Fantasy buzz: Impact of Andersen, Palat, Murray returning

All season long, NHL.com's fantasy hockey staff will have you covered with daily lineup news, production trends and injury notes from around the League. We will identify how these developments affect fantasy owners in year-long (Yahoo) and daily (DraftKings) formats.

Andersen returns for Maple Leafs; Matthews remains out

Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen is expected to start against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; SUN, TSN4, NHL.TV). He missed the past two games with an upper-body injury.
Andersen (77th in Yahoo) ranks fourth League-wide in wins (33), ninth in save percentage (.919) and tied with Dallas Stars goaltender Ben Bishop for fourth in shutouts (five). In DFS contests, Andersen ($7,500) is an against-the-grain pick because the Lightning give up the fewest DraftKings points per game to opposing goaltenders (5.4).
Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (shoulder) is expected to miss his 10th-straight game Tuesday.

Palat back for Lightning after lengthy absence

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ondrej Palat is expected to return against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday. He took line rushes with forwards Brayden Point (C/RW; 69th in Yahoo) and Tyler Johnson (C/RW; 129th) at the morning skate. Palat has finished among Tampa Bay's top four in points in each of his four full seasons (2013-14 to 2016-17).
Palat (37 percent owned in Yahoo), who's been out of the lineup since Jan. 20 with a lower-body injury, has 30 points (eight goals, 22 assists) in 46 games. Palat's placement on the second line gives him immediate value in all fantasy formats. Excluding Tuesday, the Lightning have nine games remaining, five against non-contending teams.
Tampa Bay's second line of Palat ($5,000 in DraftKings), Point ($5,800) and Johnson ($5,000) can be stacked in a variety of ways. Lightning forward J.T. Miller ($6,400) will skate on the top line with Steven Stamkos ($7,200) and Nikita Kucherov ($7,800), making him a must-start fantasy player.

Murray returning for Penguins on Tuesday

Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray will start against the New York Islanders on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN, MSG+, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV) after missing nine games with a concussion.
Backup Tristan Jarry has been assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, meaning goaltender Casey DeSmith (7 percent in Yahoo) will be Murray's backup for at least the time being.
Murray is a must-start fantasy goalie against the Islanders, who are 1-6-3 in their past 10 games with 25 goals over the span (T-28th in NHL with Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres).

Raanta, Kuemper worth streaming for Coyotes

Arizona Coyotes goaltender Antti Raanta made 42 saves on 44 shots faced (.955 save percentage) in their 5-2 win against the Calgary Flames on Monday. Raanta is now 16-16-6 with a .925 save percentage and two shutouts in 41 games.
Raanta (43 percent; 80th in Yahoo) ranks second in the League behind Nashville Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne (3rd in Yahoo) in SV% (.936) and goals-against average (2.03) since Jan. 1 among goalies with at least 20 games in the span.
The Coyotes have 10 games remaining, including three against non-contending teams. They also have two back-to-back sets left, meaning backup Darcy Kuemper will also get playing time. Kuemper (27 percent; 55th in Yahoo) is 12-4-4 with a .925 SV% and four shutouts.
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