Between the Lines: Week 14

Chris Wassel

2015-01-06

MikkoKoivu

The hottest lines in fantasy hockey for Week 14.

This week saw one hell of a crooked Saturday night and it was the week of the four-man forward units. Now it is time to go "Between The Lines".

Lead Us Forwards

Tyler Johnson–Nikita Kucherov–Ondrej Palat–Brett Connolly (Tampa Bay) – You thought the Steven Stamkos line would be here but shame on you yet again. Johnson is a player I have touted from day one and he has not disappointed along with Nikita Kucherov. This quartet had ten points when together and could have had more. It is a nice "second" line to hop on when the Stamkos line is constantly jammed up by the opposition. Please keep in mind that this is going to be one of those lines where the first three may be back on here next week. Ondrej Palat shocked everyone with a seven point week while Johnson and Kucherov (six and five points respectively) have a chemistry that cannot be put into words.

Anders Lee–Frans Nielsen–Ryan Strome (NY Islanders) – The latest Islanders line combination to top this list is the only three man unit to do so. They racked up nine points when together and it has just become clear that Anders Lee is going to be a force in this league whether people want to admit it or not. They all had three points each on the week but you get the feeling that this line is developing really nicely. If the trio can only stay together, they have the potential to finally be that second line to complement the John Tavares line but time will tell.

Defend This

Roman Josi–Shea Weber (Nashville) – Mostly thanks to Nashville's weekend in Southern California, Roman Josi and Shea Weber led the way with seven points as a pairing in Week 13. Were you really surprised? Josi had all four points in the two games and Weber had two of his three points. The Predators wound up with three out of four points in what could be considered a back to back that was truly out of this world.

Cody Franson–Dion Phaneuf (Toronto) – If only this pairing could find ways to play better defensively more consistently, then just imagine what they could do. They killed it together for seven points as a duo. The funnier part is that Dion Phaneuf led these two with four points. That is not a misprint. The problem is the defensive part of the game as Toronto continues to get bludgeoned on scoring chances and shots. However, for most fantasy purposes, if you get several special teams points from the pairing, can you really complain? That is the tough part. For fantasy, it is great. For the Maple Leafs, it is becoming a nightmare yet again.

Alec Martinez–Drew Doughty (Los Angeles) – They were here a few weeks ago only to return with six more points on their ledger. With the wild game against Nashville and the comeback against Vancouver, that is where the points came from here with Alec Martinez and Drew Doughty. Keep in mind that Doughty plays in all situations and led the league in average time on ice with 29:34 a night last week and 3:37 of power play time. Yet Martinez had four points to Doughty's three. That is sometimes how it works but Doughty is the clear catalyst.

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As always you can follow me @ChrisWasselTHW and thanks for reading. See you next week with four more line combination and three pairings for "Between The Lines".

UPCOMING GAMES

Mar 23 - 15:03	CHI	vs	PHI
Mar 23 - 15:03	WPG	vs	BUF
Mar 23 - 18:03	FLA	vs	PIT
Mar 23 - 18:03	STL	vs	NSH
Mar 23 - 20:03	ANA	vs	CAR
Mar 23 - 20:03	VGK	vs	T.B
Mar 23 - 21:03	L.A	vs	BOS