NHL Betting News and Notes Saturday, October 14th, 2017

NHL Knowledge

Penguins won six of last seven games with Florida; home side won 7 of last 9 series games. Panthers lost their last five visits to Steel City. Under is 2-1-1 in last four series games. Florida won 2 of its first 3 games (over 3-0), losing 5-3 at Tampa Bay in its only road game. Penguins are 2-3 to start season (over 3-2), splitting pair of home games.

Carolina won three of last four games with Winnipeg; they split last six visits to Manitoba. Under is 6-2 in last eight series games. Hurricanes split their first two games (over 1-1), both of which were home, one went OT, the other SO. Winnipeg split its first four games (over 4-0), losing 7-2 to Toronto in its only home game- they won their last two games.

Washington won its last three games with Philly, holding Flyers to two goals; under is 4-0-3 in last seven series games. Caps are 3-2 in their last five games in this building. Washington is 3-2 to start the season (over 4-1), winning 2 of 3 road games. Flyers opened season with a 2-2 road trip- this is their home opener.

Blues won six of last seven games with Tampa Bay; they’re 3-2 in last five games in this building. Over is 5-3 in last eight series games. St Louis won 4 of its first 5 games (over 3-2), with three of those four on the road. Lightning is 3-1, winning all three home games (scored 14 goals in 3 games); all four of their games went over.

Montreal won its last ten games with Toronto; under is 4-1 in last five series games. Canadiens outscored Leafs 18-11 in last five series games played here. Toronto won 3 of its first four games (over 4-0), winning 7-2 at Winnipeg in its only road game. Montreal lost 3 of last 4 games (under 2-1-1) losing 3-1 to Chicago in their home opener.

Rangers won 3 of last 4 games with New Jersey; last three series games went OT/SO; Devils were outscored 10-3 in losing last three visits to Manhattan. Over is 2-0-3 in last five series games. New Jersey won 3 of first 4 games (over 3-0-1); they won first two road games, scoring 6 goals in both games. New York lost 4 of first five games; their last three games stayed under. Rangers are 1-2 at home this season.

Columbus won 7 of last 9 games with Minnesota; under is 7-2-1 in last ten series games. Blue Jackets won 4 of last 5 games in Twin Cities. Columbus won 3 of first 4 games (over 2-2), winning 2 of first 3 on road- they beat Rangers 3-1 at home Friday. Wild lost 2 of their first 3 games (over 3-0), all on road- this is their home opener.

Dallas won its last four games with Colorado; home side won 5 of last 6 series games. Over is 5-2 in last seven series games. Avalanche lost their last four visits to Texas. Colorado won its last three games, allowing total of four goals; they’re 2-1 on road. Over is 2-2-1 in their games. Dallas Stars lost 3 of first 4 games (over 2-2), splitting pair of home games.

Nashville swept Blackhawks out of playoffs last spring; they won 1-0/5-0 in last two visits to the Windy City. Predators are 2-2 this season (over 2-2), 0-2 on road, losing 4-3/4-0 at Boston/Pittsburgh. Chicago is 3-2 this season (over 4-1), scoring total of 8 goals in last three games; they won two of their three home games (over 3-0).

Bruins won their last ten games vs Arizona; 6 of those 10 games were in the desert. Last two series games stayed under. Bruins lost 2 of their first 3 games (over 2-1); they lost 6-3 at Colorado in their road opener. Arizona is 0-4 to start season (over 3-1), 0-2 at home- two of their losses were to an expansion team. Coyotes scored 5 goals in their last 3 games.

Ottawa won five of its last six games with Edmonton (over 4-2); Senators won their last three visits to Edmonton. Ottawa won 6-0 in Calgary last nite; three of their four games went OT/SO (over 2-2). Oilers lost 2 of first 3 games, scoring total of 7 goals (under 2-1)- they split their first two home games.

Home side won last seven Calgary-Vancouver games; Flames lost 2-1so/4-2/2-1ot in their last three games in this building. Under is 3-1-1 in last five series games. Calgary is 3-2 this year (over 3-2); they were shut out in both losses, including a 6-0 home loss Friday- they’re 2-0 on the road. Canucks lost 2 of their first 3 games, scoring total of 7 goals (under 2-1)- they still haven’t played a road game.

