Joel Bartilotta 
Welcome to the Saturday Slapshot. I’m Jared and I’ll be your host. Tonight we have a massive 12 game slate where I’ll be highlighting some of my top plays for tonight’s NHL slate on Fanduel and Draftkings.
Before we dive in I want to highlight some terms you’ll see in my article that may be foreign to you:
- Corsi – Any shot attempt (goals, shots on net, misses and blocks) outside of the shootout
- Even Strength – Play where both teams have the same number of players (including goalies) on the ice. Includes 5v5, 4v4, 3v3
- Power Play – Play where the team has more players on the ice than their opponent due to penalties. Includes 5v4, 5v3, 4v3
- Penalty Kill – Play where the team has fewer players on the ice than their opponent due to penalties. Includes 4v5, 3v4, 3v5
Goaltending
Andrei Vasilevskiy ($7.7k DK/$8.7k FD) vs. Florida Panthers – Tonight we’re getting Vasilevskiy in a spot where he can put up a ton of points for us. The Panthers shoot the puck, and they shoot the puck a lot. Over the last 2 weeks they’ve been shooting the puck almost 37 times again. While there is a good chance they put a puck or 2 behind Vasilevskiy tonight, there’s also a great chance that Vasilevskiy gets us over 30 saves.
In looking at Vasilevskiy’s stats this year he’s been extremely solid. He has a 2.35 GAA and a .920 save %. Both extremely solid numbers. We’re getting a goalie here who has been over $8k at times this season so we have a bit of a discount. Lightning are slight favorites in this one and I do expect them to come out on top thanks to the solid goaltending of Vasilevskiy.
Robin Lehner ($8.1k DK/$8.4k FD) vs. Vancouver Canucks – I’ve been riding Lehner quite a bit this season. The Golden Knights give up a high volume of shots and that’s what we like to see for our goaltenders in DFS. Especially our goalies that are solid between the pipes. On the year Lehner has a near .920 save % and has only giving up 2.72 goals per game. He has more than 31 saves per game and that’s big for us. Since the end of October he’s had only 1 game under 15 DK points. He’s been solid for us and I’m going to keep riding him tonight.
Igor Shesterkin ($7.9k DK/$8.1k FD) vs. Columbus Blue Jackets – The only reason the Rangers are 4 games over .500 this year is due to the solid goaltending of Shesterkin. Nightly he faces a barrage of shots and has been successful in turning most of them away. Rangers have been giving up close to 38 shots per game over the past 2 weeks. In their last game against Florida they gave up 45 shots and Shesty was able to turn away 42 of them.
While the Blue Jackets offense is nowhere near the same level of the Panthers, I do expect them to get a ton of shots through to the Shesty tonight with Shesty turning almost all of them away. Shesterkin is my favorite goalie on the night.
Stacks
I’m going to start by saying that the duo of Auston Matthews and William Nylander present the most upside of any pairing tonight. They face a team in the Sabres that has come back to earth after a really solid start. If you decide to go that route tonight I can’t blame you. My goal here is to provide you with other options and that’s what I’m going to do.
Nashville 1 (Granlund/Kunin/Duchene/Josi)
Let’s get this out of the way. The Coyotes are bad. Very, very bad. They have one of the wort corsi %’s of any team playing tonight. Over the last 2 weeks they have a corsi % of less than 42%. If they’re on the ice I plan on targeting them w/ an opposing line. Tonight I’m going to target them with the top line for Nashville.
Matt Duchene has been playing extremely well over the last couple of weeks. He has goals in 6 of his last 8 games and stands an excellent chance of getting one tonight too. My 2 locks from this stack are Granlund and Duchene as they correlate at even strength and the power play. If I need the salary savings tonight, I’ll also look to add in Kunin but he’s not a must.
Ottawa 1 (Norris/Tkachuk/Sanford/Chabot)
The Penguins are not a solid defensive team. Over the last 2 weeks they have been giving up close to 38 shots per game. Tonight in net they expect to have Casey DeSmith. I just don’t see DeSmith as someone that can handle that type of volume. He’s played in only 2 games this year and has given up 4 and 5 goals.
If DeSmith does in fact play tonight, the Senators become my favorite stack of the night. To go deeper on that thought, Brady Tkachuk becomes my favorite play of the night. Over the last 2 weeks he’s been firing on net often as he’s averaging more than 4 shots per game. The duo of Tkachuk and Norris should find success tonight.
Minnesota 1 (Eriksson Ek/Foligno/Fiala/Spurgeon)
Another team that I enjoy attacking is the Seattle Kraken. It’s been a struggle for them in their inaugural season. They’ve been giving up more than 3.6 goals per game on the year and it’s been even worst than that of late. Over the last 2 weeks that’s ballooned to more than 4 per game. I had a tough time choosing between the top 2 lines of Minnesota and I wouldn’t fault you for going with line 2. Their top line is just playing just a bit better of late. Foligno is a great value as he’s only $3.4k on DK and is someone that has shown the ability to put the puck in the net.
Other stacks (Colorado 1, Winnipeg 1, Detroit 1, New York 1, LA 2, Vegas 1)
Top Defenseman
- Zach Werenski – Columbus Blue Jackets
- Adam Fox – New York Rangers
- Brent Burns – San Jose Sharks
- Ben Chiarot – Montreal Canadiens
- Mario Ferraro – San Jose Sharks
Summary
We have one of our biggest slates of the year tonight with 12 games on tap. While playing a guy like Matthews makes a ton of sense tonight, he’s the only forward priced over $9k and I will more than likely fade. My plan tonight is to go with a more balanced approach to my lineup as we have some fairly priced stacks in prime spots.
Good luck and hope to see you in the green!
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