Lineups were posted around 3:35 PM ET. Keep in mind, these lineups are geared toward GPP tournaments. so there is a ton of risk in playing them in cash games. Keep in mind, you can always construct a cash game lineup on these super short slates, but they have a TON of variance, which increases the risk. Nonetheless, please be sure to check back before roster lock in case changes are made to the lineups.
There is only one team playing tonight who will be playing their second game in as many nights, and that’s the New York Rangers, who are 10-3-2 when playing without rest. It’ll be interesting to see who they go with in net because Antti Raanta has been working his tail off, and has played both games in the last few back-to-backs.
With three games available, I am going to continue with my new format where I include projected lines for each team in order to help with GPP lineup construction. Lines can definitely change prior to roster lock, so please keep an eye out for any changes. You can always check out my NHL Beat Writer list on Twitter by going to https://twitter.com/kle18/lists/nhl-beat-writers. My favorite line stacks of the night will be in GREEN. Secondary stacks in GOLD. Contrarian stacks will be in BLUE. Players who will be on the POWER-PLAY are going to be in BOLD CAPS.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS at COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS (CBJ -150 favorites; 5.5 O/U o130)
Starting Goalies: Frederik Andersen (Confirmed) vs. Joonas Korpisalo (Likely)
Toronto Projected Lines (Subject to Change)
TOR1: KOMAROV - KADRI - BROWN
TOR2: Hyman - MATTHEWS - NYLANDER
TOR3: VAN RIEMSDYK - BOZAK - MARNER
TOR4: Martin - Boyle - Soshnikov
TORD1: Carrick - Rielly
TORD2: GARDINER - ZAITSEV
TORD3: Hunwick - Polak
TORPP1: van Riemsdyk/Bozak/Marner/Kadri/Zaitsev
TORPP2: Komarov/Matthews/Brown/Nylander/Gardiner
Columbus Projected Lines (Updated: 6:30 PM ET)
CBJ1: FOLIGNO - WENNBERG - BJORKSTRAND
CBJ2: SAAD - GAGNER - ATKINSON
CBJ3: JENNER- DUBINSKY - Anderson
CBJ4: Sedlak - Karlsson - Calvert
CBJD1: WERENSKI - JONES
CBJD2: Johnson - Savard
CBJD3: Quincey - Harrington
CBJPP1: Atkinson/Foligno/Bjorkstrand/Wennberg/Werenski
CBJPP2: Saad/Gagner/Jenner/Dubinsky/Jones
Both teams are playing their first game of a back-to-back situation, so I wouldn’t be surprised if backup goalies are going to be in net tonight. With that said, if it’s Curtis McElhinney going for the Maple Leafs, I will be willing to stack six Blue Jackets if necessary. I’ve mentioned a few times that backup goalies tend to do poorly against their former teams, and the last time the Leafs played McElhinney against the Jackets, they blew him up for four goals.
But I have to say, regardless if it’s McElhinney or Andersen, I think you have to consider targeting Blue Jackets. They have won each of the last three meetings between these two team by a combined score of 13-4. The only real thing to consider here is that Head Coach John Tortorella has decided to mix up his lines a bit to try to find trios that have the best chemistry. One of the last times he tried this, he ended up going back to his usual lines by the 2nd period.
With that said, the two more interesting targets are going to be CBJ1 and CBJ2. Tortorella has even said that he thinks of Oliver Bjorkstrand as one of his better offensive players and wants to get him on the ice in the best offensive situations. That type of mentality just doesn’t always work out, but it gives you a better idea of who will be in the best spots throughout the night.
And then there’s the Leafs, who are golden as long as they play the Bruins, but have been incredibly in consistent, and especially so on the road, where they are only 15-13-8 this season. Yes, that’s correct, they have eight road OT losses, to go with a total of 15 combined OT losses. In general, if you’ve been able to pick the right Leafs line to go with since the beginning of the season, you are probably laying on a bed full of money, and I envy you. The Leafs just have very balanced scoring between three lines, which is very uncommon in hockey; however, lately, we’ve seen the Auston Matthews line tail off, and the Tyler Bozak line step up significantly.
NEW YORK ISLANDERS at NEW YORK RANGERS (Line has not been released)
Starting Goalies: Thomas Greiss (Confirmed) vs. Antti Raanta (Confirmed)
NY Islanders Projected Lines (Subject to Change)
NYI1: LADD - TAVARES - BAILEY
NYI2: LEE - BEAUVILLIER - HO-SANG
NYI3: NELSON - STROME - Chimera
NYI4: Kulemin - Cizikas - Clutterbuck
NYID1: LEDDY - Pelech
NYID2: DE HAAN - Hamonic
NYID3: Hickey - Seidenberg
NYIPP1: Lee/Tavares/Ladd/Bailey/Leddy
NYIPP2: Nelson/Beauvillier/Ho-Sang/Strome/de Haan
NY Rangers Projected Lines (Subject to Change)
NYR1: KREIDER - STEPAN - ZUCCARRELLO
NYR2: NASH - ZIBANJEAD - MILLER // both lines are secondary plays, but i prefer NYR2 in GPPs.
