The following Spotlight Stacks were selected by Awesemo.com writer Jake Hari. For more analysis on the slate, check out the Projections page as well as Awesemo’s NHL Player Rankings and Stacks. Subscribe to the Awesemo.com YouTube Channel to get notifications when “Hit The Ice” (4ET Weekdays) with myself and Homercles go live!
EDM1 (Yamamoto-McDavid-Nugent-Hopkins)
The Oilers’ top line should get a fantastic matchup on home ice tonight against a Penguins team that has allowed the 6th-most Corsi Against per 60 minutes this year. EDM1 held their own against NSH1 in their first game together this season, so a matchup against PIT1 (25.2 SCA 60, 11.7 HDCA/60) or PIT2 (36 SCA/60, 13.7 HDCA/60) should make for a high-paced game at 5v5, and the Oilers have seemed to improve their power-play this year (27.8%) which doesn’t hurt. Yamamoto makes McDavid and Nugent-Hopkins much too affordable, so this one should (rightfully) be popular in tournaments tonight.
NYR1 (Kreider-Zibanejad-Zuccarello)
The Rangers top line will be at home going up against the Panthers in a hard-match situation with the Alexander Barkov line. The Barkov line has given up almost 27 Scoring Chances Against per 60 minutes on the year and while they haven’t allowed a ton of High-Danger Chances, the Rangers’ top line, especially the Zibanejad-Kreider combo, has done a great job creating them (14.5 HDCF/60 since start of 2017). Florida will also be starting backup goalie Michael Hutchison and have been brutal on the penalty-kill (dead-last at 66.7%), so top power-play time for this line makes them one of the best stacks of the night.
MTL1 (Tatar-Danault-Gallagher)
While we’re still early in the season, this Montreal top line has some eye-popping numbers at even-strength, including a 68.2 Corsi For Percentage, 36.1 Scoring Chances For per 60 minutes, and 13.6 High-Danger Chances For per 60 minutes. They have been hard-matching against opposing top lines at home, so that means a date with Gaudreau, Monahan, and Lindholm, which has been one of the worst defensive trios this season, and just allowed 13 Scoring Chances and 9 High-Danger Chances in one game to the Zibanejad line mentioned above. Tatar and Gallagher will be on the top unit on the man-advantage, and if Danault is not your guy, stacking up the top MTL PP looks like a pretty good option that should go overlooked in tournaments.