Sabres lost 2-0 in each of their last four visits to Staples Center!!! Home side won last eight Buffalo-Los Angeles games- under is 5-1 in last six series games. Buffalo was outscored 18-9 in losing first four games this season (over 2-1-1); they lost 6-3/3-2 in their two road games. Kings are 2-1 to start season (over 1-1-1); they split their first two home games, scoring five goals.

Sharks are 6-4 in their last ten games with the Islanders; over is 4-2-1 in last seven series tilts. New York is 2-3 in its last five visits to San Jose. Islanders lost 3 of first four games (under 3-1), losing 5-0/3-2 in their first two road games. Sharks lost 2 of first 3 games, scoring total of 7 goals (over 1-1-1); they haven’t played a road game yet, either.

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NHL Picks and Betting Tips
By Parker Michaels
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FLORIDA PANTHERS @ PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

Projected Goaltenders
Florida – James Reimer/Roberto Luongo (unknown)
Pittsburgh – Matt Murray (probable)

Injury Report
Florida – no significant injuries
Pittsburgh – Cole (out)

Florida has scored a club record 13 goals through their first three games and averaged over 40 shots as they knocked off the previously undefeated Blues on Thursday night. Dadonov was moved off the top line as they have struggled to get going, scoring only two goals. Vrbata took his spot beside Huberdeau and Barkov but Boughner said the plan is to go back to the original lines for tonight’s game. It’s unknown whether Luongo will get another start or the rotation will continue with Reimer tonight.

Antti Niemi had another terrible outing Thursday night in Tampa and now spots a 7.63 goals-against-average and .809 save percentage in his two starts. No one should be surprised by this as Niemi is arguably the worst goaltending in the NHL. The Penguins are expected to go back to Murray tonight.

Pittsburgh’s leading point scorer through their first five games is… Bryan Rust? The Penguins haven’t lacked offense as they’ve averaged over 3 goals per game so far, but seeing Rust as the leader with seven points is surprising. The Pens big stars are getting their points too but if Rust continues to play on the top line with Crosby and Guentzel, he could have a huge breakout season.

I think this line opened where it should but Florida has taken some overnight money and that’s not surprising. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this drop a bit more which might end up creating more value on the Penguins for us. I’ll need to see who gets the start in goal for Florida before locking this one in. Check my Twitter later for an update. The Over 5.5 (-118) here is probably as good as it gets for a totals play.

CAROLINA HURRICANES @ WINNIPEG JETS

Projected Goaltenders
Carolina – Scott Darling/Cam Ward (unknown)
Winnipeg – Steve Mason/Connor Hellebuyck (unknown)

Injury Report
Carolina – Stempniak (out), van Riemsdyk (out)
Winnipeg – Byfuglien (questionable)

Trevor van Riemsdyk will not join Carolina to begin their road trip as he deals with a concussion. Coach Peters said he wants to give Cam Ward a start in net on this road trip but didn’t name a starter for tonight. It would be an odd spot for Ward to start here with the team coming off a four day layoff so I’m expecting Darling.

The Jets are coming off a couple of nice wins after dropping their opening two games thanks to the goaltending of Connor Hellebuyck. He’s created a frenzy amongst the Winnipeg media who are stirring up the good old goalie controversy after Steve Mason looked poor in his first two games. I’m not sure if Maurice will continue with the hot hand of Hellebuyck or go back to Mason.

Depth continues to be the biggest weakness for this team and why I’m not high on them. All the scoring has come from the top-six so far as the third and fourth lines still don’t have an even-strength goal this year.

Dustin Byfuglien has missed the last two games due to some soft tissue damage and is questionable for tonight. The Jets didn’t have any media availability on Friday so we’ll have to wait until their morning skate.

My line above is with Darling/Mason starting and Byfuglien in the lineup. There would be value on Carolina at current number but we’re going to have to wait until the morning skate. If Ward starts this would be no play, regardless of Byfuglien’s status.

WASHINGTON CAPITALS @ PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

Projected Goaltenders
Washington – Philipp Grubauer (confirmed)
Philadelphia – Brian Elliott/Michal Neuvirth (unknown)

Injury Report
Washington – Niskanen (questionable)
Philadelphia – Giroux (probable)

The big news here is defenseman Matt Niskanen’s availability for tonight. He left last night’s game after being slashed in the hand midway through and did not return. He was seen with a wrap around his hand after the game and he’s to be re-evaluated this morning.

