Allan Fabrykant Welcome back everyone, hope you’ve had a lot of NHL success as of late, we’re back with another great set of games in tonight’s Sunday slate! For tonight’s 4/17 NHL slate, we have a medium-sized five-gamer and the slate begins at 5:00 pm ET. Don’t forget to lock your lines and check the discord for any updates! Let’s get right into it!
4/17 NHL Stack Report
1. Minnesota Wild 1 (Zuccarello-Hartman-Kaprizov)
— We’re starting off today’s article with a really interesting matchup as the Minnesota Wild are welcoming a very down-trodden Sharks team who have dropped their last nine games. To put that in perspective, Minnesota has only lost nine games at home this season (if you include OT), there is a steep contrast between these two teams based on their recent performances and the Wild’s offence which sits 5th in the league (3.64 goals per game) has recently been led by top liners Kirill Kaprizov and Ryan Hartman as both have six points over their last five games. On top of their recent success, the Sharks have been horrible at keeping the puck out of their own net as they have given up an average of 3.16 goals against per game this season, which has been consistent if not worsened throughout San Jose’s recent poor run of form. All three members of the Wild’s top line see power-play minutes with Kaprizov and Zuccarello on the top line and Hartman on the second unit. Also, the Wild unsurprisingly have the largest implied total of the slate at 3.8 and are coming into the slate at -260 favourites at the time of writing. I would definitely recommend prioritizing the Wild on tonight’s slate.
Ideal Defensive Partner(s): Jared Spurgeon (Jacob Middleton works as a salary saver)
2. St. Louis Blues 1 (Buchnevich-Thomas-Tarasenko)
On paper, these two teams seem very evenly matched, they’re both in the same division and they are both currently in a playoff spot (albeit the Blues are in a higher one). There is a big difference-maker when I look at this game and it’s the goaltending. Although Binnington has had a bit of a dip from his form in prior seasons, he has had nowhere near the level of regression that David Rittich had since leaving the Flames and as the Predators played with their starter Juuse Saros last night in Chicago, all signs point to Rittich getting the nod tonight. The Predators backup has not seen a ton of action this season but when he has, he has not been stellar with a 3.21 GAA and a .891 SV% along with a 5-3-2 record. This will be one of the bigger weaknesses for the Preds as they head into the playoffs, they will need more reliable backup goaltending if they have any hope of playoff longevity.
On the other side of the coin, the Blues have been superb as of late winning their last eight games, where they’ve scored at least four goals in each of those eight games. Some of those wins came against strong competition such as the aforementioned Wild and the Boston Bruins. The Blues have had a lot of offensive pieces working for them during their recent run of form but none more so than the top line with Buch, Thomas and Tarasenko, each player is averaging at least two points per game over their last five games and all are relatively reasonably priced on both FanDuel and DraftKings. I feel that St. Louis may be looked over a bit since the odds are so close but the bookies are giving them an implied total of 3.1 goals on tonight’s slate and I wouldn’t be surprised if it improved in the Blues’ favour after the time of writing. I think the Blues are an excellent piece that can accompany the Wild’s top liners in your builds tonight!
Ideal Defensive Partner(s): Justin Faulk
Honorable Mention(s): TOR1 (Marner-Matthews-Bunting)
4/17 NHL Goalie Tracker
Best (Goalies to Roster)
- Marc-Andre Fleury
- Jack Campbell
Honorable Mention(s): Jordan Binnington
Worst (Goalies to Target)
1. David Rittich
Honorable Mention(s): Semyon Varlamov
4/17 NHL Wild Card Targets
Matthew Boldy
– As mentioned earlier in the article, the Wild are in a beyond excellent spot for tonight’s slate and for today’s Wild Card, who better to go with than our classic wild card play, Matt Boldy. The young rookie impressed early on in his NHL career scoring nearly at a point per game pace. His early success got him on the Wild’s top power-play unit where he remains to this day. Despite cooling off slightly as the season went on, he’s back on his earlier form as he is currently on a six-game point streak where he has registered one goal and seven assists over the course of his streak. We already mentioned Minnesota’s offensive abilities, their success at home and the recent struggles of their opponents. All that put together makes Matthew Boldy an excellent Wild Card play on tonight’s slate. If you are looking to have shares of the Wild while also taking a different/GPP-friendly approach, look no further than Matthew Boldy.
Honorable Mention(s): Ilya Mikheyev, Victor Olofsson, Jack Roslovic
Core Four: (ALWAYS BE STACKIN’)
Center – Auston Matthews
Winger – Kirill Kaprizov
Defenseman – Justin Faulk
Goalie – Mark-Andre Fleury
4/17 NHL Monkey Knife Fight NHL Prop Picks – Win With These Picks Here and Get a 100 Percent Bonus!
All Day Slate: Putting Up Points
Honorable Mention(s): Main Slate Rapidfire 2/2
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