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Card Overview: Two 5-1 cards this week. And while Saturday looks good, it's not nearly as promising as Tuesday or Thursday. You'll see a lot of the same players since I started this article a couple weeks ago, and that's by design. As I've said since Day One, it's all about flow. Some of the players listed below are still in a favorable spot while some are nearing the end of their run. Basically, you get everything you can from a player. And when the market makes it impossible to continue using him, you move on and wait for the market to reset before going back to him.
BUILDING BLOCKS
Aaron Ekblad 22 vs. Winnipeg Jets - 4:00 p.m. ET (LESS)
Ekblad was my only loss on Thursday, yet I'm going back to the well. Ekblad skated just over 13 minutes after two periods Thursday, and somehow put in nearly 10 during the third period. I'm not exactly sure what happened as he hadn't been playing much before that, but I'm going to write it off as an anomaly. The fact that he was so active on Thursday will likely work in our favor Saturday while Florida enters as a healthy home favorite.
Rasmus Dahlin 25 vs. Montreal Canadiens - 7:00 p.m. ET (MORE)
Sometimes the market is slow to adjust, and that's what's going on here as Dahlin continues to put in more minutes than the line with no movement the last couple weeks. He hasn't recently needed a trailing script to go over as the Sabres have won each of their past two by three goals while mainly working with a lead an still exceeding 25 minutes a night. Buffalo comes in as a slight favorite for Saturday, so let's hope it stays close for Dahlin to keep racking up the ice time.
Miro Heiskanen 25.75 at Utah Mammoth - 9:00 p.m. ET (MORE)
If you tailed on Heiskanen Thursday, you know how fortunate we were to get that one. Dallas was up 4-1 after two periods and he was well behind pace, though Vegas stormed back and that forced more minutes from Heiskanen where it eventually went to OT. All of this to say that in a terrible script where it seemed he wasn't going to hit the number, he still managed to do so. If this matchup stays tight or if the Stars fall behind, Heiskanen should get in at least 26 minutes.
INJURY DEPENDENT
Cale Makar 26 at Detroit Red Wings - 1:00 p.m. ET (LESS)
One of the more confusing recent trends has been Makar's line continuing to rise. He's gone over a few times of late, but that'll only happen if the Avs. Considering they're the best team, that's not something you would expect to happen that often - and yet, people keep hammering more. While Makar is likely to go over any time Colorado is trailing. But when Devon Toews is available - and he could be on Saturday - a neutral script is enough to keep Makar under 26 minutes. There are two paths to victory here: Toews comes back with a neutral script or he's still out and the Avs play from ahead.
SCRIPT DEPENDENT
Roman Josi 27 at New York Islanders - 7:00 p.m. ET (MORE)
Josi is moving from a building block the last two games to a script-dependent play Saturday as his line continues to climb. It's at the point where some small things could cost us a win, like a penalty or a two-goal lead so we need this matchup to stay within a goal or we'll need Nashville to fall behind - which shouldn't be too much to ask since they're the underdogs. Josi has been great to use of late, yet the market is making it harder to go with the "more" option. I'll still give it one more go.
Quinn Hughes 28.5 at Edmonton Oilers - 10:00 p.m. ET (MORE)
I was very fortunate to hit on the "less" from Hughes on Thursday as an empty-netter got him off the ice with a couple minutes left and he didn't return. He was only three seconds under that number, but a win is a win. The interesting thing about Thursday was that the Wild were ahead the whole night and yet Hughes was still on pace to go over until the final two minutes. His number is higher for Saturday, though that makes sense with the Wild underdogs. I'm expecting them to either fall behind in this spot or play a tight game, either of which should result in at least 29 minutes from Hughes.
