Welcome to The Fantasy Fix daily fantasy hockey strategy. Below you will find rankings and projections for tonight’s NHL action. Building a winning lineup isn’t easy, so we’ll do our best to guide you in the right direction and help you win some serious cash. This is a short slate so we will keep this brief. With that, let’s take a look at some match-ups you should be targeting tonight.

As always, make sure to check out LeftWingLock for goalie confirmations.

All shot attempt numbers discussed are at even strength and score-adjusted unless otherwise noted.

TEAMS TO TARGET

[cointent_lockedcontent article_labels=”hockey”]

Los Angeles Kings V. Vancouver Canucks

This is the final week so maybe volumes will be off but maybe some DFS baseball players will come on over to the hockey side. Vancouver has managed to win a couple games in a row after going on a nine game losing streak. When one considers that they defeated San Jose and Anaheim, that looks very impressive on the surface. However, the Sharks have a god awful time trying to get to .500 at home and Anaheim every so often just has trouble versus the Canucks. It is hard to explain but this just happens.

Remember that this game is a road game for Los Angeles. Oddly, Vancouver is just horrendous at home where they just average 2.26 goals per game and allow 2.87 per contest. They only have 13 home wins which seems incomprehensible but yet is true. Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin have heated up in the past few outings but will that be a mirage against a Kings team eager to start trying to seal up this Pacific Division crown?

Watch out to see who may start for Vancouver as that may be an extreme contrarian risk once more. Jonathan Quick is not that safe only because no one knows how many shots the Canucks will generate. The Kings second line is one to look at as far as a stack and the best play from this game.

New York Rangers V. Columbus Blue Jackets

Lets think about this. There is a chance that Antti Raanta starts this one for the Rangers since Henrik Lundqvist was pulled for the seventh time this season over the weekend. Again, just wait for confirmation but both of these division rivals are capable of scoring as well as giving up goals. Between Cam Atkinson and Boone Jenner, the Rangers defense will have their hands full. That is one beleaguered defense which needs the playoffs to really start.

Columbus really has to wonder who they will put in net but the expected is Sergei Bobrovsky. “Officer Bob” has really not been on the case all that much either. He has allowed three or more goals far too often even in his return. The Blue Jackets defense has given up 3.03 goals per contest at home. This could mean a nice night for any of the Rangers top six players. Mix and match as one needs to at this point. Much can be said about Columbus as far as trying to play parts of the Brandon Saad line. Goal projection has this near six goals, especially if Lundqvist does not start.

Expect a bumpy night with this short five game slate and this Rangers-Blue Jackets game could feature a whole lot of unexpected as both teams have a ton of urgency for different reasons.

Tampa Bay Lightning V. New York Islanders

The Islanders are in free fall and everyone knows it. Yes, we mean everyone! New York has won three of their last five games but that home stinker on Saturday against Pittsburgh left a really sour taste in their mouths and so many noticed. Ben Bishop and Thomas Greiss should start in this tilt and it is important for both teams. Tampa has no Steven Stamkos and Anton Stralman while the Islanders are without Travis Hamonic. A triplets stack seems to be on the horizon. It just makes too much sense but keep an eye on line combinations during the day on Monday. If adversity hits, no one should be surprises to see this occur.

No one knows what will happen in this game and that it is why it is our wildcard. The recommendation is simple. Watch for events and any significant line shifts before morning skates and/or warm-ups. Hopefully, the betting lines will shift a little from all of this chaos and give us a better idea of what to look for too.

Again, it should be a wild and crazy night on the short slate. Something different we may do is list some value plays on Twitter so keep an eye out for that. There will be more updates and such via social media.

PLAYER RANKINGS

Rankings are price sensitive

DraftKings

Centers

1. Tyler Johnson — Tampa Bay Lightning — $5300
2. Bo Horvat — Vancouver Canucks — $3500
3. Alexander Wennberg — Philadelphia Flyers — $3600
4. Alex Barkov — Florida Panthers — $6900
5. Derek Stepan — New York Rangers — $5900
6. Jeff Carter — Los Angeles Kings — $6400

Wingers

1. Jannik Hansen — Vancouver Canucks– $4100
2. Oliver Bjorkstrand — Columbus Blue Jackets — $3100
3. Milan Lucic — Los Angeles Kings — $5000
4. Mats Zuccarello — New York Rangers — $5900
5. Nikita Kucherov — Tampa Bay Lightning — $7000
6. Kyle Okposo — New York Islanders — $6100
7. Boone Jenner — Columbus Blue Jackets — $5500