His loss would be huge as the Caps don’t have enough cap room to recall another defenseman for tonight unless they put Niskanen directly on long-term injured reserve (which would mean he’d miss ten games) so that means either Taylor Chorney or Aaron Ness would draw back into the lineup. The Caps just seemed to solve some of their bottom pair defensive woes with the insertion of Christian Djoos into the lineup two games ago and now might be looking at an even worse situation.

This is also a bad spot for the Capitals on not only a back-to-back but it’s their fourth in six and sixth in ten nights to open the season.

The Flyers will play their home opener tonight after a successful 2-2 road trip to begin the season. Philly showed good depth and a lot of unexpected speed in their first few games. This was the hardest team for me to preview this year and I’m still not sure how good or bad they can be, so we’ll just take them game-by-game for now until we get a good enough sample of this year’s games to make a better assumption.

Brian Elliott occupied the starter’s crease in Friday’s practice but it was Neuvirth who exited the ice first which would seem to indicate he’ll be the starter tonight. Elliott stayed on later for some extra work. We’ll have to wait for confirmation but I made my line above with Neuvirth starting. Claude Giroux missed practice on Thursday for a personal matter but returned on Friday and is good to go for tonight.

With no line available yet we’ll have to wait for this one. I’m expecting to have value on Philadelphia and this will almost certainly be a play on the Flyers tonight, especially if Niskanen is out. I’ll update on Twitter, accordingly.

ST. LOUIS BLUES @ TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

Projected Goaltenders
St. Louis – Jake Allen (likely)
Tampa Bay – Peter Budaj (likely)

Injury Report
St. Louis – Fabbri (out), Berglund (out), Steen (out), Bouwmeester (out)
Tampa Bay – no significant injuries

Our sleeper pick for this year’s Hart Trophy is off to a great start as Nikita Kucherov has scored a goal in all four games for Tampa Bay and has seven points. The Lightning have won all three of their home games and now catch a Blues team at the end of a four-game road trip and their fourth game in six nights.

St. Louis laid an egg in Florida on Thursday night (as predicted) as a lot of their troubles continued. Jake Allen was pretty good once again but he wasn’t able to bail them out this time. The bottom six continue to have scoring issues so Yeo sent down rookie Tage Thompson on Friday and called up another rookie, Sam Blais who could start on the second line with Schenn and Schwartz.

Not a lot to say about the Lightning as they just continue to look sharper each game. One surprise here is I’ve heard Peter Budaj is likely to get his first start tonight. This line opened at -160 and has fallen hard to -133 early this morning. I don’t understand this steep move and I completely disagree with it. We’re locking in Tampa as an official play.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS @ MONTREAL CANADIENS

Projected Goaltenders
Toronto – Frederik Andersen (probable)
Montreal – Carey Price (probable)

Injury Report
Toronto – no significant injuries
Montreal – Schlemko (doubtful), Galchenyuk (questionable)

Mike Babcock was worried about a “trap game” against New Jersey on Wednesday night and that’s exactly what happened as the Leafs lacked their usual high energy and lost too many one-on-one battles. Babcock said they weren’t ready but vowed that wouldn’t be the case tonight.

Toronto has lost 14 straight games to Montreal dating back to 2014 but it certainly feels like this year might be different with the Leafs rolling on offense and the Canadiens struggling in all areas.

Defenseman Connor Carrick will return to the lineup for Toronto after missing two games with an injury. He’s slot in for rookie Calle Rosen who had a tough game on Wednesday.

The Canadiens have dropped three straight and continue to make a mess of Alex Galchenyuk. I wish they would just trade this kid so he could go somewhere he’s appreciated and thrive. He was demoted to the fourth line in practice this week and is now apparently “sick” and questionable for tonight. Julien says they’re not “trying to bury” him but it sure seems that way. Maybe Montreal wouldn’t be struggling to score goals if they knew how to put their lineup together. It must be extremely frustrating to be a Canadiens fan right now. If Montreal loses to Toronto at home tonight you have to think someone’s head is going to roll.

Some good news on the defensive front, David Schlemko is almost ready for a return which should be a big boost. He played a conditioning game in Laval last night and played pretty well. He said afterwards he was huffing and puffing pretty good and could probably use one more game at the AHL level before returning to the Canadiens. Laval plays again today so while Schlemko is eligible to be called up to play tonight, I’d expect he won’t join the team until they head out on their West Coast trip next week.

