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Welcome to the second round of the playoffs! We had a nice start to the second round last night, where Colorado beat St. Louis in overtime of a hard fought game. The Panthers got beat pretty badly on home ice, which was surprising. Tonight, the other two series open up, and they should be FUN to watch! Below, we break down the NHL DFS slate for Wednesday’s two playoff games. Let’s find the best NHL DFS plays for tonight. Good luck!
Slate Notes
Tonight’s two game slate is different from the other two gamers because of the playoff aspect. By condensing your player pool and nailing the value, you can have some very good success. We will cover value plays from each game.
As much as possible, you want to still avoid stacking against your goalie in your lineup. Negative correlation is never good, no matter the size of the slate.
If you are uncomfortable playing the two game slate, you can attack the showdown slate using our NHL DFS Showdown Strategy Guide for guidance.
Because of the volatility moving forward, cash games are not recommended for the rest of the NHL DFS season.
Game 1: New York Rangers @ Carolina Hurricanes
Tale of the Tape
Implied Vegas Totals: CAR 3.5 / NYR 2.7
The Canes host the Rangers tonight after beating the Bruins in 7 games. The Boston series was a good one, and these guys really showed some fight throughout. Opening the series on home ice is always a good thing, and the Canes should come out swinging. On the other side, the Rangers took care of the Penguins in 7 and will look to ride some momentum into the second round. This series should be high-event, and there should be plenty of scoring.
Goalie Matchup
Antti Raanta vs. Igor Shesterkin
The goalies in this game are very interesting. Both teams can score, and both goalies have been average, but also good. It’s a very weird situation with both of them. Raanta gets the nod from a consistency standpoint, but Igor is the hands down talent in this matchup. However, Igor’s numbers don’t show it. He has game changing ability, but sometimes he just doesn’t look good. The Penguins put up a bunch of goals on him, but some of them were thanks to poor defense.
From a DFS standpoint, Raanta is the play here, but keep in mind that this will likely be a higher scoring game. Igor has some shot upside, but the fear there is that he continues to give up goals in bunches.
Lines to Target
CAR3 – Jordan Staal/Nino Niederreiter/Jesper Fast: This third line will hard match the top Ranger line, setting them up for a very, very nice opportunity. Not many people will be on them, so this play is a great way to get some other top salary players in the mix in your lineups.
CARPP – Sebastian Aho/Vincent Trocheck/Seth Jarvis/Teuvo Teravainen/Tony DeAngelo: As much as the third line is in play, so is this one. They have a good chance tonight, as the Rangers proved to be leaky on defense in their series against the Pens.
NYR2 – Ryan Strome/Andrew Copp/Artemi Panarin: We cannot rely on last series’ stats for this series, but this line did play well. Consider this a higher risk play, but the matchup should be there for them tonight.
Others to Consider: NYRPP and NYR3
Value
Jordan Staal (C) – CAR
Vincent Trocheck (C) – CAR
Seth Jarvis (W) – CAR
Kaapo Kakko (W) – NYR
K’Andre Miller (D) – NYR
Ryan Lindgren (D) – NYR
Game 2: Edmonton Oilers @ Calgary Flames
Tale of the Tape
Implied Vegas Totals: CGY 3.4 / EDM 2.7
The Battle of Alberta gets under way tonight, as the Oilers open on the road against the Flames. In the first round, the Oilers were able to close out the Kings, but it surprisingly took 7 games to be done. The Kings really did a great job in the first round and gave a great team a great run. The Oilers now get an even tougher matchup against the Flames.
The Flames took care of the Stars in round 1, also in 7 games. The first round series was a low scoring affair, with lots of great goaltending. Markstrom held the Flames in most of the games, and Oettinger on the other side was absolutely stellar in the first series. Calgary has a tall task ahead of them, but it seems unlikely that this series will be as low-scoring as the one against the Stars. We can expect some fireworks in this series.
Goalie Matchup
Mike Smith vs. Jacob Markstrom
Let’s start with Smith. He had a very up and down regular season, but man did he turn it on in the first round of the playoffs. He had a couple of games where he looked a little more shaky, but overall had a great series. He should be able to continue that into this series, and there will be plenty of shot upside for him to be worth playing in your lineups.
On the other side, there is not much more to say about Markstrom. He has been a great goalie for the entire season, and he has had a very, very strong playoffs so far. There is a lot of good about the matchup he gets tonight, and in this series, and that is that he should be peppered with shots. Markstrom is the top upside play tonight, and he could be a top play when the night is over.
Lines to Target
EDMPP – Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl/Zach Hyman/Ryan Nugent-Hopkins/Tyson Barrie: One of the good things about the Oilers is that you pretty much know where a bulk of the scoring is going to come from, and that’s this unit right here. McDavid/Draisaitl can be a lethal combo, and they are always in play.
CGY1 – Elias Lindholm/Johnny Gaudreau/Matthew Tkachuk/Rasmus Andersson: The Flames’ top line has been good all season, and there is no reason they can’t continue. These guys should see a lot of the second line for the Oilers tonight, and that is a fantastic matchup.
Others to Consider: CGY2
Value
Mikael Backlund (C) – CGY
Andrew Mangiapane (W) – CGY
Kailer Yamamoto (W) – EDM
Cody Ceci (D) – EDM
Chris Tanev (D) – CGY **check to make sure he plays**
Oliver Kylington (D) – CGY
Duncan Keith (D) – EDM
Player Props
In this section, we will highlight some NHL player props that we like for the upcoming NHL slate.
Jordan Staal (CAR): anytime goal scorer
Artemi Panarin (NYR): anytime goal scorer
Leon Draisaitl (EDM): anytime goal scorer
Make sure to hop in our Expert Discord Chat for FREE! Jon and the NHL team will be there answering questions right up until lock! Be sure to be on the look out for future articles at https://windailysports.com/daily-fantasy-hockey/
All line combinations are courtesy of www.dailyfaceoff.com, and any advanced rates referenced in the above article are pulled from www.naturalstattrick.com.
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