RADIO
There are five games on Friday’s NHL schedule and Monkey Knife Fight has contests for every one of them to make the games even more fun.
The game of the night should be in Philadelphia, a rematch of Wednesday’s game in which the Bruins took a 4-3 decision in overtime. The 7-1-2 Bruins visiting the 7-2-2 Flyers is a quality matchup.
There are also mismatches. The Detroit Red Wings visiting the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Los Angeles Kings visiting the Vegas Golden Knights are a couple of games in which the visitors may be fighting uphill.
That leaves a couple of games that might be reasonably competitive. The Florida Panthers and Nashville Predators went to overtime Thursday night after the Predators rallied from an early deficit to take a 6-5 victory. The San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks are not off to great starts but ought to be competitive in their head-to-head matchup.
While you can make picks for every game, here are some Star Shootout angles to consider for Thursday’s NHL action on Monkey Knife Fight:
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STAR SHOOTOUT - ALL DAY
MORE OR LESS
Andrei Vasilevskiy LESS THAN 27.5 SAVES
The Tampa Bay netminder is off to a terrific start this season, playing every game for the Lightning and posting a .927 save percentage in the process. He has averaged 25.4 saves per 60 minutes and is facing a Detroit Red Wings team that has a hard time generating offense, to the point that they are averaging less than 23.5 shots on goal per 60 minutes. It is such a mismatch between these two teams that the Red Wings only had 16 shots on goal in Wednesday’s game so it is going to be a stretch for them to have at least 28 shots, let alone have Vasilevskiy make that many saves.
Pekka Rinne MORE THAN 27.5 SAVES
The 38-year-old Predators netminder had struggled early in the season but stopped all 12 shots that he faced in relief against Florida on Thursday night. Overall, Nashville has not allowed a lot of shots with Rinne in net, a little under 23 per 60 minutes. On the other hand, the Panthers have been above average in terms of shot generation, averaging 30.6 per 60 minutes and had 36 shots against Florida on Thursday night.
Brad Marchand MORE THAN 0.5 ASSISTS
The Bruins agitator can fly under the radar on his line sometimes because he’s not an elite finisher like David Pastrnak and hasn’t won four Selke Trophies like Patrice Bergeron but Marchand is consistently excellent. He has an assist in six of the past seven games and with Pastrnak back in the lineup, the odds are in favor of the Bruins scoring enough to provide Marchand with the opportunity.
Brent Burns LESS THAN 5.5 SHOTS + BLOCKS
San Jose’s rover-like defenceman is not the shooting force that he was even a few seasons ago. So far this season, he is averaging 3.25 shots per game and 1.1 blocks per game. It’s possible that he gets to six combined shots plus blocks against an ineffective Anaheim team but Burns has only hit that mark twice in eight games.
Max Pacioretty MORE THAN 5.5 FANTASY POINTS
Throughout his career, Pacioretty has earned his success as a volume shooter but he has been able to take it to a new level in Vegas and is putting up nearly 4.6 shots per game this season. That would get him most of the way to covering this number against a not-so-great Los Angeles Kings team. Add in Pacioretty’s six goals and seven points in seven games and he should be able to put together at least six fantasy points, something he has done in four of seven games thus far.
RAPID FIRE
David Pastrnak +0.5 fantasy points vs. Aleksander Barkov
Aleksander Barkov is great and having a strong start to the season for Florida, putting up nine points in seven games, but it would be difficult to make Pastrnak the underdog to just about anyone right now. The Bruins sniper has played just three games but has already scored five goals and put 19 shots on goal so he’s great value as an underdog.
Patric Hornqvist -0.5 fantasy points vs. Brent Burns
Hornqvist is off to a wonderful start in Florida, putting up eight points and 27 shots on goal in seven games. In previous seasons, Burns could be right there but has four points and 26 shots on goal in eight games this season which isn’t quite as productive.
Steven Stamkos -0.5 fantasy points vs. Victor Hedman
Based on this season, both Lightning stars have produced 10 points and 23 shots on goal in eight games. But, given the choice between the two, the forward who pulls the trigger on the power play seems like the safer play.
Aaron Ekblad +0.5 fantasy points vs. Roman Josi
Josi is having a bit of a hard time scoring, managing five points in 10 games, but he does have 34 shots on goal and that makes him a formidable fantasy player. AT the same time, Ekblad is off to a very productive start in his own right, with six points and 19 shots on goal in seven games.
