Allan Fabrykant Welcome back to the Friday Night WinDaily NHL Between the Benches Article for our first Friday article of the year! After last night’s pandemonium at the World Juniors Finals, we are locked and loaded with NHL content for tonight’s slate! Tonight, we have a medium-sized 6-game slate, and there will be lots to enjoy this evening! Tonight’s 1/6 NHL slate begins at 7:00 pm ET. Don’t forget to lock your lines and check the discord for any updates! Let’s get right into it!
1/6 NHL Stack Report
1. Florida Panthers 1 (Tkachuk-Barkov-Verhaeghe)
— The Panthers have been bad this season, after all the big moves they made, they simply have not performed well and it has been in large part due to their poor defensive abilities rather than their offensive ones. In fact they are first place in the league in shots on goal per game and in the top half of the league in goals per game but sit 23rd in goals allowed and 19th in shots on goal allowed per game. This stark contrast on top of the inconsistency from starting goalie Sergei Bobrovsky has led to the Panthers poor position in the standings. Thankfully for them, today they have an opportunity to put their season back on the right track against a Red Wings team who has had their own bouts of inconsistency. Florida’s top line in particular has been incredibly deadly and dependable as of late as between the three, they have nine goals and seven assists over their last four games. On top of that, all three members of the top line see over 16 minutes a game on average and they all see power play time with Tkachuk and Barkov on the top line and Verhaeghe on the second power play unit. The Red Wings are also set to start Ville Husso who has been beyond bad as of late as he has allowed over four goals in each of his last five starts and as such it should come as no surprise that the Panthers have one of the highest implied totals of the slate at 3.6 goals. This game could still end up being a close one but you can rely on the Panthers top line to put some points on the board tonight.
Ideal Defensive Partner(s): Brandon Montour
2. Arizona Coyotes 3 (Ritchie-Hayton-Fischer)
— This is literally the Connor Bedard Bowl as both teams are in the bottom 5 of the entire league with the Blackhawks in dead last, having lost their last five games. For what it’s worth the Coyotes haven’t done much better, dropping their last 3 games including a 6-2 thumping against the Philadelphia Flyers. Interestingly enough, one Coyotes line has consistently been able to get points despite everything going up in Flames around them, its Arizona’s third line. Specifically, Barrett Hayton and Nick Ritchie who between them have nine points over their last four games. Tonight in particular, they are up against the worst team in the league, offensively, defensively and everywhere in between the Hawks have been awful this season. Even against the Coyotes, it doesn’t look like it will get much better for them tonight as the Hawks are most likely starting Petr Mrazek in goal who has had one of the worst seasons of his entire career, including last season where he spent most of the year injured. This season he is 2-10-1 with a 4.19 goals against average and a .878 save percentage. There’s really no way to spin these numbers into a positive except for the fact that the Yotes have only put up slightly better numbers defensively. Which is why both teams are coming into this game with an implied total above three. Also, it is of note that both Ritchie and Hayton see well over 15 minutes of ice-time per game and Barrett Hayton also appears on the Yotes top power play unit. There is always a bit of risk when dealing with two teams who have played so poorly and so inconsistently this season but this line has been performing well and the value on these two (Hayton and Ritchie) will help you fit the mammoth Panthers top line into your DFS lineups tonight.
Ideal Defensive Partner(s): Jakob Chychrun
Honorable Mention(s): San Jose Sharks 1 (Meier-Hertl-Labanc), Calgary Flames 1 (Dube-Lindholm-Toffoli)
1/6 NHL Goalie Tracker
Best (Goalies to Roster)
- Charlie Lindgren
- Andrei Vasilevskiy
Honorable Mention(s): Conor Ingram
Worst (Goalies to Target)
1. Petr Mrazek
Honorable Mention(s): Ville Husso
1/6 NHL Wild Card Targets
Connor Sheary
– Fresh off of a five game point streak, Conor Sheary has looked incredible towards the end of December and heading into January. His recent point streak included three multipoint games and a short handed goal. He now has 27 points on the season, and is coming up against a Nashville side that is not known for their defensive abilities as they allow over 3 goals on average per game and are the third worst team in the league for shots on goal allowed per game. Sheary also sees time on the Capitals top line alongside Ovechkin and Kuznetzov as well as the Capitals second power play unit. At over 16 minutes of ice time per game, I think Sheary is definitely worth the risk.
Honorable Mention(s): Alexander Barabanov, Brandon Hagel, Dylan Strome
Core Four: (ALWAYS BE STACKIN’)
Center – Barrett Hayton
Winger – Matthew Tkachuk
Defenseman – Brandon Montour
Goalie – Charlie Lindgren
1/6 NHL Monkey Knife Fight NHL Prop Picks – Win With These Picks Here and Get a 100 Percent Bonus!
All Day Slate (7pm Start): Putting up Points 3/3
Honorable Mention(s): RapidFire 2/2 All-Day Slate (7pm Start)
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