Who are the New York Islanders this year?

This was a team that was picked to be one of the contenders in the East, but at the midway point they can’t seem to get themselves over the hump and into the conversation with Washington, Florida and the Rangers.

The Islanders don’t have one player scoring at over a point per game clip. In fact, nobody is even close. But what makes the Islander’s offense so intriguing is that they are the sum of their parts, rather than relying on one line to get things done.

Even the fourth line of Matt Martin, Cal Clutterbuck and Casey Cizikas can jump into the production. Clutterbuck is 5th on the team with 9 goals. You shouldn’t build a lineup around one of these guys, but it might be the night to plug one if you want to spend up and take a position player at the minimum.

Columbus has given up the most goals int he league at 139 and counting. The Islanders can definitely score goals. Its just so spread around. Kyle Okposo has been their hottest player recently, with 5 points in the 3 games before their current 2-game losing streak. He and John Tavares figure to be solid plays tonight, but they are playing on separate lines. So you can either play them together as a PP1 stack or pair them with their current line mates.

It’s hard to pin down exactly where the goals will come from when it comes to NYI, but you should be pretty confident that there will be goals scored in this game. If you’re into taking a risk on some of the Isles forwards, this game could pay off handsomely.

7 p.m. Pittsburgh Penguins at Carolina Hurricanes

Pittsburgh is turning things around, going 5-3-2 in their last 10. Sidney Crosby is also playing better with 12 points over that span.

Crosby is a great standalone play, as his linemates Chris Kunitz and David Perron aren’t exactly lighting the world on fire.

The Pittsburgh powerplay seems to do most of the scoring, as there’s a steep drop-off in team scoring after the players on the PP1 unit. If you’re going to go with Evgeni Malkin tonight, you should probably stack him with Phil Kessel as they also play even strength minutes together.

Kris Letang is an elite play for a defenseman tonight, but he might be a bit on the pricey side. Still, I like his game and I like his opportunity for points tonight.

For Carolina all of the offense seems to go through defenseman Justin Faulk. He has 14 goals and 31 points for the Canes this year and seems like he plays every minute of the game.

The only player on Carolina with more goals than Faulk is Jeff Skinner with 15. Skinner is currently seeing third line and PP2 minutes. Both Skinner and Faulk make for interesting GPP consideration plays, as well as Eric Staal.

8 p.m. New Jersey Devils at St. Louis Blues

The Devils Mike Cammalleri has already been ruled out for tonight’s game, which doesn’t bode well for a New Jersey team that has struggled to score goals consistently without him.

They’ve also committed to starting backup goalie Keith Kinkaid.

Tonight’s game looks to be all Blues, all the time. I like that Jori Lehtera is back to centering Vladimir Tarasenko as the two built great chemistry last year and Tarasenko has been just as hot this year. Robbi Fabbri has been plugged din on the left side and could be great cheap exposure to a line that figures to get a great deal of scoring chances.

If Paul Stastny is able to go (he suffered a minor injury over the weekend) then he figures to be centering Alex Steen and Troy Brouwer on the second line. This line could prove to be just as effective as STL1 as the ice will seem to be tilted in St. Louis favor tonight.

The PP1 unit in St. Louis is STACKED with talent. Tarasenko and Lehtera play the wings while captain David Backes is a big body in the middle. Steen takes up one of the point positions, which is great because he shoots the puck consistently, while Kevin Shattenkirk is the QB defenseman. If this unit gets opportunities tonight, expect them to capitalize.

8 p.m. Buffalo Sabres at Minnesota Wild

Buffalo’s Jack Eichel seems to have adapted to life in the NHL and his numbers are starting to show it. He has 13 points in the last 10 games and is quietly starting to play his way into the rookie of the year conversation.

Linemate Sam Reinhart is also playing better as of late with 12 goals on the year, including a hat trick in the Sabre’s last game against Winnipeg.

Reinhard and Eichel see PP1 minutes together and are a decent option for GPP consideration, along with PP1 QB Rasmus Ristolainen who is blossoming into one of the best offensive defensemen in the entire league this year.

There’s a lot to like about the young players on this Buffalo roster, but tonight they face one of their biggest challenges as Minnesota is one of the best home teams in the league. They are 14-6 at the Excel Energy Center.

Zach Parise has 5 goals in his last 4 games and I expect him to continue producing at that pace. He’s currently playing on a line with Mikko Koivu and Jason Zucker. Parise and Koivu are a solid play across all formats tonight.

Also a safe play, as always, is Wild defenseman Ryan Suter who is second on the team in points with 28, and still priced below his worth on FanDuel.