NYR3: Grabner - HAYES - Fast
NYR4: BUCHNEVICH - Lindberg - VESEY
NYRD1: Staal - MCDONAGH // play McDonagh with NYR1
NYRD2: Smith - Holden
NYRD3: SKJEI - Kampfer // play Skjei with NYR2
NYRPP1: Kreider/Stepan/Zuccarello/Zibanejad/McDonagh
NYRPP2: Nash/Hayes/Miller/Vesey/Skjei
It’s a shame that the Rangers weren’t able to pull it out last night because they thoroughly outplayed the Devils throughout the game. I think one of the more interesting developments is how well the new 2nd line of Rick Nash, Mika Zibanejad, and J.T. Miller has been playing together. I think it’ll be natural for people to be in on Stepan’s top line, but I think NYR2 exposure may be the way to go if you want a piece of the Rangers.
As for the Islanders, they haven’t played since their tough overtime loss against the Blue Jackets on Saturday. But the interesting thing is that they always play the Rangers hard. They’ve defeated the Blueshirts in six of their last seven meetings, and they’ve scored four goals or more in each of their last four victories the Rangers. From the looks of it, Andrew Ladd will likely be back on the top line with John Tavares and Josh Bailey, which was the line that former coach Jack Capuano had wanted to be as their top line all along. Ladd has played much better over the second half of the season, and getting this opportunity with Tavares might be what the doctor ordered to get him back to his 60 point days with the Jets.
EDMONTON OILERS at ANAHEIM DUCKS (ANA -125 favorites; 5 O/U o115)
Starting Goalies: Cam Talbot (Unconfirmed) vs. Jonathan Bernier (Confirmed)
Edmonton Projected Lines (Subject to Change)
EDM1: MAROON - MCDAVID - DRAISAITL
EDM2: LUCIC - NUGENT-HOPKINS - EBERLE
EDM3: Pouliot - Desharnais - Kassian
EDM4: Hendricks - LETESTU - CAGGIULA
EDMD1: KLEFBOM - Larsson
EDMD2: SEKERA - Russell
EDMD3: Nurse - Benning
EDMPP1: Lucic/Letestu/Draisaitl/McDavid/Klefbom
EDMPP2: Maroon/Nugent-Hopkins/Caggiula/Eberle/Sekera
Anaheim Projected Lines (Subject to Change)
ANA1: Cogliano - KESLER - Silfverberg
ANA2: RAKELL - GETZLAF - EAVES
ANA3: Ritchie - VERMETTE - PERRY
ANA4: Kase - Thompson - Shaw
ANAD1: LINDHOLM - Bieksa
ANAD2: FOWLER - Bieksa
ANAD3: MONTOUR - VATANEN
ANAPP1: Getzlaf/Kesler/Eaves/Vatanen/Fowler
ANAPP2: Rakell/Vermette/Perry/Lindholm/Montour
This might end up being the matchup of the night. Both teams are playing superb hockey and they’ve both been riding on two very hot goaltenders in Cam Talbot and Jonathan Bernier. Talbot has shutouts in back-to-back starts while Bernier has been rocking a 6-1-1 record with a 1.48 GAA and .953 SV% in the month of March. I’ve always been very high on Bernier, and even though it’s with the much hated Ducks, I’m glad that Bernier’s been able to showcase his fundamentally sound goaltending skills.
With that said, the Oilers have won in each of their last two meetings against the Ducks, including a 4-0 shutout in Anaheim on 1/25/17. We all know Connor McDavid’s top line is generally the primary target when it comes to the Oilers; however, I remain hesitant to have heavy exposure to them thanks to their likely matchup against the always tough Ryan Kesler line.
In my opinion, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’s second line has been playing well enough to target if you’re looking for a stack, but in all honesty, it might be a better move to target players from another game instead given the way Bernier has been playing.
As for the Ducks, there are two realistic targets, but ultimately, only one good target, and that’s Ryan Getzlaf’s first line with Rickard Rakell and Patrick Eaves. This line has been one of the hottest lines in hockey over the last few weeks, yet they just continue to be heavily overlooked. Ricky Rakell, in particular, has been a godsend for the Ducks, putting up a huge 31 goal season even though there were many parts of the season when he was getting around 12-13 minutes of ice time.