Fantasy Hockey Goalie Waiver Wire: End of Leevi Merilainen's hot streak?

On every game day this season, THN Fantasy will highlight players and goalies for fantasy managers to stream for specific category help or roster for the rest of the season. The recommended players and goalies can be used in standard fantasy leagues or for daily fantasy games.

8 games on Tuesday, Jan. 21

Projected starters:

• Andrei Vasilevskiy, TB at Sam Montembeault, MTL (7 p.m. ET)

• Leevi Merilainen, OTT at Igor Shesterkin, NYR (7 p.m. ET)

• Cam Talbot, DET at Samuel Ersson, PHI (7 p.m. ET)

• Alexandar Georgiev, SJ at Juuse Saros, NSH (8 p.m. ET)

• Pyotr Kochetkov, CAR at Jake Oettinger, DAL (8 p.m. ET)

• Logan Thompson, WSH at Stuart Skinner, EDM (9 p.m. ET)

• Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, BUF at Thatcher Demko, VAN (10 p.m. ET)

• Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA at Lukas Dostal, ANA (10 p.m. ET)

Goalies

Cam Talbot, DET at PHI (41% rostered)

Samuel Ersson, PHI vs. DET (19% rostered)

The Flyers are the favorite and part of it's momentum; the Flyers have won four of their past five while the Red Wings have lost three of their past four following their seven-game winning streak. Ersson has won four straight, while Talbot has won four of his past five, though he was pulled in his most recent start. There are good reasons to stream either goalie and it's the third matchup between the two teams after they split the previous games 4-1 and 6-4. Flip a coin for the result, but I'm slightly more confident Talbot will have more saves and a better save percentage; the Flyers are excellent at suppressing shots and allow the fourth-fewest shots per game.

Leevi Merilainen, OTT at NYR (30% rostered)

Merilainen got a 6-5 win against the Bruins despite a .821 SP, stopping 23 of 28 shots. The shine has definitely worn off as he needed late-game heroics from Josh Norris to even send the game to overtime. The Rangers have turned it around lately — 5-0-3 in past eight — but the Sens are also on a roll with a 5-0-1 record, so I think this is a toss-up. Merilainen is not the goalie I'd stream looking for a good save percentage, but a win is possible. The Rangers are slight favorites.

Lukas Dostal, ANA vs. FLA (40% rostered)

The Ducks' big problem remains the same — they can't score. This is a potential revenge game for the Ducks but the Panthers have a far better roster and they can grind out low-scoring wins even if their offense has sputtered. Dostal has been good on the road this season (.919 SP, 2.76 GAA) but this will be the first time he's faced the Panthers and since Nov. 1 has a .892 SP. Dostal should get the saves but don't expect anything else.

Alexandar Georgiev, SJ at NSH (47% rostered)

Saves — that's all you're really looking for here. I've become increasingly wary of goalies facing the Preds' offense, which has helped them win five of their past seven including a five-goal game against Vegas and a six-goal game against Minnesota. Do the Sharks have a better defense than either of those teams? No. The Sharks have lost nine straight games against them dating back to 2021. Stream Georgiev for saves; cover your eyes for everything else.

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