Joel Bartilotta 
Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of Between the Benches. After a massive 12-game slate last night, we’re back to a small 4-game slate of NHL DFS tonight. We have 1 marquee matchup tonight between the Maple Leafs and Avalance. After that, we have some mismatches that we should hopefully be able to take advantage of.
Let’s dig in and see if we can make some money.
NHL DFS Goaltending
John Gibson vs. New York Islanders – John Gibson won’t win a Vezina tropy any time soon, but he’s been extremely servicable this season as an NHL DFS goalie. He checks off multiple boxes that we like to see. He’s cheap and faces a ton of shots. He’ll also face off against an Islanders team that isn’t scoring much right now. Over the last 2 weeks, the Islanders are scoring just 2.5 goals per game. That number is the lost mark of any team playing tonight. Gibby is a risk, but he’s cheap and will face lots of shots. I’m willing to take on that risk tonight.
Marc-Andre Fleury vs. St. Louis – Fleury is coming off of back-to-back monster games. He’s scored 26.5 and 34.2 DK points in his last 2 games. While he’ll face off against a hotter offense in St. Louis, I do like his chances of continuing his strong play in his age-37 season. Fleury overall has been pretty good this year, with a save % over .900 and a GAA of 2.77. He’s also fairly priced tonight at $7.8k on DK.
NHL DFS Stacks
Washington 3 (Strome, Oshie, Snively) + Sandin vs. Buffalo
There’s a good chance that Alex Ovechkin misses another one tonight after sitting out last night vs. the Rangers. Even so, I’m more interested in the third line tonight as they have been big producers of late. Also, Buffalo has not been good defensively over the last couple of weeks. They are giving up 4.5 goals per game and almost 15 high-danger chances per game.
I’m mostly interested in Strome and Oshie here. Snively is pretty much fantasy irrelevant. Strome and Oshie have accounted for 5 goals and 12 and points in the last 5 games. That’s pretty solid for a third line and it’s a very inexpensive line. Look for them to continue with their scoring ways tonight vs. a Buffalo D that likes to give up goals.
Minnesota 1 (Hartman, Steele, Zuccarello) + Spurgeon vs. St. Louis
Up until the last few games, the Wild would have been the last team i’d recommend to stack. Their offense was atrocious and non-existent. That said, over the last 3 games, they’ve scored 13 goals and are showing some signs of life. That’s even without Kaprizov. They’ll get a nice matchup vs. a Blues team that is giving up close to 4 goals per game over the last 2 weeks. And who doesn’t like picking on Binnington?
Their offense has been pretty spread out of late, but I do like the talent of this top line for the Wild, especially ex-Ranger Mats Zuccarello. I’ll look to pair both Zuccarello and Hartman with Spurgeon. Spurgeon is averaging 6 shots plus blocks per game over the last 5. He’s always someone that can get us that block bonus on DK.
Other Stacks: Col 1, Tor 1 and 2, Buffalo 1 and 2
NHL DFS Top Value Defenseman
- Samuel Girard- $4.5k on DK
- Rasmus Sandin– $3.7k on Dk
- Scott Mayfield – $3.9k on DK
Summary
We have a small 4-game slate tonight. We have a matchup between 2 of the better teams in the league in Toronto/Colorado and then a bunch of blah games. It’s a tougher matchup to navigate but the 2 stack i wrote up are ones I’ll prioritize playing.
Make sure to use our Projection model when setting lineups.
Good luck and hope to see you in the green!
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