4 days Ago By The Hockey News
On every game day thisseason, THN Fantasy will highlight players and goalies for fantasy managersto stream or roster for the rest of the season. The recommended players andgoalies are rostered in less than 50 percent of Yahoo leagues and can beselected in standard fantasy leagues or for daily fantasy games.9 games on Thursday, April 2* = confirmedJeremy Swayman, BOSat Sam Montembeault, MTL (7 p.
m.ET)Andrei Vasilevskiy,TB at Linus Ullmark, OTT (7 p.m.
ET)Mackenzie Blackwood,COL at Elvis Merzlikins, CBJ (7:30p.m. ET)Tristan Jarry, PIT atJordan Binnington, STL (8 p.
m. ET)Juuse Saros, NSH atJake Oettinger, DAL (8 p.m.
ET)Darcy Kuemper, LA atKarel Vejmelka, UTA (9 p.m. ET)Lukas Dostal, ANA atDustin Wolf, CGY (9:30 p.
m. ET)Connor Hellebuyck,WPG at Adin Hill, VGK (10 p.m.
ET)Calvin Pickard, EDMat Alexandar Georgiev, SJ (10:30p.m. ET)GoaliesCalvin Pickard, EDMat SJ (18% rostered)Stuart Skinner isnot travelling with the Oilers on their three-game road trip so expect Pickardto start all three games.
This matchup should be as easy as it gets for the Oilersand Pickard, who’s going for his third straight win. The Oilers defeated theSharks earlier this season, although it was close in a 3-2 overtime win, andhave won 11 of their past 12 matchups dating back to 2022. Pickard will be atop-tier streaming option for this game and next Monday’s game against theDucks.
The Oilers play the Sharks twice more after this game. With no timetablefor Skinner’s return, Pickard potentially has really good ROS value.Karel Vejmelka, UTAvs.
LA (42% rostered)Vejmelka’s bouncedback really nicely after a disastrous stretch where he allowed eight goals on25 shots, and in his three starts since has allowed five goals on three gameswith two wins. The Kings are not good on the road (14-19-5), which makesstreaming Vejmelka far less daunting. I think this willbe a tough matchup with Utah trying to avoid a season sweep.
Utah is the slightunderdog so a win would be a nice surprise, but I think Vejmelka can offerplenty of saves and a good save percentage with the way he’s been playing recently.Elvis Merzlikins, CBJvs. COL (31% rostered)The Avs are playingthe second game of a back-to-back so fatigue may be a factor, and the Jacketsare strong at home (22-9-5).
Given the Jackets’ offense is back to itshigh-scoring ways, I do think there’s a chance they could upset. They’ve wonthree in a row with Merzlikins in net and provided him with plenty of goalsupport.I suspect this willbe a high-scoring game and Merzlikins can pull off the win only if his offensecan provide him with lots of goal support.
Forget about saves and a savepercentage with Merzlikins – it’s unlikely to happen. This is the second andfinal meeting between the two teams with the Jackets winning 6-4 back on Oct.12, and since the 2020 season their matchups have been surprisingly close withthe Avs holding a 4-3-1 edge.
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