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 chof360 leagues and can be selected in standard fantasy leagues or for daily fantasy games.
12 games on Thursday, February 27
* = confirmed
Ilya Sorokin, NYI at Jeremy Swayman, BOS (7 p.m. ET)
Alexandar Georgiev, SJ at Sam Montembeault, MTL (7 p.m. ET)
Elvis Merzlikins, CBJ at Cam Talbot, DET (7 p.m. ET)
Dustin Wolf, CGY at Andrei Vasilevskiy, TB (7 p.m. ET)
Stuart Skinner, EDM at Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA (7 p.m. ET)
Jordan Binnington, STL at Charlie Lindgren, WSH (7 p.m. ET)
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, BUF at Pyotr Kochetkov, CAR (7 p.m. ET)
Samuel Ersson, PHI at Alex Nedeljkovic, PIT (7:30 p.m. ET)
Connor Hellebuyck, WPG at Juuse Saros, NSH (8 p.m. ET)
Marc-Andre Fleury, MIN at Karel Vejmelka, UTA (9 p.m. ET)
Petr Mrazek, CHI at Adin Hill, VGK (10 p.m. ET)
Arturs Silovs, VAN at Lukas Dostal, ANA (10 p.m. ET)
Goalies
Samuel Ersson, PHI at PIT (27% rostered)
It worked great last time on Tuesday so we’re going back to this well again. Ersson is going for his fourth straight win and in his previous game against the Pens on Tuesday allowed just one goal on 24 shots (.958 SP) in a 6-1 win. It helps that the Flyers offense has scored 12 goals in their past two games, and scoring against the woeful Pens shouldn’t be a problem.
Expect the Pens to come out stronger on home ice – they’re 13-12-4 at home vs. 10-16-6 on the road – but the Flyers have a distinct advantage. Ersson’s on fire and I have no problems rolling with a hot goalie. Look for a win and a good save percentage, making him one of Thursday’s top options.
Marc-Andre Fleury, MIN at UTA (20% rostered)
Karel Vejmelka, UTA vs. MIN (31% rostered)
No confirmed starters for this matchup as of Wednesday evening, but with the Wild playing the first game of a back-to-back, Fleury may get this start, saving Filip Gustavsson for the Avs on Friday. Utah’s won two straight with Vejmelka in net, and they may stay with the hot hand. This matchup should be tight, but what tips the scales for the Wild is their excellent road record (21-7-3, best in the West) and Utah’s lackluster home record (11-12-6).
Fleury should be a fine streaming option but don’t expect a good save percentage against a talented offensive team. Vejmelka benefitted from good defense – he faced just 37 total shots in his two most recent wins against poor offensive teams – and he’ll face a much, much tougher challenge this time. If you’re hunting for wins, go for the Wild.
Charlie Lindgren, WSH vs. STL (32% rostered)
Lindgren will be going for his third straight win, but I think he’s winning games in spite of his pedestrian play. He’s won just half his starts (13 wins in 26 starts) this season with a sub-.900 SP, and what worries me more than usual is the Blues’ recent offensive surge with 10 goals in two games. The Caps are excellent at home (18-5-6) but note Lindgren (4-3-1) accounted for three of their five regulation losses.
I’m wary of this start. Lindgren should be able to earn the win for the Caps, and even though the Caps laid a beatdown on Nov. 9 in an 8-1 win, historically their matchups have been very tight (12-12-0 since 2010) with the home team having a slight advantage (27-21-4 all-time) with games that tend to be higher scoring than the league average.
Elvis Merzlikins, CBJ at DET (37% rostered)
This is the first game of a home-and-home series against the Wings, pitting two teams making a charge up the standings. I like Merzlikins in this matchup because I have an enormous amount of confidence in the Jackets’ offense, and note the Wings don’t defend particularly well. This has the makings of a high-scoring game. If Daniil Tarasov gets this start, I would not using him as a streaming option; I think his performances are even more volatile than Merzlikins’ and despite a solid January (2-1-1, .921 SP) he’s been very subpar all season.
Look for the win for Merzlikins but, as usual, don’t count on a good save percentage. The Wings have too many offensive weapons to stay off the board, and if the Jackets win this game it’s because their scoring has pulled through for them.
Lukas Dostal, ANA vs. VAN (40% rostered)
Arturs Silovs, VAN at ANA (3% rostered)
The Canucks have won eight straight against the Ducks but this should be a much tighter matchup than usual. The Canucks are playing the second game of a back-to-back and have a ton of trouble scoring, while the Ducks are on an upswing despite losing two of their past three (1-1-1). Dostal has the ability to steal games and he has a good chance of doing against an anemic Canucks offense that was averaging a league-low 1.83 goals per game in February heading into Wednesday's games.
The Canucks are slightly favored but I like the contrarian play in Dostal. The Canuck’ play has been sliding over the past month and need both a strong performance from Silovs and their offense to win this game. That has rarely happened this season. I like Dostal as an option for a lot of saves and a good save percentage, with a better-than-usual chance of earning a win in a matchup the Canucks have dominated in recent years.
Alexandar Georgiev, SJ at MTL (39% rostered)
Pass. Georgiev was good in his previous start (33 saves, .917 SP) but the Sharks are mired in a six-game losing streak. Timothy Liljegren is expected to return to the lineup, which should bolster their defense, but they’ve been horrendous at providing goal support and the Habs have outscored their opponents, 9-2, in their past two games with a very effective power play.
At some point, the Sharks’ losing skid will end, but the Habs have looked very good since the 4 Nations Face-Off and will likely start Sam Montembeault, who’s won two straight and allowed just two goals.
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