There are only two NHL games today, they should be interesting matchups, we see Artemi Panarin out for the Rangers tonight which will hurt their offense significantly, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson return for the Coyotes.

 

Boston Bruins Vs. New York Rangers

Let’s start with the Bruins and Rangers. This matchup isn’t expected to have a lot of scoring and Panarin’s absence has a lot to do with that as both a 5 on 5 and power-play presence for the Rangers.

The Bruins have been tough to beat since the return of David Pastrnak. Since his return, we have seen the Bruins score nearly one full goal more per game. He is a place you should look to start with tonight and build from there. He was held scoreless when these two teams played earlier in the week, but I wouldn’t expect a repeat of that. As always you can look to add Patrice Bergeron or Brad Marchand in with him if you can find enough value in the rest of your lineup to make the salary work. 

Nick Ritchie and David Krejci are both nice value plays for the Bruins. They are skating on the second line and top power-play unit as the Bruins have now gone to five forwards there.

With Matt Grzelcyk out and Charlie McAvoy not on the top power-play, there isn’t a lot of value to be found on the Bruins defence tonight, especially when you’re not getting much of a discount on McAvoy.

In goal, Jaroslav Halak will be a go-to in cash games. The Bruins should win this game with Panarin out, and there should still be enough saves for him to have an impact in both cash and GPP.

In general, I am largely going to look to avoid the Rangers tonight. Mika Zibanejad has struggled, and they will really miss Panarin who generates so much offence for them. You can look to Igor Shesterkin in GPP’s. He has played well over the last few weeks, and likely won’t see high ownership with the Bruins being strong favorites. 

 

St.Louis Blues vs Arizona Coyotes

This is a matchup that has been expected to be low scoring, but in each of the last two meetings the teams have combined to score seven goals, so I wouldn’t sleep on these teams. 

For St.Louis, we have seen Ryan O’Reilly and David Perron pick up where Brayden Schenn and Jaden Schwartz left off. O’Reilly and Perron have combined for 7 points over their last two games. Mike Hoffman has also started to pick up his play as he gets more comfortable with his new teammates and is coming in at somewhat of a discount. 

Justin Faulk has picked up the top powerplay, but the prices haven’t started to reflect that yet. This may make him chalky tonight, but you should take him anyway and find your differentiators someplace else. You can still use Tory Krug, but Faulk is a much better value given his ice time and time on the power-play.

The Blues are going to Jordan Binnington tonight. He is usable every night out and tonight is no different. He is 1-1-1 in his three games against the Coyotes and is usable in both cash and GPP.

For the Coyotes, we have seen their scoring spread-out across Connor Garland, Nick Schmaltz, Christian Dvorak, and Clayton Keller. Schmaltz and Dvorak you are still getting at a discount across the board while Keller and Garland have seen large price increases, but all have been productive.

We see the return of Oliver Ekman-Larsson tonight, but I would be sticking with Jakob Chychrun. Chychrun has four points in his last two games and could continue to be on the top powerplay if the Coyotes want to ease OEL back into the lineup.

Lastly, the Coyotes will go back to Darcy Kuemper tonight. Kuemper is a bit of an under the radar play. He is one of the best in the league at stopping shots, and he could see 35 or more shots tonight, which will make him useful even if Arizona doesn’t win.