Welcome back to another edition of Lining Up! With playoffs either in full swing or wrapping up, we will continue to focus on some players to stream in this week who either should be available in most leagues or play on lighter nights. Unlike last week, the schedule this week is fairly spread out with as many games being played on Sunday as Thursday so there should be plenty of opportunities to fill your roster.

Let's dive in.

Nick Schmaltz

Even with a more balanced schedule for teams this week, Arizona stands out with three games remaining, two on lighter nights and another against San Jose. A current high-flier and regular in this column, Nick Schmaltz has been hot lately with six points in his last three games while continuing to line up alongside Clayton Keller at both even strength and on the power play. In fact, in the fourth quarter so far, Schmaltz has 17 points in 13 games, so he has been very solid late in the season. He is also owned in only 32% of Yahoo leagues at the moment which means he should be readily available to support your championship aspirations.

Josh Doan – Matias Maccelli

Continuing with hot options and great schedules, the combination of Josh Doan and Matias Maccielli have been hot recently as each player has five points in their last three games. The rookie Doan made his debut three games ago and looks to be making his father and the Coyotes organization proud by scoring two goals on 12 shots through those first three games. Maccelli has three goals of his own and nine shots so both players are really driving play lately, as indicated by their 65.3 CF% and 70 SF%. Both those rates are much higher than expected but fantasy owners are only looking for fixes right now and as mentioned, with Arizona playing three more times this week including a game tonight, Friday and a Sunday matchup with San Jose, these two could provide sneaky value at the right time.

Casey Mittelstadt

With an injury to Valeri Nichushkin over the last three games, Casey Mittelstadt has moved into his spot on the top power play. Through those three games, he has two goals and eight shots while seeing over ten minutes of PPTOI in that span. Even before this recent stretch, Mittelstadt has seven points in 11 games since joining Colorado and has proved to be a capable depth option who can seamlessly slide into a role with the top players. As Colorado punches a ticket to the playoffs, keep an eye on how Mittelstadt is used down the stretch.

Note that Nichushkin is expected to join the team and potentially play on Thursday night against Edmonton so the stream could be for tonight. As always keep an eye on the line combinations as they fluctuate a lot at this time of year.

Matty Beniers

The former second overall pick Matty Beniers has been productive lately while playing on a line with Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eeli Tolvanen. This line combination is relatively new as Beniers has predominantly played with Jordan Eberle and Jared McCann this season, but early returns are decent for the group. In spite of a sub-50 CF%, the trio have five goals for and none against. For his part, Beniers has five points in his last four games including a big three-point effort against Anaheim early last week. Seeing as how Seattle has one of the better schedules between this week and next, including another match against Anaheim later this week on a lighter day and a game against Arizona and San Jose next week, Beniers should be a target for fantasy owners looking to stream in a depth forward.

Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen

Lastly, let's take a look at the recent trade acquisitions made by New Jersey and see how both goalies have performed as well as how either might be a decent streaming option down the stretch. Starting with Allen, he has a 67 QS% since joining the team which is up from his season rate of 51.7%, however his SV% is actually right in line with his season average of 0.897, indicating that when he has not had a Quality Start, Allen has been bad. Two of those remaining three games were Really Bad Starts that saw him allow five goals in each. 

On the other side of the coin, Kahkonen is likely to start tonight as New Jersey plays the second game of their first back-to-back this week. He has only played thrice with the squad, but he was able to shutout the New York Islanders for a wonderful effort in his most recent game. Otherwise he has posted one other Quality Start and one Really Bad Start in a similar vein to Allen where it seems these two new additions are boom or bust options. Moving forward, Kahkonen could be a good streaming option as he plays tonight and will play again against Ottawa or Nashville later this week. With Allen performing poorly against Pittsburgh last night, the door may also be open for Kahkonen to assume a larger workload moving forward, potentially making him a very useful streaming option late in the playoffs.