The Best NHL Picks and Analysis 11/16/21 (12 Game Slate)

Here we go again, another monster slate, another action-packed night of Hockey! I am sure everyone has already heard, but if you did not, the Ottawa Senators season is at a pause right now due to the team being overwhelmed with Covid-19, and we wish them well! It will be a shame to see them off the ice for a few games, but there are many more exciting games to cover on another glorious night of NHL DFS. So much going on tonight between a Playoff rematch, to the Blues proving they can hang with the big dogs once again with their old school play. Without further a due, here we go!

Lace the Skates(Cash Play)

Slap Shot(Gpp play)

Ice Time(Value play)

Penalty Box(Fade)

Nashville Predators V Toronto Maple Leafs

This game excites me as it has one team in Nashville who is shocking the NHL with only 1 loss in the last ten game this season taking on the heavy-hitting, high-powered offense of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Nashville offense is led by Mikael Grandlund who leads the team in goals, assists, and total points this season. They have looked very impressive and allow around 2.8 goals a game this season, which is a no-brainer due to the fact they have a great goalie in Juuse Saros. This will be a challenge for the Leafs to find the back of the net and will take some experienced skating to stay in this one as their power play has not been very good lately.

On the Leaf’s side, they are led by Mitch Marner who has 5 assists this season and looks to add more tonight as the Leafs would love to expose Saros for the inconsistent goalie he once was. It seems this offense had some trouble getting started, and their numbers are not very impressive, but they look consistent right now and are ready to play smash-mouth hockey and bring Nashville back down to earth.

Lace the Skates(Cash Play)

John Tavares

Mitch Marner

Mikael Grandlund

Slap Shot(Gpp play)

John Tavares/Mitch Marner/Alexander Kerfoot

Matt Duchene/Mikael Grandlund/Roman Josi

Ice Time(Value play)

Tanner Jeannot

Penalty Box(Fade)

New York Islanders V Florida Panthers

The last time these two played, Florida straight up pummeled the Islanders 5-1, I do not see that happening again here. The Islanders have two of the most consistent goalies in the league and are hard to get by. That being said, the Islanders defense has been weak lately. The Panthers right now are scoring almost 4 goals a game up to this point, but I believe that average may be in jeopardy. Each team is really good in the penalty kill so getting a power-play goal in this contest is going to be a challenge, this game is going to come down to that one shot in the net, one-score game. I do not see this game hitting its game total, but the Panthers should shoot a lot at goal making whoever starts for the Islanders in the net a viable lock option.

Lace the Skates(Cash Play)

Aleksander Barkov

Slap Shot(Gpp play)

Aleksander Ekblad/Jonathan Huberdeau/Patrick Hornqvist

Anthony Duclair/Carter Verhaege

Brock Nelson/Mathew Barzal/Josh Bailey

Ice Time(Value play)

NONE

Penalty Box(Fade)

NONE

Montreal Canadiens V New York Rangers

This matchup is going to be heavily one-sided. Montreal is allowing almost 4 goals a game, and the Rangers can score goals in their sleep, no matter what the situation. They have probably the best skater when it comes to assists in Panarin who is involved in what seems like every goal scored. Montreal is just struggling to stop shots this season and their 4-11 record proves this. The Rangers will take advantage also of Montreals weak defense and attack them with every even-strength line they have. This game is not going to be a thriller, but it should be a complete shutout favoring the Rangers.

Lace the Skates(Cash Play)

Brandan Gallagher

Chris Kreider/Artemi Panarin/Ryan Strome

Slap Shot(Gpp play)

Mika Zibanjebad/Alexis Lanfrenier/Adam Fox

Ice Time(Value play)

Jacob Trouba

Penalty Box(Fade)

Nick Suzuki

Calgary Flames V Philadelphia Flyers

This is one I do not know how to think about. One minute the Flyers are good, the next, they’re just awful. In this matchup, they will be awful, the Flames are just too good and have amazing momentum going. This is due in part to them working as a complete team, and spreading the puck out. The teamwork the Flames show is some of the best chemistry in the league, so much correlation. When it comes to stat leaders, different skaters lead every category for team stats, unheard of.