This line almost made me sick when I looked at it and saw we might have to bet on Montreal. How on earth could anyone think the Canadiens offense can keep up with the Leafs here? The opener at -115 was short and overnight money has made it even shorter down to -103. The Leafs are now a favorite on the road and that just seems a bit of an overreaction to the first few games.

This might be another tough one to hit the submit button on but we have to play the value on Montreal. This line might continue to climb in the Leafs favor today but I have enough value at the current number to lock it in. This would be a good night for Carey Price to do Carey Price things. (UPDATE: Line has just bounced back to -115 before I went to submit this. There’s still some value on the Habs at this number. Play accordingly using the range above)

NEW JERSEY DEVILS @ NEW YORK RANGERS

Projected Goaltenders
New Jersey – Keith Kinkaid (confirmed)
New York – Ondrej Pavelec (confirmed)

Injury Report
New Jersey – Zajac (out), Boyle (out), Stafford (probable)
New York – no significant injuries

Kinkaid and Pavelec will get the starts tonight with both teams having played last night and both losing. The Rangers defense continued to leak shots despite some shuffling of the lines as they allowed 42 shots. Lundqvist was solid stopping 40 of those but I worry how Pavelec is going to fare if they give up that many shots again here. Kinkaid is an underrated backup so I’d say the Devils have the edge in net.

The only injury news here is that Drew Stafford is expected to make his debut with New Jersey which is actually fairly insignificant. I don’t have much else to say about this game and with no line available yet we’ll just wait to see where it opens. With the Devils hot start and the Rangers struggling, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this open below my range and we’ll have some value on the Rags. I’ll update any play on Twitter but with the goaltenders locked in and no injury concerns, you have the range above and can confidently lock it in when you see a line. Keeping in mind that I prefer to have at least 8 cents of value above/below my range, the target price would be -159 or lower to play New York.

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS @ MINNESOTA WILD

Projected Goaltenders
Columbus – Joonas Korpisalo/Sergei Bobrovsky (unknown)
Minnesota – Devan Dubnyk (probable)

Injury Report
Columbus – Jenner (out)
Minnesota – Granlund (out), Parise (out), Niederreiter (out), Coyle (out), Foligno (out)

The poor Minnesota Wild. Along with the Flyers tonight, the Wild are the final team in the NHL to drop the puck for their home opener and there doesn’t seem like there’s much to celebrate. Already down Granlund and Parise, they lost three more players in Thursday’s game to serious injury. Charlie Coyle had a right fibula fracture and had to undergo surgery on Friday. He’s been placed on LTiR and will miss six-to-eight weeks. Nino Niederreiter suffered a high ankle sprain and will be out at least three weeks. And Marcus Foligno got punched so hard by the Hawks John Hayden it broke his face. Foligno will be out at least one week with a left facial fracture.

Parise isn’t supposed to return until sometime next week but he talked on Friday as if he might be an emergency replacement if needed. Hopefully this doesn’t happen because the Wild need him to fully recover and bringing him back early just smells of long-term disaster.

I mentioned before how the Wild are in a salary cap nightmare situation and can’t afford to really do anything. On Friday, Boudreau was forced to send defenseman Mike Reilly down to the minors and recalled forward Luke Kunin just so the Wild can have enough forwards to roll three lines. The move of Coyle to LTiR then freed up enough cap space to recall three more players so at least they will have enough bodies to ice a team. Those players are Christoph Bertschy, Landon Ferraro and Zack Mitchell and they’re basically replacement level players. The Wild are basically going to be rolling three lines tonight.

Columbus is coming off another strong effort with last night’s win as Bobrovsky shined again. We’ll want to keep an eye on whether Korpisalo gets the start in net tonight or whether they go back to Bobrovsky.

My line above is with Korpisalo/Dubnyk but if Bobrovsky gets the start again it would make the Jackets a very small favorite.

Regardless of where this line opens, the only play option tonight is on Columbus. Due to the extreme injury situation with Minnesota this is a very rare instance where I would not play any line value on them here. They could still go out and find a way to win but it’s Columbus or nothing tonight.

