On every game day this
season, THN Fantasy will highlight players and goalies for fantasy managers
to stream or roster for the rest of the season. The recommended players and
goalies are rostered in less than 50 percent of Yahoo leagues and can be
selected in standard fantasy leagues or for daily fantasy games.
9 games on Thursday, April 2
* = confirmed
Jeremy Swayman, BOS
at 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 (7:30
p.m. ET)
Tristan Jarry, PIT at
Jordan Binnington, STL (8 p.m. ET)
Juuse Saros, NSH at
Jake Oettinger, DAL (8 p.m. ET)
Darcy Kuemper, LA at
Karel Vejmelka, UTA (9 p.m. ET)
Lukas Dostal, ANA at
Dustin Wolf, CGY (9:30 p.m. ET)
Connor Hellebuyck,
WPG at Adin Hill, VGK (10 p.m. ET)
Calvin Pickard, EDM
at Alexandar Georgiev, SJ (10:30
p.m. ET)
Goalies
Calvin Pickard, EDM
at SJ (18% rostered)
Stuart Skinner is
not travelling with the Oilers on their three-game road trip so expect Pickard
to start all three games. This matchup should be as easy as it gets for the Oilers
and Pickard, who’s going for his third straight win. The Oilers defeated the
Sharks earlier this season, although it was close in a 3-2 overtime win, and
have won 11 of their past 12 matchups dating back to 2022.
Pickard will be a
top-tier streaming option for this game and next Monday’s game against the
Ducks. The Oilers play the Sharks twice more after this game. With no timetable
for Skinner’s return, Pickard potentially has really good ROS value.
Karel Vejmelka, UTA
vs. LA (42% rostered)
Vejmelka’s bounced
back really nicely after a disastrous stretch where he allowed eight goals on
25 shots, and in his three starts since has allowed five goals on three games
with two wins. The Kings are not good on the road (14-19-5), which makes
streaming Vejmelka far less daunting.
I think this will
be a tough matchup with Utah trying to avoid a season sweep. Utah is the slight
underdog so a win would be a nice surprise, but I think Vejmelka can offer
plenty of saves and a good save percentage with the way he’s been playing recently.
Elvis Merzlikins, CBJ
vs. COL (31% rostered)
The Avs are playing
the second game of a back-to-back so fatigue may be a factor, and the Jackets
are strong at home (22-9-5). Given the Jackets’ offense is back to its
high-scoring ways, I do think there’s a chance they could upset. They’ve won
three in a row with Merzlikins in net and provided him with plenty of goal
support.
I suspect this will
be a high-scoring game and Merzlikins can pull off the win only if his offense
can provide him with lots of goal support. Forget about saves and a save
percentage with Merzlikins – it’s unlikely to happen. This is the second and
final 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 with
the Avs holding a 4-3-1 edge.
Remember
to bookmark The
Hockey News Fantasy site for
stats, news, analysis, rankings, projections and more, including the Sleepers and Keepers fantasy
hockey podcast!
On every game day this
season, THN Fantasy will highlight players and goalies for fantasy managers
to stream or roster for the rest of the season. The recommended players and
goalies are rostered in less than 50 percent of Yahoo leagues and can be
selected in standard fantasy leagues or for daily fantasy games.
9 games on Thursday, April 2
* = confirmed
Jeremy Swayman, BOS
at 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 (7:30
p.m. ET)
Tristan Jarry, PIT at
Jordan Binnington, STL (8 p.m. ET)
Juuse Saros, NSH at
Jake Oettinger, DAL (8 p.m. ET)
Darcy Kuemper, LA at
Karel Vejmelka, UTA (9 p.m. ET)
Lukas Dostal, ANA at
Dustin Wolf, CGY (9:30 p.m. ET)
Connor Hellebuyck,
WPG at Adin Hill, VGK (10 p.m. ET)
Calvin Pickard, EDM
at Alexandar Georgiev, SJ (10:30
p.m. ET)
Goalies
Calvin Pickard, EDM
at SJ (18% rostered)
Stuart Skinner is
not travelling with the Oilers on their three-game road trip so expect Pickard
to start all three games. This matchup should be as easy as it gets for the Oilers
and Pickard, who’s going for his third straight win. The Oilers defeated the
Sharks earlier this season, although it was close in a 3-2 overtime win, and
have won 11 of their past 12 matchups dating back to 2022.
Pickard will be a
top-tier streaming option for this game and next Monday’s game against the
Ducks. The Oilers play the Sharks twice more after this game. With no timetable
for Skinner’s return, Pickard potentially has really good ROS value.
Karel Vejmelka, UTA
vs. LA (42% rostered)
Vejmelka’s bounced
back really nicely after a disastrous stretch where he allowed eight goals on
25 shots, and in his three starts since has allowed five goals on three games
with two wins. The Kings are not good on the road (14-19-5), which makes
streaming Vejmelka far less daunting.
I think this will
be a tough matchup with Utah trying to avoid a season sweep. Utah is the slight
underdog so a win would be a nice surprise, but I think Vejmelka can offer
plenty of saves and a good save percentage with the way he’s been playing recently.
Elvis Merzlikins, CBJ
vs. COL (31% rostered)
The Avs are playing
the second game of a back-to-back so fatigue may be a factor, and the Jackets
are strong at home (22-9-5). Given the Jackets’ offense is back to its
high-scoring ways, I do think there’s a chance they could upset. They’ve won
three in a row with Merzlikins in net and provided him with plenty of goal
support.
I suspect this will
be a high-scoring game and Merzlikins can pull off the win only if his offense
can provide him with lots of goal support. Forget about saves and a save
percentage with Merzlikins – it’s unlikely to happen. This is the second and
final 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 with
the Avs holding a 4-3-1 edge.
Remember
to bookmark The
Hockey News Fantasy site for
stats, news, analysis, rankings, projections and more, including the Sleepers and Keepers fantasy
hockey podcast!