The flyers, on the other hand, you never know where the scoring will come from, one night it’s their first line, the next, their fourth line goes crazy. The flames blanked the Flyers earlier this year, and they will do it again with ease as they dominate the Flyers in every category known to hockey. Oh and I should mention Calgary allows JUST above 2 goals a game, which doesn’t bode well for a Flyers team who does not shoot a lot at the goal.

Lace The Skates(Cash Play)

Johnny Gaudreau

Cam Atkinson

Slap Shot(GPP Play)

Johnny Gaudreau/Mikael Backlund/Andrew Mangiapane

Elias Lindholm/Matthew Tkachuk

Ice Time(Value Play)

NONE

Penalty Box(Fade)

Claude Giroux

Buffalo Sabres V Pittsburg Penguins

The Penguins have just been, different since Crosby came back and I am liking it. The Sabres are playing decent hockey, but I cannot trust them. The only thing they have going for them is they have a stout power-play unit. Other than that reason, they have nothing going for them. The Penguins, on the other hand, have a nice penalty kill unit that will slow down the team’s only momentum they have going. Both teams allow over 3 goals a game, which sounds concerning, but the Sabres will struggle mightily in this one while the Penguins keep rolling. The only thing that would make Buffalo an option is if DeSmith is starting for Pittsburg, he is allowing almost 5 goals in 3 games he starts.

Lace The Skates(Cash Play)

Sydney Crosby

Evan Rodrigues

Slap Shot(GPP Play)

Kyle Okoposo/Colin Miller

Jake Guentzel/Kasperi Kapanen/Jason Zucker

Ice Time(Value Play)

Michael Matheson

Penalty Box(Fade)

NONE

Arizona Coyotes V ST Louis Blues

This is going to be a smackdown in St Louis! I will keep preaching it, the Coyotes are horrible and are not getting any better. They are almost dead last in every offense and defense stat in the NHL, which is not acceptable at a Pro level. Who is to say this will even be a team next year? They are on a three-game skid, and this is not the game to stop that losing streak. An interesting stat, the Blues are scoring roughly 3.4 goals a game, NOW the Coyotes are ALLOWING 3.93 goals! Now I am no rocket scientist, but I would say this game is not going to be close! I’m calling it now…BLUES BY 4.

Lace the Skates(Cash Play)

Vladimir Taransenko/Pavel Buchnevich

Slap Shot(Gpp play)

Jordan Kyrou/Robert Thomas/Vladimir Taransenko

Ice Time(Value play)

NONE

Penalty Box(Fade)

EVERY ARIZONA COYOTE

San Jose Sharks V Minnesota Wild

This game is interesting to me as both sides are playing even hockey. Minnesota, though, has a slight edge with a pretty good power play and shoots the puck a bunch,35 times a game to be exact! The only concern is the Sharks have an 87% penalty kill rate, which is amazing for the NHL. But it seems the Wild have the edge in this one. They are 4-1 at home this season and play their best hockey in the Xcel Energy Center. This team is led, surprisingly, by Ryan Hartman, who has 7 goals and racked up 3 assists last game alone. Other than him, their main power-play unit has been controlling the scoreboard. On the Sharks side, it is pretty evenly split up with 3 skaters at 6 goals and one skater with 11…yes 11….assists. That being said, this game is going to be a shootout and I want my exposure to it.

Lace the Skates(Cash Play)

Ryan Hartman/Karill Kaprizov

Brent Burns/Logan Couture

Slap Shot(Gpp play)

Kevin Fiala/Joel Eriksson EK/Kirill Kaprizov/Mathew Dumba

Logan Couture/Erik Karlsson/Tomas Hertl

Ice Time(Value play)

NONE

Penalty Box(Fade)

NONE

Edmonton Oilers V Winnepeg Jets

You guys already know where I’m going here…LEON DRAISAITL!!! The dude is just unstoppable averaging around 2 goals a game the past few games. This team is just straight-up nasty, and a majority of teams just can’t figure them out, well besides St Louis who dropped 4 on them and gave them a run the other night. BUT they are 11-3, and the Jets are 8-3-3, which makes me think the Jets could give them a run too!

The Jets power play is not that great though, which could hinder their chances because that’s probably the only way to keep up with this caliber of a team. Oilers are a little leaky in the goalie department, but they should be fine. It won’t be a shutout, but the Oilers will come out on top.