COLORADO AVALANCHE @ DALLAS STARS

Projected Goaltenders
Colorado – Semyon Varlamov (confirmed)
Dallas – Ben Bishop (probable)

Injury Report
Colorado – Jost (out), MacKinnon (probable)
Dallas – Hamhuis (probable)

Colorado dominated a lifeless Ducks team last night but there was a pretty scary moment late in the opening period when Nathan MacKinnon caught a stick blade up under his visor that messed his eye up pretty good. He was down for a few minutes before leaving the ice and did not return.

After the game it was great news for Avs fans, however, as Bednar said he had some vision problems immediately after but things corrected themselves and he should be good to play tonight.

Tyson Jost missed last night’s game with a bone bruise in his knee and will also be out tonight.

For Dallas, Dan Hamhuis is expected to return tonight after missing the last two games with a groin injury. It’s unclear who he will replace but it’s most likely Jamie Oleksiak. Hitchcock is going to switch up the defensive pairs tonight with Klingberg partnering with Methot and Honka with Lindell. Bishop is expected to start in net.

This line opened a little short but overnight money brought it up to where it should be. Not anticipating a play in this one but feel free to throw the Stars into any of your football parlays today.

NASHVILLE PREDATORS @ CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

Projected Goaltenders
Nashville – Pekka Rinne (likely)
Chicago – Corey Crawford (likely)

Injury Report
Nashville – Ellis (out), Weber (doubtful), Josi (probable)
Chicago – Hossa (out), Schmaltz (probable)

Roman Josi missed Thursday’s game but returned to practice yesterday. It’s expected he will return tonight if he responds well this morning. Yannick Weber missed Friday’s practice after leaving Thursday’s game early due to a high hit and is doubtful for tonight.

The Hawks have looked like a different team without second line center Nick Schmaltz the last three games. While they were fortunate enough to win one of those, the second line of Hartman, Anisimov and Patrick Kane have been all but invisible. Schmaltz is expected to return tonight and that will be a huge boost for Chicago which will have a trickle-down effect on the lineup.

This line opened and is currently at the bottom end of my range. If Josi doesn’t respond well this morning and is out we’ll look to play the Hawks but otherwise this is probably a pass.

BOSTON BRUINS @ ARIZONA COYOTES

Projected Goaltenders
Boston – Anton Khudobin (confirmed)
Arizona – Louis Domingue (likely)

Injury Report
Boston – Backes (out), Bergeron (doubtful), Miller (probable)
Arizona – Chychrun (out), Perlini (out)

The Bruins dropped back-to-back games to Colorado after opening the season with a victory over Nashville. Life without Patrice Bergeron continues as it sounds like he’ll miss a fourth straight game. Defenseman Kevan Miller took a puck to the knee that stung a nerve during Friday’s practice and he had to be helped off the ice. He was able to recover after and should be available tonight. And Anton Khudobin will get his first start in net. He relieved Rask last game and stopped all nine shots he faced.

Arizona’s Antti Raanta left Thursday’s game with a lower body injury and did not practice Friday. Tocchet hasn’t completely ruled him out for tonight yet but it’s most likely that Domingue will start. Marek Langhamer was called up to backup, if needed.

This line opened at -135 which was already accounting for Bergeron out, in my opinion, but has plummeted down to -110 overnight. With Khudobin/Domingue as projected starters this line has moved too far and we have some value in the Bruins once again. I thought Boston would be a fade team for me early this season but this will be the third time in four games I’ll be backing them. Go Bruins.

OTTAWA SENATORS @ EDMONTON OILERS

Projected Goaltenders
Ottawa – Mike Condon (probable)
Edmonton – Cam Talbot (probable)

Injury Report
Ottawa – Karlsson (out), MacArthur (out), Harpur (out), Oduya (probable)
Edmonton – Sekera (out), Draisaitl (out), Caggiula (out)

Mike Condon is expected to start in net for Ottawa tonight after Craig Anderson shut out the Flames Friday night in a 6-0 victory. Boucher has been hesitant to pull Anderson though because he’s been on such a roll early on so we’ll keep an eye on this one for confirmation. Erik Karlsson remains out but Johnny Oduya joined the team Friday morning and is expected to play tonight. This is a tough spot for the Senators as they wrap up a three game road trip through Western Canada.

Big news in Edmonton is Leon Draisaitl won’t play tonight. He’s still doesn’t have full vision after an eye injury on Monday. Rookie Kailer Yamamoto is expected to start on the top line in his place and if you play DFS you’ll want to strongly consider pairing him with McDavid tonight.

