the last month, Tuukka Rask has been his usual self but that hasn’t deterred The Monster at all. Gustavsson lived up to his nickname on Tuesday stopping all 42 shots he faced leading the Bruins to a 1-0 overtime victory over the Lightning. With the Bruins fighting for home ice, I don’t expect him to get a ton of starts down the stretch. That said, I would stream Gustavsson every chance that I get. Here’s what else I saw around the league on Tuesday night:
Antti Raanta – 34 saves on 36 shots in the 4-2 win over the Sabres. Henrik Lundqvist could be back this weekend but regardless, play Raanta every game that he starts. I was there tonight and he was really locked in after his dud on Sunday.
Mats Zuccarello – Goal and two assists with three shots. Strong numbers across the board with a career high in goals. Have to love the Norwegian Hobbit.
Derick Brassard – Goal and an assist with two shots. Brassard is over a point per game in his career against the Sabres and that continued on Tuesday. Another Ranger with a career high in goals.
J.T. Miller – Goal on his only shot. He was back on the first line and is widely available again. I’d look to stream him until we see his role is solidified again.
Sam Reinhart – Goal on two shots. Streamer success! Love this kid and it’s only going to get better. He’ll stay an elite stream for the rest of this season.
Jack Eichel – Assist and four shots. Such a treat to have him on the team I root for. Odds are I’ll have him as a second rounder going into next season.
Robin Lehner – 11 saves on 14 shots before getting pulled 26 minutes in. Blah. It was his second dud of the year and his numbers are still incredible despite laying an egg.
Mark Stone – Goal on his only shot. Hotter than a pistol! Another massive run in the second half like last year.
Zack Smith – Goal on five shots. He’s even hotter than Stone! Mark, not Sharon. I’d hold Smith at this point. The minutes are incredible and he’s en fuego.
Jeff Skinner – Two goals on six shots. He’s avoided injuries the last few seasons after concussion issues, the goals and shots are elite and he hasn’t played with a great center. I like Skinner more than most in dynasties.
Ryan Murphy – Two assists. He has some potential but the Canes have so many quality young defensemen that it’s hard to know what to make out of them all long term. Leave him on the wire for now.
Mike Green – Three assists. Green has fallen mightily from his glory days in Washington. He’s pretty fringe, even in 12’ers now.
Pavel Datsyuk – Assist in his return. Get him back in your lineups.
Cam Atkinson – Two goals and an assist with five shots. He seems to go under the radar for somebody who puts up 20+ goals and a very good shot rate. Clear hold in 12’ers.
Brandon Dubinsky – Two assists with three shots. He’s the one guy to get a big bump under Torts. Clear hold in 12’ers as well because of the PIM.
Boone Jenner – Goal and an assist with six shots. This line has been outstanding but Jenner has been the best of the bunch. Goals, shots and penalty minutes are all elite.
Seth Jones – Two assists. It’s decent right now and the upside is there but until he takes more shots, his value is severely capped.
Alexander Wennberg – Two assists with three shots. Big fan of the kid long term. The assists are very nice already so it’s a matter of getting the shots up. He also has 0 PIM on the season, great for real life but sucks for fantasy.
David Clarkson – Goal on two shots. He scored a goal! He scored a goal! He’s worth every penny of that contract!
Kris Letang – Goal on two shots. He’s been incredible all season and only injury has prevented him from being a top 3 defenseman.
Jaroslav Halak – 31 saves on 32 shots before getting hurt very late in the third stretching out for a save. Thomas Greiss came in relief to hold on for the win. Greiss will get every start if Halak is out for any time so if for some reason Greiss is available in your league, grab him now.
Frans Nielsen – Two assists and two shots. That’s multi point games in three straight for Nielsen who is another guy who seemingly goes under the radar. Shots are the best they’ve been in years which is nice to see from somebody going on 32.
Nick Leddy – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. He’s really heating up in the assist column so if you’re desperate for assists, you can grab him and ride out the streak.
Ales Hemsky – Goal and an assist with three shots. He’s a decent streamer in the right matchups.
Cody Eakin – Goal and an assist with two shots. Same story as Hemsky and even more so since he sometimes gets bumped up to the first line.
Alex Galchenyuk – Two goals and an assist with three shots and two PIM. See what happens when he finally plays at center! Damn you Therrien! If it looks like he’s going to slot on the first line at center going into next year, I will be over all Gally on draft day.
Andrei Markov – Two assists and four shots. Assists and special teams points are outstanding but you aren’t getting anything else.
Max Pacioretty – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. It will do Patches wonders to have Galchenyuk as his center. He was already a top 30 player last season and certainly can do that again with the elite shot rate.
Sven Andrighetto – Two assists and two shots. He played over 19 minutes which makes him an elite streamer as long as he’s in this role.
Brad Marchand – Goal on six shots. Beyond absurd at this point.
Torey Krug – Assist and three shots. It’s absurd how unlucky Krug has been this year. He has 3 goals on 197 shots. He’ll probably be undervalued next season because of this.
Ben Bishop – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 1-0 OT loss to the Bruins. Tough luck loss for Bishop who was great. He’s the #2 goalie on the season now/
Craig Smith – Two goals on three shots. He’s hotter than hot, he’s hot hot! Own him everywhere.
Colin Wilson – Two assists. He’s fallen off hard after last season and didn’t even play 10 minutes in this one so leave him on the wire.
Colton Sissons – Goal and an assist with two shots. Not much to see here.
Drew Stafford – Goal on three shots playing almost 25 minutes. Grab him everywhere you can before he really takes off. He’s sure to produce getting that many minutes.
Marko Dano – Assist and three shots. My favorite sleeper is finally getting some run. He’s still only 21 years old so I have little doubt about his potential going forward. For now, I’d leave him on the wire outside of dynasties.
James Reimer – 31 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Oilers. Start him whenever he gets the start. I expect Martin Jones to be the main guy unless he slips.
Joe Pavelski – Goal and an assist. He’s a beast, I call him karma The Big Pavelski.
Logan Couture – Two goals on four shots. Snapped his cold streak in style. The shots are elite right now so the goals should keep coming.
Brent Burns – Assist and two shots. Only 20 minutes played, what a bum.
Wednesday Streamers – There are actually six games on the slate tonight. Nice for the NHL to actually have a nice set of games every night this week. Here are my top three streamers:
Ryan Strome (19.1%) – He’s back on the first line and gets to play the Maple Leafs. Sometimes it’s just that easy.
Anthony Duclair (16.1%) – The minutes are up lately and the Canucks are a hot mess at the moment. Granted, the Coyotes are too, but the first line should do well in this one.
Jamie McGinn (1.2%) – I slightly prefer Rickard Rakell but he’s barely too high owned to qualify by my standards. McGinn has been solid since his arrival in Anaheim and gets an outstanding matchup against the Avalanche.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Thursday with the recap of tonight’s game. As always, feel free to ask any questions or post any comments below. Take care everyone!
