RADIO
Tuesday offers a seven-game schedule in the National Hockey League and Monkey Knife Fight has contests for every one of them.
There are a couple of games involving playoff teams on both sides, with the Edmonton Oilers in Montreal to take on the Canadiens and the Carolina Hurricanes in Chicago as the Blackhawks are tied for the fourth playoff spot in the Central.
The team that Chicago is tied with, the Nashville Predators, hosts the Dallas Stars and while the Stars are six points out of a playoff spot they have played four fewer games than Chicago and Nashville, so that race could get even tighter.
Here are some Star Shootout angles to keep in mind when playing Tuesday’s NHL action on Monkey Knife Fight.
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STAR SHOOTOUT - ALL GAMES
MORE OR LESS
Mackenzie Blackwood MORE THAN 27.5 SAVES
It appears that the Devils goaltender is coming around after a mid-season slump. In his past five games he has a .940 save percentage and is up to .911 in 19 games this season. The challenge in needing Blackwood to record at least 28 saves is that they are in Boston, where the Bruins are averaging 29.8 shots on goal per 60 minutes. Maybe that gets counteracted by the fact that the Devils allow more shots (34.3) per 60 minutes on the road than any team in the league.
Andrei Vasilevskiy LESS THAN 27.5 SAVES
Tampa Bay has been blessed with the best goaltender in the league this season as Vasilevskiy is rocking a .930 save percentage through 27 starts overall but on home ice he has a .945 save percentage, which is just ridiculous. As great as Vasilevskiy has been, the Lightning also ensure that he does not have to face a heavy workload so he is averaging 24.9 saves per 60 minutes. He faces a Columbus team that is averaging 30.9 shots per 60 minutes, which is slightly above average, but not enough to believe that they will pose a serious threat to Tampa Bay.
Patrick Kane MORE THAN 0.5 ASSISTS
Kane falls out of bed and records assists at the United Center. So far this season he has 23 assists in 17 home games and has been held without an assist in just two of those 17 games. Chicago is battling a Carolina Hurricanes team that is one of the stronger teams in the league and one of the teams that held Kane without an assist on home ice this season though Kane did light them up for three assists in the next game.
Darnell Nurse MORE THAN 5.5 FANTASY POINTS
The Edmonton blueliner has had an incredible season and already has a career-high 12 goals, including six goals in 16 road games. He is averaging 6.2 fantasy points per road game and goes up against the Montreal Canadiens, a team that allows fewer shots than average on home ice but also allows more goals than average on home ice.
RAPID FIRE
Connor McDavid +0.5 fantasy points vs. Alex Ovechkin
Connor McDavid an underdog? The Oilers superstar is better on home ice than on the road but is still generating more than 7.6 fantasy points per road game. Ovechkin is in a similar position, much more productive on home ice but because he consistently generates shots on goal, he is still good for 7.4 fantasy points per road game. Is the difference in the opposition? McDavid takes on a Montreal Canadiens team with a middling defensive record (7th in shots against/60, 19th in goals against/60 on home ice) while Ovechkin battles a New York Rangers team with a middle-of-the-pack (18th in shots against/60, 14th in goal against/60 on home ice) defensive record. Maybe a slight edge there but not enough to prefer Ovechkin giving up a half fantasy point to the best hockey player on the planet.
Leon Draisaitl +0.5 fantasy points vs. David Pastrnak
Draisaitl is more productive on home ice but not by a great amount. He is still generating more than 6.9 fantasy points per road game. Pastrnak has only played 10 games on home ice this season and is averaging 6.7 fantasy points per home game. Does a home game against New Jersey give Pastrnak more of an edge than Draisaitl on the road in Montreal? Not enough to give away a half fantasy point.
Victor Hedman +0.5 fantasy points vs. Patrice Bergeron
Tampa Bay’s star defenseman, the leading contender for the Norris Trophy this season, has a home game against Columbus, which is not a bad matchup, and he is good for nearly 5.5 fantasy points per home game this season. Bergeron and the Bruins are slumping. On home ice this season he has averaged 4.7 fantasy points per game and in the past seven games overall has no goals and two assists.
Adam Fox +0.5 fantasy points vs. John Carlson
As usual, John Carlson is very productive, with 28 points in 34 games overall this season but it is especially difficult to go against Fox who has 14 points during a seven-game point streak.