Lace the Skates(Cash Play)

Leon Draisaitl/Ryan Nugent-Hopkins/Darnell Nurse

Andrew Copp

Slap Shot(Gpp play)

Leon Draisaitl/Ryan Nugent Hopkins/Tyson Barrie

Zach Hyman/Jesse Puljujarvi/Kailer Yamamoto

Kyle Connor/Andrew Copp/Nikola Ehlers

Ice Time(Value play)

Cody Cici

Penalty Box(Fade)

NONE

Detroit Red Wings V Dallas Stars

What do say about these Red Wings except…BRAVO! They currently have two regulation losses all season and have been just rolling! Now they go against Holtby and the Stars who are 5-6, but their goalie, yea he is 2-4. This is a smash spot for the Red Wings and a chance for them to prove they should be in the Stanley Cup conversation. They do not score a ton, but you would not know that when looking out how much they actually score. They do leak some goals though which does concern me as the Stars can go off at any time, and when they do, they are very dangerous. This game will go back and forth all night, but the Wings will end up on top in this one and add to their 2.88 goals a game average.

Lace the Skates(Cash Play)

Dylan Larkin

Lucas Raymond

Tyler Seguin

Slap Shot(Gpp play)

Joe Pavelski/Tyler Seguin/Josh Robertson

Miko Heiskanen/Alexander Radulov

Ice Time(Value play)

Pius Suter

Penalty Box(Fade)

Jamie Benn

Washington Capitals V Anaheim Ducks

The Ducks are on a heater with a 7 game winning streak! That is a lot of momentum coming into probably one of their hardest matchups of the season. We all know the Capitals score a lot with the likes of Alex Ovechkin at the helm, and someone involved in EVERY play. There are two very good goalies in the net, though, Vitek Vanecek who has a .912 save average and John Gibson who holds a surprising .924 save average. In a game with two high-caliber offenses, those numbers mean nothing.

Both sides shoot the same amount at goal at 31.4, it cannot get any more evenly matched than that! This will be a high-scoring game and Troy Terry will continue to shine for the Ducks with 11 goals and 9 assists already this season! That is amazing given barely anyone knew who this guy even was a year ago.

He can asy he is comfortably the leader as the next skater close to him has 6. On the other side, though, the Capitals have TWO players with an impressive 14 assists to date. And that’s with Ovechkin having 12 goals as well as he is chasing the goal title from Leon Draisaitl who has 13. This Washington offense will be tough to tame, but the Ducks will score at will as well. This is a game that will on my watch list.

Lace the Skates(Cash Play)

Alex Ovechkin

Troy Terry

Slap Shot(Gpp play)

Alex Ovechkin/Evgeny Kuznetsov/John Carlson

Tom Wilson/Lars Eller

Troy Terry/Ryan Getzlaf/Adam Henrique/Kevin Shattenkirk

Ice Time(Value play)

Cam Fowler

Penalty Box(Fade)

NONE

NOTE: This game is 4-2 stack viable for this slate

Carolina Hurricanes V Vegas Golden Knights

Golden Knights have been firing on all cylinders lately, even with injuries and their even strengh line mashups. It is really surprising to me that the lines can get moved that much and they can still play in such sync. Their weakness….they allow way too many goals a game with over 3.1 average. That is dangerous going against this Hurricanes offense who scores 3.46 goals a game average.

The Knights defense skaters must have their A game if they are going to slow them down. I am not really impressed with either Vegas goalie as their save rate is barely .900. The Canes will feast in this matchup if their goalkeeper does not step up and have a game. It will be needed to stop Svechnikov who has 6 goals and 6 assists up to this point.

Lace the Skates(Cash Play)

Jonathan Marchessault

Andrei Svechnikov

Slap Shot(Gpp play)

Andrei Svechnikov/Sebastion Aho/Jesper Fast

Jonathan Marchessault/Nicolas Roy/Reilly Smith

Chandler Stephenson (Pair with one of the 3 above)

Ice Time(Value play)

NONE

Penalty Box(Fade)

NONE

Favorite Goalies:

Jordan Binnington

Alex Nedeljkovic

Jake Cambell

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