NHL Saturday Night Slate

Here's a breakdown of Saturday night in the NHL from a fantasy perspective:

Buffalo Sabres at Boston Bruins

The Sabres continue to struggle and lack that elite scoring option that the Bruins have - Brad Marchand, who has scored eight of the Bruins' 21 goals in the past eight games ... Sabres G Robin Lehner receives the start and holds a career 3-6 record with a surprising .923 save percentage against Boston ... Boston's power-play is second-best in the NHL behind the Capitals with a 24.5 success rate ... Buffalo's D Rasmus Ristolainen has been fantastic this year, though his plus/minus will continue to hurt his value and facing Bergeron and Marchand every shift will take a lot of energy out of the young defenseman ... This game should be a lopsided affair in Boston with multi-point nights coming from Boston's secondary scoring unit of Loui Eriksson, David Krejci and David Pastrnak.

Prediction: ​Bruins 4, Sabres 2

DFS MVP: David Krejci

DFS Dud: Robin Lehner

Pittsburgh Penguins at Florida Panthers

The Panthers have been on a surge this season, proving that hockey can co-exist with 90 degree Fahrenheit temperatures. Florida has won six straight games and host the Penguins, who are finally enjoying success from star C Sidney Crosby, who now has 15 points in his last 10 games ... Though Crosby's resurgence has been refreshing to most Penguins fans, W Phil Kessel continues his streaky pace and can't be trusted to provide a feasible return, especially with C Evgeni Malkin out of the lineup ... Panthers' G Roberto Luongo is having himself a career year at the age of 36, holding a 2.14 goals against average and .930 save percentage. He's been tougher than ever to solve ... Like Luongo, Florida has found success behind another veteran presence - W Jaromir Jagr, who, at 43 years old, leads his team in points with 37. He stuffs the stat sheet each night with goals, assists, hits and power-play points - making him a must-roll no matter the opponent.

Prediction: Panthers 3, Penguins 2

DFS MVP: Sidney Crosby

DFS Dud: Phil Kessel

Toronto Maple Leafs at Ottawa Senators

The Senators and Maple Leafs face-off against each other in the battle of Ontario, which should be filled to the brim with DFS success ... The Senators rank last among the NHL in goals against average (3.15) and allow the most shots against (33.2), improving the fantasy value of the Toronto forwards, in particular Nazem Kadri, who has peppered opposing netminders 187 times, good enough for seventh among NHL skaters ... Leafs G James Reimer receives the start and ranks among the NHL's top goaltenders (statistically speaking), posting top-10 numbers in both goals against average and save percentage ... Senators D Erik Karlsson is a must-roll in cash games on defense, as the offense runs through him. He's on pace for an 86-point season and should be rolled alongside young sniper W Mike Hoffman as the top scoring options ... Neither Senators netminder can be trusted and both should be faded.

Prediction: Maple Leafs 4, Senators 3

DFS MVP: Nazem Kadri

DFS Dud: Craig Anderson

Chicago Blackhawks at Dallas Stars

Two elite offensive powerhouses clash in what should be an entertaining game for skaters, but a nightmare for the goaltenders ... Blackhawks All-Star juggernaut W Patrick Kane is a point machine, already having toppled his previous best point total. He currently sits atop the league with 75 points. The next player below him? Stars W Jamie Benn, who has 58 points in 55 games played ... Dallas W Patrick Sharp will look for vengeance against his old team. He has hit a dry spell, but still has 40 points in 52 games in a secondary scoring role ... Blackhawks G Corey Crawford has had himself a stellar start to the season, recording a whopping 30 wins in 44 games played, with a 2.15 goals against to go along with a .930 save percentage. Current Star and former Chicago netminder Antti Niemi will start his sixth straight game, having gone 4-1-0 despite allowing 12 goals in those previous five outings ... The upper hand goes to the Blackhawks due to the difference in goaltending.

Prediction: Blackhawks 5, Stars 3

DFS MVP: Patrick Kane

DFS Dud: Patrick Sharp

Minnesota Wild at St. Louis Blues

The Blues have struck gold with their goaltending tandem, receiving fantastic starts from Jake Allen, before he headed to the IR, and now Brian Elliott, who is among the most expensive goalies on DFS sites. He carries a 2.17 goals against average and .927 save percentage into Saturday's game ... The Wild have lost eight of its last ten and have elected to sit sniping W Thomas Vanek and shifty W Jason Zucker in hopes of creating a spark in the lineup ... Parise's porous play has led to him scoring a mere two goals in his last ten games and he shouldn't be touched until he shows signs of heating up ... The Blues continue to win games with stout all-around team play, but none of their players have been 'red-hot' as of late. W Vladimir Tarasenko has hit a mid-season rut, going five games without a point and will look to snipe his way out of it.

Prediction: Blues 4, Wild 1

DFS MVP: Vladimir Tarasenko

DFS Dud: Zach Parise

San Jose Sharks at Nashville Predators

The Predators host the Sharks in what should be a great two-way hockey game ... Pekka Rinne has struggled mightily this year, recording a paltry 2.57 GAA and atrocious .901 save percentage - statistics that the Sharks snipers are salivating over ... C Joe Pavelski has four points in his last three games, showing no signs of slowing down from his point-per-game pace ... D Brent Burns should do what he does best - taking a high volume of shots from the point for the chance of finding twine ... Nashville's new offense is beginning to show signs of chemistry, with C Ryan Johansen and W James Neal tallying 10 points each over their last 10 games ... Filip Forsberg's cost continues to remain middling, and he's worth a spot playing alongside the two aforementioned Nashville forwards.

Prediction: Predators, 4 Sharks 3

DFS MVP: Ryan Johansen

DFS Dud: Brent Burns

Calgary Flames at Vancouver Canucks

The last Canadian matchup of the night takes place in beautiful British Columbia, where the young Flames seeks to continue their grind to the NHL playoffs .. The Canucks' aging forward unit of Henrik and Daniel Sedin will be outmatched by the speed of Flames youngsters Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau, despite playing in the second game of a back-to-back ... The Flames' already porous defense became thinner when the NHL handed out a 20-game suspension to Dennis Wideman ... Vancouver lacks firepower on offense, however, the Flames' odious goaltending duo of Karri Ramo and Jonas Hiller could become Calgary's Achilles heel on Saturday night.

Prediction: Flames 6, Canucks 5 (OT)

DFS MVP: Sean Monahan

DFS Dud: Henrik Sedin

Winnipeg Jets at Colorado Avalanche

On this hefty nine-game slate, this game will be overlooked due to other juicy matchups ... Jets F Blake Wheeler has been phenomenal this season and was one of the biggest All-Star snubs. He currently sits just outside the top-10 in points, with 49 in 51 games played - making him and his surprisingly low price a must play against the inconsistent Avalanche defense ... On the other hand, the Jets defense is one of the worst in the NHL, allowing 2.90 goals against average, which could open the floodgates for the Avalanche and its 2.70 goals for per game ... Avalanche forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene continue to click and could return a pile of value against the inexperienced Michael Hutchinson.

Prediction: Avalanche 3, Jets 2

DFS MVP: Nathan MacKinnon

DFS Dud: Michael Hutchinson