8 p.m. San Jose Sharks at Winnipeg Jets

The Sharks shuffled their lines before Saturday’s game against Toronto and responded with a dominating 7-0 win. They followed that up with a 5-4 victory in Calgary last night.

We all know that the Sharks are a streaky team. But tonight gives us an opportunity to catch them on one of their infamous streaks.

12 goals in the last 2 games is nothing to sneeze at. Targeting Sharks forwards just makes sense until they cool down.

Joe Pavelski is always the one I look towards to lead the charge, and stacking him with Joe Thornton is a great opportunity for double points.

Brent Burns cost has actually gone down on FD, which makes fitting him into your roster a little more plausible.

I also like looking at some of the secondary scoring on this team, such as Patrick Marleau, Joel Ward, and Logan Couture. All of these players see power play time, including Couture and Marleau who see PP1 minutes with Thornton, Pavelski and Burns.

Ward sees time with Marleau at even strength and also gets PP2 minutes. Ward has been an under appreciated producer this season, with 12 goals and 26 points at the halfway mark of the season. He’s still dirt-cheap on FD as well.

8:30 p.m. Nashville Predators at Chicago Blackhawks

Don’t look now, but with the Florida Panthers falling in overtime last night, the Chicago Blackhawks now own the longest winning streak in the league.

The Hawks have won their last 7 in a row, and they’re playing the Predators, losers of their last 3.

Look for Chicago to make it 8 in a row tonight and the Patrick Kane, Artemi Panarin, and Artem Anisimov to continue their production.

Kane is having a monster season with 62 points through 44 games. What I also like about Kane is his 162 shots on goal this season, good for most on the team. These are guaranteed fantasy points, and the goals and assists always follow. He and both his line mates are safe plays in all formats tonight.

The Predators went looking for a number 1 center and they found one in Ryan Johansen.

Before Johansen’s arrival, Nashville was relying on the strength of their defense to win games. Roman Josi and Shea Weber are each great on the back end, but they also lead the offense as Josi leads the team with 31 points, and Weber is 4th with 26.

Look for the top line to have some jump now that Johansen is centering a line of Filip Forsberg and James Neal. They are a good line to consider in GPP formats tonight.

Neal has a good shot and he takes it a lot. 129 shots this year have translated into 15 goals. He figures to get more looks at the net now that he has a true number 1 center to play with.

Nothing against Mike Riberio, who is a great center in his own right, but his game is better suited for a second line role, and I also expect him to flourish playing NSH2 minutes with Victor Arvidsson and Craig Smith.

9 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning at Colorado Avalanche

A healthy Tampa Bay Lightning squad is a scary image for opponents.

You can’t go wrong picking forward out of the Lighting top 6 going forward, as I think they are about to go on a second-half tear.

They’ve won their last 2 and they face an up-and-down Avalanche team on the road.

Steven Stamkos leads the charge for the Lightning and he has found his game again. It’s tough to imagine that there was a 10 game span this year where he didn’t record a goal. He currently has 7 goals in his last 10 games.

The team getting key pieces back seems to have benefited Stamkos more than anyone else on the roster as he now finds himself with less tough coverage than he was seeing earlier this season.

Look for Stamkos to continue at his current pace on a line with Ondrej Palat and Vladislav Namestnikov.

The second line also is a solid options with Alex Killorn, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kurcherov.

Johnson has had a tough year with injuries and only 12 points in the 29 games he’s managed to play. But he’s back on a line with Kucherov now, who is tops on the team with 33 points. These two built a solid chemistry last year as a part of the “triplets” line that Tampa rode to the Stanley Cup finals.

9 p.m. Edmonton Oilers at Arizona Coyotes

This is the perfect-storm kind of match-up for the talented Coyotes.

They’ve won 3 straight and are playing as well as anyone in the league over the last 10 at 7-1-2.

Edmonton has lost 2 in a row and are 3-6-1 over the same span.

Use the Coyotes forwards tonight and don’t look back. You can even throw defenseman Oliver Edman-Larsson into the mix for some solid all-around scoring.

They Coyotes are very good at opening the game up and forcing their opponents to play a free-wheeling type of game. The Oilers play a similar style so you can expect some end-to-end action and lots of scoring chances. The Coyotes seem better equipped to handle that type of game tonight.

Max Domi and Mikkel Boedker are the top line wingers with center Antoine Vermette. They’ll get their looks tonight and will capitalize off of the transition.

Martin Hanzel is back in the lineup and centering the second line of Tobias Rieder and Anthony Duclair. This is another dangerous line capable of scoring, especially with a player of Hanzel’s caliber assuming the role of playmaker.