Joel Dorcas | January 14th, 2020
Good day puck heads and DFSers welcome back into Tuesday’s edition of Ice Picks! We will continue on with a generalized game preview of some feature matchups on a very full docket. Let’s break it down and hop into it!
Nashville Predators(21-16-7) at Edmonton Oilers(24-18-5)
We will get to some value plays shortly, first up is some higher-priced options. There is no denying that the Oilers are built off the backs of dynamic talents, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl (just as the B’s roll out a heavy dose of Marchand-Pastrnak-Bergeron) The Oilers have been clicking as of late. In the last 10 games, their powerplay has converted at an elite conversion rate of 25% and the goals have seemed to follow suit, as they have averaged a tidy 3.5 goals.
The Predators are still in the midst of adjusting to new head coach John Hynes, who perhaps is trying to employ a more defensive first approach. The Preds are battling their way through to try to establish a possible future playoff berth. The Oilers will look to exploit Nashville on special teams as the Preds have attained just a 64.5% penalty kill rate in their previous 10 games.
Minnesota Wild(20-19-6) at Pittsburgh Penguins(28-12-5)
Here is where we can get to some value plays. It’s truly remarkable what the Penguins organization has done with the rash of injuries they have endured over the course of the season. Coming into Tuesday’s tilt with the Wild the Pens have reeled off five straight road victories and have attained a nice 7-2-1 record in their previous 10. John Marino is a fine play to fill out your D core as he has provided some offense(seven points) as well as giving us a nice base of blocks(19) and shots(8) in the 10 game chunk. Another player to consider is Jared McCann, over the same time frame, he has two goals and three helpers with 26 shots on target. McCann is even getting minutes on the top powerplay, manning the point alongside Kris Letang.
As for the Wild, they seem to be reverting to their or old ways similar to how they began the season. They have secured four wins in 10 previous games while allowing 3.4 goals per game.
New Jersey Devils(17-21-7) at Toronto Maple Leafs(24-16-6)
The Devils have gotten some stellar netminding from MacKenzie Blackwood this season. He has been an important piece to Jersey staying afloat after trading former MVP Taylor Hall. Blackwood is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury. This appears to be a good spot for the Leafs to rebound after they got crushed by the Florida Panthers Tuesday night 8-4. Even though the Devils are considered a weaker team this will be a big step for the Buds to get things back on track. A sneaky value play is defensemen, Rasmus Sandin who will look to fill a void left by the now-injured Morgan Rielly.
Los Angeles Kings(18-25-4) at Tampa Bay Lightning(27-14-4)
Tampa seems to be getting back to the team that was so dominant just a season ago. In their previous 10 games, they have just a single defeat and have averaged almost four goals per contest(3.8). Some sort of combination of the newly formed trio of Kucherov-Point-Stamkos and Alex Killorn is fully in play. Killorn won’t cost you as much as the aforementioned line one but the upside is very similar. Killorn has eight goals over his last 10 and gets minutes on Tampa’s powerplay which ranks second in the league at a clip of 27.8%. Although the Kings have steadily improved in the defensive end of the ice towards the second half of the season they are getting matched agaisnt a team that is fully in stride.
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