The Oilers are facing some early season adversity with a couple of poor efforts where a lot of bad habits have been noticeable. The good news is bad habits can easily be fixed and coach McLellan has put the team through the paces this week with some tough love practices.

The Oilers are also expecting to sit defenseman Matt Benning tonight as he’s been having some trouble so far. Darnell Nurse will jump up on the second pair with Kris Russell while Yohann Auvitu will slot into the lineup beside Gryba on the third pair.

I really like the Oilers in this one tonight so hopefully there will be an overreaction to Draisaitl being out and we’ll get some line value when this one opens.

CALGARY FLAMES @ VANCOUVER CANUCKS

Projected Goaltenders
Calgary – Eddie Lack (probable)
Vancouver – Anders Nilsson (likely)

Injury Report
Calgary – no significant injuries
Vancouver – Edler (questionable)

Calgary is in a really tough spot here tonight. After a huge emotional win Tuesday in Anaheim then another draining effort in a win against Los Angeles Wednesday, the Flames returned home last night and looked dog-tired in a lopsided 6-0 loss which saw Mike Smith get the hook. Now they turn right around and fly out to Vancouver for the back-to-back and fourth game in six nights.

To make matters worse, Eddie Lack is expected to get the start and since being traded by Vancouver in 2015, he’s been lit up in two return visits to the Rogers Arena.

Vancouver will wrap up a four game homestand tonight and it’s expected Anders Nilsson will get his first start, although with Vancouver having no media availability yesterday we’ll have to wait for confirmation. Alex Edler is also questionable tonight after suffering a lower body injury which forced him to leave Thursday’s game.

My line above is with Lack/Nilsson and Edler not playing tonight. I really like the Canucks here tonight so hopefully we’ll get some line value.

BUFFALO SABRES @ LOS ANGELES KINGS

Projected Goaltenders
Buffalo – Robin Lehner/Chad Johnson (unknown)
Los Angeles – Jonathan Quick/Darcy Kuemper (unknown)

Injury Report
Buffalo – Bogosian (out), Okposo (probable)
Los Angeles – Gaborik (out), Martinez (questionable)

The Sabres changed up all their lines Thursday night but still walked away without a win for the fourth consecutive game to begin their season. I mentioned the other day how I wasn’t a fan of their new lines and it certainly didn’t work in San Jose as the Sharks really controlled that game throughout despite only being a one goal game.

Buffalo has scored just nine goals in four games and now they enter Staples Center where they’ve been shut out four straight trips. This is the front-end of a back-to-back so it’s unclear whether Robin Lehner or Chad Johnson will get the start tonight.

The big news for LA is the possible return for defenseman Alec Martinez. He was a full participant in Friday’s practice for the third consecutive day and went through the regular powerplay drills on the top unit. The Kings were previously using four forwards and Drew Doughty on their top powerplay unit but will now shift to three forwards with Doughty and Martinez on the points. Martinez may be removed from IR sometime today and play tonight so that’s something I’ll be keeping an eye out for.

The Kings also begin a back-to-back tonight so we’ll have to see if it’s Quick or Darcy Kuemper in net but either way we should have enough value here to play on Los Angeles. My line is with Lehner/Quick and Martinez in the lineup. If any of that changes, I’ll update the new line on Twitter. I’m going to wait for an announcement of the goalies before locking this one in as we might get a better price later.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS @ SAN JOSE SHARKS

Projected Goaltenders
New York – Thomas Greiss (confirmed)
San Jose – Martin Jones/Aaron Dell (unknown)

Injury Report
New York – Eberle (questionable)
San Jose – Martin (questionable)

Jordan Eberle is questionable tonight after taking a hit in Thursday’s practice after missing Friday’s. We’ll see how he feels this morning. Thomas has been confirmed as the starter with the Isles beginning a California back-to-back tonight.

The Sharks got their first win last game and their line changes paid instant dividends. After moving Hertl up to the second line wing the new third line of Meier, Donskoi and Tierney combined for two goals and six points, including the game winner. Defenseman Paul Martin is still day-to-day and it’s unknown who will start in goal tonight. I’ve been itching for Aaron Dell’s debut so fingers crossed.

Regardless of starter, this line has opened too short and we’ll jump on the Sharks tonight.