Zdeno Chara has been a great influence on Dougie Hamilton

We have hit the finishing line or the final three weeks basically. If you have made it this far and are still in your head-to-head playoffs or roto/points league then congratulations are in order. This week we will trim our selections to a three-by-three format to make life easier on you, the reader. If you are ready, let's go "Between The Lines".

Lead Us Forwards

This we scale back to the top three line combinations for forwards and defense.

Alex Burrows-Nicklas Jensen-Henrik Sedin (Vancouver) — Even when the hockey gods smile in Vancouver, it is only temporary. Despite having 12 points as a trio last week, it looks like this line will need a third participant after Henrik Sedin went down to injury on Sunday (leg). It is unknown how long he will be out for but if Daniel Sedin is put on this line in any way, their production will likely suffer. They may consider Zack Kassian but who knows what will happen next.

Claude Giroux-Scott Hartnell-Wayne Simmonds-Jakub Voracek (Philadelphia) — No one can discount Philadelphia's first power play unit. Honestly it is very scary as it piled up 11 points in all when on the ice. This tough schedule that everyone said the Flyers would buckle under hasn't materialized yet. Will it this week? It might but I still expect them to rack up copious time (about four or minutes per night on the power play). They will be a solid play as power play points are huge this time of year.

David Desharnais-Max Pacioretty-Thomas Vanek (Montreal) — Defensively this line is an unmitigated disaster at times but offensively they can strike gold. They had 11 points last week and their PAT (Points As Trio) was 100%. With the appropriate 3,4, and 4 split, it is not a surprise that some think the threesome can do it again this week. Pacioretty may be the only one on the line that has a two-way game and that concerns me. Guys that are offensively proficient like Gustav Nyquist or Vanek (yes I made that comparison) can go cold quickly.

Defend This!

Here are the best from last week.

T.J. Brodie-Mark Giordano (Calgary) — It really remains a shame that Mark Giordano missed as much time to injury this year because he would likely be a Norris Trophy candidate. This was my top duo because of their consistency and the half dozen points (which everyone on the list had) last week. Overall their PAT was 85.7% as Giordano had four points last week. They saw solid ice time (around 23 minutes or so). Giordano makes T.J. Brodie a very good play for ROS (rest of season).

Jared Spurgeon-Ryan Suter (Minnesota) — So Ryan Suter only played 28:12 per game last week and that means he might be human. All kidding aside, Suter and Jared Spurgeon had six points as a pairing last week (four for Suter). Spurgeon is no slouch as he almost played 25:00 a night. Gradually he has taken his place rightfully on Suter's side. Suter had 3:49 of power play ice time which was a little off from his season average. Minnesota is in the thick of the playoff race so they will ride their horses again this week.

Zdeno Chara-Dougie Hamilton (Boston) — Injuries have kind of forced this pairing together but slowly Dougie Hamilton is making Claude Julien proud. They had six points together on the ice and Hamilton is playing better and better defensively. Zdeno Chara was not among the top 30 in ice time as his minutes get pared down to rest a bit for the actual playoffs. However, his effectiveness has gone up. Chara led all defensemen with five assists. This is a pairing that should stay together for the rest of the season.

As always you can follow me @ChrisWasselTHW and thanks again for reading. Good luck this week as the fantasy hockey wades deeper into the playoffs.

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