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Scott Cullen provides his NHL DFS prop picks for March 9th, 2021 on Monkey Knife Fight. Make your DFS picks with his fantasy hockey advice.
There are nine games on Tuesday’s NHL schedule and Monkey Knife Fight has contests for all to make them even more exciting.
After Monday brought a bunch of late games to the schedule, Tuesday goes earlier, with the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins facing off at 6:05 ET and the last game of the night, Chicago in Dallas, drops the puck at 8:35 ET.
In between, the Boston Bruins at the New York Islanders is a compelling matchup between two playoff teams as is the Toronto Maple Leafs at home against the Winnipeg Jets.
There are mismatches, too. Tampa Bay is in Detroit in one of the most lopsided matchups. Carolina home to Nashville, Washington hosting New Jersey, Philadelphia welcoming Buffalo to the City of Brotherly Love and Florida in Columbus are all cases in which the game has a clear favorite. That’s okay, too, because even players on losing teams can put up stats.
Here are some Star Shootout angles to consider when playing Tuesday’s NHL action on Monkey Knife Fight.
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STAR SHOOTOUT - ALL DAY
MORE OR LESS
Connor Hellebuyck LESS THAN 29.5 SAVES
It has been a relatively uneven season for the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, as his .911 save percentage is not to the level of last season’s .922 mark. In any case, the Jets goaltender is averaging 28.0 saves per 60 minutes. He gets a difficult matchup in Toronto, against a Maple Leafs team that is averaging nearly 31.0 shots on goal per 60 minutes on home ice this season. That does make it a big ask of Hellebuyck to come up with at least 30 saves.
Semyon Varlamov MORE THAN 27.5 SAVES
While this has been a strong season for Varlamov – his .926 save percentage is his best since 2013-2014 – he also has a stingy defensive Islanders team in front of him, so he is averaging 26.2 saves per 60 minutes. On the other side of the game, though, is the Boston Bruins, who rank second in the league with 32.1 shots per 60 minutes on the road this season and that kind of output does make it more achievable for Varlamov to get at least 28 saves.
Brad Marchand LESS THAN 0.5 ASSISTS
The Boston winger does have 15 assists in 22 games overall this season but they don’t come quite as easily on the road, as he has recorded an assist in seven of 13 road contests. He has one assist in three games against the Islanders so this might be a difficult enough matchup to steer towards no assists for Marchand this time.
Auston Matthews LESS THAN 0.5 GOALS
After starting the season with 18 goals in 18 games, the Maple Leafs sniper has gone five straight games without a goal and it is not merely a case of the percentages leveling out, though there is probably some of that happening, too. Matthews is playing with an injured wrist and still trying to work his way through that process. It doesn’t mean that he is incapable of shooting the puck and scoring goals but it does help to explain his shot not being quite as dangerous right now.
Sean Couturier MORE THAN 5.5 FANTASY POINTS
Philadelphia’s outstanding two-way center has produced 14 points in a dozen games this season and that scoring is what pushes him over the top in this case. Well, that and the fact that the Flyers are playing a Buffalo Sabres team that is in a downward spiral. Couturier does not generate huge shot numbers (2.6 per game) so he would likely need to score either a goal or an assist to help reach six fantasy points. Fortunately, the Sabres are a good opponent for that kind of outcome.
Adam Fox LESS THAN 4.5 SHOTS + BLOCKS
While the sophomore Rangers defenseman is putting up more points, he is not doing it by shooting the puck a lot and, as such, has come in under five shots plus blocks for six straight games. Maybe he busts out at Pittsburgh but going against a six-game streak seems risky.
Mitch Marner MORE THAN 0.5 ASSISTS
Is this hedging when picking Auston Matthews not to score? Not necessarily. There are other Maple Leafs that could score on a Marner assist and Marner has gone back-to-back games without an assist, the fourth time this season that has occurred. He has yet to reach a three-game streak without a helper.
RAPID FIRE
Patrick Kane +0.5 fantasy points vs. David Pastrnak
Imagine the kind of talent involved when Patrick Kane is the underdog. Kane has 38 points in 26 games and is generating 3.6 shots per game. His Chicago team does have a matchup against a Dallas squad that, for all of its problems, is sound defensively. Pastrnak is, of course, an elite talent in his own right. The Bruins winger has 20 points in 15 games and, after launching 10 shots on goal against New Jersey Sunday, is averaging 4.1 shots per game. He goes up against an Islanders team that is strong defensively, too, but not quite as stifling as the Stars. Ultimately, it appears to be a close matchup, close enough that it makes sense to grab Kane with an extra half fantasy point in the bank.
Aleksander Barkov +0.5 fantasy points vs. Auston Matthews
Maybe this is the game in which Matthews snaps out of his recent funk or maybe his wrist continues to bother him and the consistency of Aleksander Barkov is rewarded because Barkov has eight points and 20 shots on goal during a six-game point streak, which is enough to like him as the underdog in this matchup.
