Welcome back to the Friday Night WinDaily NHL Between the Benches Article! Teams are beginning to secure their spots while others are jockeying for a Wild Card position. I think we will see a photo-finish in the 2023 playoff race, and we some great NHL action coming your way tonight! Tonight’s 3/31 NHL slate begins at 7:00 pm ET. Don’t forget to lock your lines and check the discord for any updates! Let’s get right into it!
3/31 NHL Stack Report
1. New York Rangers 1 (Panarin-Zibanejad-Tarasenko)
— Welcoming Devon Levi to the NHL tonight is the New York Rangers who have arguably one of the deepest rosters in the NHL with their top three lines all performing well as we head into teams final playoff pushes. Out of the three lines, the Rangers top line have been my favourite as of late. Zibanejad and Panarin in Particular have been racking up a lot of points as of late and the line averages anywhere from 18 to 19 minutes of ice time per night along with Power play time for every member of the top unit. With Panarin and Zibanejad on the top Power Play and Tarasenko on the second power play unit. Despite the high offensive output, Buffalo has regularly been one of the worst offensive teams in the league this season as they sit tied for third worst in the league in goals against average and somehow they’re still fighting for a Wild Card spot! The Rangers on the other hand have secured a spot in the playoffs and are poised to exploit their opponents bad offence as they are coming in with one of the highest implied totals of the slate at 3.6 implied goals. What it also comes down to is form, The Rangers have won 7 of their last 9 games with high scores against most teams and the Sabres have lost 6 of their last 9 including an OT loss against the Rangers. On a final note, the Sabres have been terrible at home while the Rangers have an impressive record on the road. So, if anything this game taking place in Buffalo might actually play as an advantage to the Rangers.
Ideal Defensive Partner(s): Adam Fox
2. Dallas Stars 1 (Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski)
— The Stars have been sneaky good this season. They’re second in the Central division, are tied for seventh in the league in goals per game and are just a game or two away from securing their playoff spot. Not to mention, their top line has absolutely been tearing it up. With each member of the top line having at least a point per game over their last five games. All while each sees around 20 minutes of ice time per game, along with time on the Stars top Power Play unit. This line has stayed the same for nearly the entire season and a half and the chemistry that these three have formed is remarkable. This line has been clicking and their production is off the chart. Lets not forget, they’re coming up against an Arizona team who give up an average of 3.44 goals against per game and have lost their last five games, I am heavily on the Stars in this one. These two teams also faced off at the beginning of the month in Dallas where the Stars secured a 4-2 comeback win!
Ideal Defensive Partner(s): Miro Heiskanen
Honorable Mention(s): New York Rangers 2 (Kane-Trochek-Kreider), Buffalo Sabres 2 (Peterka-Cozens-Quinn)
3/31 NHL Goalie Tracker
Best (Goalies to Roster)
- Jake Oettinger
- Connor Hellebuyck
Honorable Mention(s): Devon Levi
Worst (Goalies to Target)
1. Marcus Hellberg
Honorable Mention(s): Karel Vejmelka
3/31 NHL Wild Card Targets
Brock Boeser
– Boeser has been an absolute monster as of late. Over his last three games he has six points (3 goals, 3 assists) and has averaged around 19 minutes of ice time over those three games. In what has been a pretty disappointing season, he has turned it on over the last week. Unfortunately for him, this latest push comes when the Canucks are on the outside looking for the playoff race. However, aside from the playoff race, he is a solid DFS option tonight, with a lot of upside, given how he’s performed throughout his career.
Honorable Mention(s): Nino Nieddereiter, David Perron, Filip Chytll
Core Four: (ALWAYS BE STACKIN’)
Center – Mika Zibanejad
Winger – Jason Robertson
Defenseman – Neal Pionk (Heiskanen is a good option but he’s been a little cold)
Goalie – Jake Oettinger (Levi is a good GPP option for DFS if you are fading the New York Rangers in one of your lines)
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