Defenseman

1. Kevin Kline — New York Rangers — $4000
2. Nick Leddy — New York Islanders — $4600
3. Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Arizona Coyotes — $6100
4. David Savard — Columbus Blue Jackets –$4300
5. Aaron Ekblad — Florida Panthers –$4900
6. Kevin Shattenkirk — St. Louis Blues — $6900

Goalie

1. Jonathan Bernier — Toronto Maple Leafs — $7100
2. Sergei Bobrovsky — Columbus Blue Jackets — $6800
3. Brian Elliott — St. Louis Blues — $8400
4. Ben Bishop — Tampa Bay Lightning — $8400
5. Jonathan Quick — Los Angeles Kings– $8200

FanDuel

 Centers

1. Alexander Wennberg — Columbus Blue Jackets — $3600
2. William Nylander — Toronto Maple Leafs — $3500
3. Bo Horvat — Vancouver Canucks – $4000
4. Paul Stastny — St. Louis Blues — $6200
5. Tyler Johnson — Tampa Bay Lightning — $6100
6. Aleksander Barkov — Florida Panthers — $6500
7. John Tavares — New York Islanders — $8100

Wingers

 Right Wing

1. Oliver Bjorkstrand — Columbus Blue Jackets — $3200
2. Tyler Toffoli — Los Angeles Kings — $6000
3. Mats Zuccarello — New York Rangers — $5700
4. Jannik Hansen — Vancouver Canucks — $5400
5. Vladimir Tarasenko — St. Louis Blues — $8100

Left Wing

1. Milan Lucic — Los Angeles Kings — $5900
2. Chris Kreider — New York Rangers — $5500
3. Jaden Schwartz — St. Louis Blues — $5700
4. Boone Jenner — Columbus Blue Jackets — $6700
5. Jonathan Huberdeau — Florida Panthers — $6900

Defenseman

1. David Savard — Columbus Blue Jackets — $3700
2. Aaron Ekblad — Florida Panthers — $4100
3. Kevin Klein — New York Rangers — $3500
4. Kevin Shattenkirk — St. Louis Blues — $5500
5. Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Arizona Coyotes — $6200
6. Nick Leddy– New York Islanders — $4300

Goalie

1. Jonathan Bernier — Toronto Maple Leafs — $7600
2. Thomas Greiss — New York Islanders — $8600
3. Jonathan Quick — Los Angeles Kings — $8600
4. Brian Elliott — St. Louis Blues — $9500
5. Sergei Bobrovsky — Columbus Blue Jackets — $7500

FantasyDraft

Centers

1. Bo Horvat — Vancouver Canucks — $7000
2. Brock Nelson — New York Islanders — $7900
3. William Nylander — Toronto Maple Leafs — $8400
4. J.T. Miller — New York Rangers — $9200
5. Boone Jenner — Columbus Blue Jackets — $11,300
6. Tyler Johnson– Tampa Bay Lightning — $11.000
7. Jeff Carter — Los Angeles Kings — $13,200
8. John Tavares — New York Islanders — $15,500

Wingers

1. Oliver Bjorkstrand — Columbus Blue Jackets — $6100
2. Troy Brouwer — St. Louis Blues–$8500
3. Jannik Hansen — Vancouver Canucks — $8200
4. Shane Doan — Arizona Coyotes — $9200
5. Tyler Toffoli — Los Angeles Kings — $11,800
6. Mats Zuccarello — New York Rangers — $12,100
7. Nikita Kucherov — Tampa Bay Lightning — $14,500
8. Vladimir Tarasenko — St. Louis Blues — $15,400

 Defenseman

1. Calvin de Haan — New York Islanders — $8700
2. Kevin Klein — New York Rangers — $7700
3. Alec Martinez — Los Angeles Kings — $9700
4. Aaron Ekblad — Florida Panthers — $10,100
5. Seth Jones — Columbus Blue Jackets — $10,500
6. Kevin Shattenkirk — St. Louis Blues — $14,200

Team G

1. Columbus Blue Jackets –$14,300
2. Arizona Coyotes — $15,100
3. Toronto Maple Leafs — $14,000
4. New York Islanders –$16,500
5. New York Ranger –$17,300
6. St. Louis Blues –$17,500

[/cointent_lockedcontent]