Fantasy buzz: Khudobin continues strong start for Bruins

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.

2 p.m.

DraftKings value picks for 7 pm contests

CENTER
Mathew Barzal, NYI ($5,300): The New York Islanders center remains a moderately priced DFS value target against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CITY, MSG+, NHL.TV). Barzal extended his point streak to five games with a goal and an assist against the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday. The rookie forward has three goals, five assists, four power-play points and 11 shots on goal during his streak. In his past 10 games Barzal has 15 points (three goals, 12 assists) and is averaging 4.3 DraftKings points per game. His 22 points are tied for first among rookies with Brock Boeser of the Vancouver Canucks.
Spend up for: Steven Stamkos, TBL ($7,900 at PIT)
WING
Micheal Ferland, CGY ($4,500): The Calgary Flames right wing is in a great lineup situation and is a great price Saturday against the Colorado Avalanche (10 p.m. ET; CBC, ALT, NHL.TV). Ferland has settled in well on the first line with forwards Johnny Gaudreau ($7,800) and Sean Monahan ($6,900), scoring nine points (six goals, three assists) in his past nine games. He scored his ninth goal of the season against the Dallas Stars on Friday and is averaging 3.9 DraftKings points per game in nine games, over a full point more than his season average of 2.8 points per game.
Spend up for: Mark Stone, OTT ($6,400 vs NYI)
DEFENSE
Will Butcher, NJD ($4,000): The New Jersey Devils rookie defenseman is beginning to heat up again after cooling off from his solid start to the season and is a great value pick against the Detroit Red Wings (7 p.m. ET; FS-D, MSG+ 2, NHL.TV). Butcher has points in three of his past four games totaling two goals and two assists, one power-play assist, and has gotten very good category coverage with four blocked shots and five shots on goal. He is second to Barzal among rookies with 15 assists and his 17 points are fourth in rookie scoring. Butcher is averaging 2.6 DraftKings points per game in 22 games this season.
Spend up for: Nick Leddy, NYI ($5,600 at OTT)
GOALTENDER
Roberto Luongo, FLA ($7,300): The Florida Panthers goaltender will start against the Chicago Blackhawks at home on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; FS-F, NBCSCH, NHL.TV). Luongo has won four of his past five starts with one shutout and has allowed only eight goals against in that span. He is coming off a stellar performance against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday, stopping 43 of 44 shots in the Panthers 2-1 shootout victory. In five home games, Luongo is 3-0-a with a .932 save percentage.
Spend up for: Jake Allen, STL ($8,300 vs MIN)

10 a.m.

Khudobin solid again for Bruins

Boston Bruins goaltender Anton Khudobin had another strong game
against the Pittsburgh Penguins
on Friday, stopping 17 shots in a 4-3 victory. It was the fourth consecutive start for Khudobin, and he has won all four of them. Bruins starter Tuukka Rask has been inconsistent, allowing Khudobin to carve out a larger starting role.
Khudobin (32 percent owned in Yahoo) has not lost a game in regulation with a 7-2-0 record in 10 games (nine starts). He has a 2.22 goals against average and .932 save percentage and is bordering on must-own in leagues, having started five of the Bruins past seven games. Fantasy owners should target him now, and should treat the Bruins goaltending situation as a time-share favoring Khudobin until he cools off.

Price to start for Canadiens

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price
will start against the Buffalo Sabres
on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, SN, MSG-B, NHL.TV). Price has missed the past 10 games because of a lower-body injury sustained on Nov. 2 against the Minnesota Wild.
The Canadiens assigned goaltender Charlie Lindgren to Laval of the American Hockey League to make room for Price's return.
Price was having a difficult season before the injury with three wins, a 3.77 goals against average and an .877 save percentage in 11 games (all starts). It is a far cry from last season when Price was the 38th overall player in Yahoo standard scoring leagues, but he still remains a must-own player in fantasy leagues.
The 30-year old faces the Sabres, who rank 30th in the NHL averaging 2.39 goals per game. He had 37 wins in 62 starts last season, tied for fifth in the league, and was one of only four goaltenders to rank in the top 10 in wins, save percentage and goals-against average. Braden Holtby (Washington Capitals), Sergei Bobrovsky (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Devan Dubnyk (Minnesota Wild) were the other three.

Low ownership trio have stellar game for Vegas

Forwards Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson, and defensemen Shea Theodore all came up huge for the Vegas Golden Knights
in a 5-4 overtime victory against the San Jose Sharks
on Friday that extended Vegas' winning streak to four games. Marchessault and Karlsson have been skating together as linemates for the majority of the season, and have been two of the teams most consistent forwards over the past two weeks.
Marchessault (36 percent owned in Yahoo) is dual-eligible (C/LW) and scored in overtime, his seventh goal of the season, and had two assists and three shots on goal. He has back-to-back multipoint games totaling two goals, four assists, two power-play points and 11 shots on goal. Marchessault is the 67th ranked player in Yahoo standard leagues.

Karlsson (43 percent owned), who is also dual-eligible (C/LW) scored two goals, one on the power-play, on seven shots on goal to extend his point streak to four games. Karlsson has six goals, two assists and 17 shots on goal in that span. His 20 points (12 goals, eight assists) lead Vegas and he ranks in the top 100 (83) in Yahoo standard leagues.
Defensemen Shea Theodore (15 percent owned) has points in back-to-back games totaling one goal and two assists, with one power-play assist. He has been getting great category coverage as well with five shots on goal and nine blocked shots. Theodore, who has four points (one goal, three assists) in seven games, is skating on the second defense pair and is running the point on the first power-play unit. He will be bordering on must-own for fantasy owners if his recent play continues and will be a great value play in DFS contests.
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