Joel Dorcas | December 17th, 2019
Welcome back into Ice Picks, in our last edition our headliner, Evgeni Malkin, was a late scratch Thursday due to an illness. This core selection ended up being a wash, and in turn, scratched out any potential of cashing. Lesson learned, always check updates before puck drop. On to tonight. We have the L.A. Kings visiting the Bruins, Buffalo at Toronto, Minnesota at Vegas and just one piece coming from the Anaheim at Philadelphia matchup. Y’all know the drill, it’s time for Tuesday’s Ice Picks!
CORE MUST-HAVES ⭐
Patrice Bergeron C BOS $7,200
One of the league’s best teams, the Boston Bruins, will look to get back on track so to speak against the L.A. Kings. Boston was victorious in their last game, 4-2 over Florida December 14th. This snapped a five-game losing streak. The B’s are virtually 100 percent healthy and should be ready to roll in this matchup at home. Curiously many Bruins players are discounted after the Florida game so you may want to load up on Bruins players. Patrice Bergeron appears to be in great form since returning from injury on December 9th. He has 2G, 2A with plenty of shots on goal(20) in four games. The trio of Bergeron-Pastrnak-Marchand could be in for a big night. The kings are 20th in goals allowed per game with a mark of 3.14.
Mitch Marner W TOR $6,900
The Sabres and Leafs will hook up for a third time with each team notching a victory in the previous games. The Maple Leafs powerplay has heated up over the last five converting at 33%. Buffalo has the league’s 29th ranked penalty kill at a rate of 75.2%. The now healthy Mitch Marner enters this one with multi-point games in three of the last four games(1G, 5A). He also has seven points(2G, 5A) in his last four. Marner usually hovers around 21 minutes of ice but has been known to approach 25 minutes when needed. At this point, the Leafs and new head coach Sheldon Keefe will be wise to lean heavily on their superstars if they want to reach the postseason.
Max Pacioretty W VGK $7,300
The Golden Knights seem to be back to playing good hockey, they are 7-3 in their last 10. The Minnesota Wild, who are playing well in their own right, will be playing for the third time in four nights. A push or the over has hit in seven of the last 10 Wild games. Vegas has their powerplay hitting at a rate of 25% in their last 10. The Wild have given up nine goals while being a man short in their previous 10 which equates to only a 65.4 penalty kill percentage. The clear leader in terms of offensive production for the Knights has been Max Pacioretty. He is scorching hot, averaging 17 DK pts per game over his last 10 matches.
VALUE PLAYS
Charlie McAvoy D BOS $3,700
McAvoy is down to $3.7K after being at $4.2K versus the Panthers. Not entirely sure why. The Kings are worse then the Panthers and McAvoy is trending upwards. He has points in three straight games and has accounted for five assists, 16 shots and 24 blocks in his past 10 contests, good for an average of 9.2 DK points per game. The Bruins are averaging 3.39 goals per game at home while the Kings are allowing 3.72 goals against on the road.
Valentin Zykov W VGK $2,900
We might be digging deep here for little-known Valentin Zykov. But you can’t ignore the fact that he is getting first-line powerplay minutes. He scored a powerplay marker last game versus Vancouver on five shots on target in just 12 minutes of ice time. Keep in mind Zykov has just 16 points in 51 NHL games. Still worth the flyer though if he remains on the top PP unit while Cody Glass remains out.
Kevin Hayes C PHI $3,900
Two teams in the Ducks and Flyers, who are both struggling a bit, clash in Philly. Anaheim has just four victories in their last 10 while Philadelphia has suffered three straight defeats after winning six of seven games. The Flyers fare well in the goal-scoring department on home ice(3.56 goals per game) combined with a powerplay success rate of 22.8%. The Ducks struggle on the road when down a man, they come into this one with a road penalty kill at 73.6%. Kevin Hayes will have to continue to step up as the Flyers deal with some injuries(Lindblom, Laughton, Konecny, Raffl). Hayes has three assists and 17 shots in his last five games.
STACK ‘EM
- Boston Bruins- Bergeron(C), Pastrnak(W), Marchand(W), Heinen(W)
- Vegas Golden Knights- Pacioretty(W),Stone(W), Stastny(C), Theodore(D)
- Toronto Maple Leafs- Marner(W), Tavares(C), Nylander(W), Matthews(C)
*All prices listed are from DraftKings*
Good luck to everyone tonight, keep grinding out those lineups!
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