Matt Rogers 
FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays – August 13 Slate Summary
Playoff hockey has not been a disappointment this week, with several tight games, two very long overtime games, and lots of great saves and goal-scoring. Our FanDuel NHL plays remain hot as well!
We’re back to a fairly all day slate of games, starting at 3 PM ET, ending after the 10:30 PM ET games concludes in Edmonton. FanDuel NHL is currently providing a Main slate covering all four games, along with a late slate, covering the last two games.
I’m likely going to play both slates, so I can keep my NHL DFS sweats going all day. But we’ll focus on building a Main slate lineup in this post.
Here’s a look at the schedule and likely starters for the day:
3 PM ET Blue Jackets – Joonas Korpisalo ($7,400) vs Lightning – Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9,000)
5:30 PM ET Blackhawks – Corey Crawford ($7,500) vs Golden Knights – Robin Lehner ($8,400)
8 PM ET Hurricanes – James Reimer ($7,200) vs Bruins – Tuukka Rask ($8,600)
10:30 PM ET Flames – Cam Talbot ($7,900) vs Stars – Ben Bishop ($8,200)
Top Goalies
If you’ve been following my fantasy hockey columns, it shouldn’t surprise you that we start with goalies. Narrowing down our goalies, is similar to figuring out who your top and bottom pitchers are in MLB DFS.
The goalies can impact your entire lineup.
Considering match-ups, overall play, and recent play, Andrei Vasilevskiy is likely the top FanDuel NHL goalie in this slate. That said, he’s also the most expensive.
Unless Vas is on the ice for another 150 minutes, like he was in his marathon win over the Blue Jackets on Tuesday, then I am uncomfortable paying up for Andrei.
Robin Lehner and the great Golden Knights defense have been tough to score on during the Return to Play hockey period.
The Hawks were only able to compile 20 shots on Tuesday, but they should eclipse that number today, and Lehner has a better shot at hitting the 30 FanDuel NHL point mark. Robin also saves you $600 compared to Vas.
But, I’m more interested in value goalies for this slate. James Reimer could be a risky play against the Bruins, but he looked outstanding against the Rangers in his only post season start. If he starts against the Bruins, he’s a great GPP consideration for goalie.
For Cash plays, Cam Talbot is sort of an under-the-radar move. Talbot looked solid on Tuesday, giving up only two goals on 26 shots and taking the win.
The Flames have been hot lately, and Cam should continue to get solid offensive support. We could eclipse over 30 points from Talbot in this game, with a shot at over 40 if he can pull off the shutout.
Top Centers, Wingers, and Defenders
Before we dive into the stacking plays, Sebastian Aho ($8,100) is one of my favorite NHL DFS centers during this post season. Aho now has at least one point in each of the four games he’s played, with three goals and six assists.
Tuukka Rask is a tough net-minder, but the Bruins defense has exposed some cracks this post-season, and Aho was able to get at least an assist and two shots on goal in the first game of this series.
Focusing on stacking, though, William Karlsson ($5,900) is one of the best plays of the slate. Crawford has been a solid goalie for the Hawks this post-season, but the Golden Knights are playing on a much higher level than most of the NHL right now.
Karlsson doesn’t project luster with fantasy hockey stats, like Aho, but he’s consistently firing shots on goal, even compiles some blocked shots points, and should be involved with more scoring this evening.
Paul Stastny ($4,400) and Mikael Backlund ($5,600) are two other centers to consider, each with solid value and in great scoring positions, considering the match-ups.
That leads us down a path toward loving the VGK 1/2 lines, and the CGY 2 line. But you could also make a case for the Flames top line, their second line just has better value and nearly as good exposure on their power play.
I’d target guys like Mark Stone ($7,200), Matthew Tkachuk ($6,200), Reilly Smith ($5,600), and Elias Lindholm ($5,400). Alex Tuch ($4,100) is also a sneaky value play in this one.
A solid pivot is to move to the TB1 combining Nikita Kucherov ($8,400) with Ondrej Palat ($5,100). Tyler Johnson ($4,300) is also a great one-off value play on their second line.
On defense, Shea Theodore ($6,100) is becoming a fantasy hockey star during this post season, and he’s worth the hefty salary. I typically don’t pay that much for a defender, but in this match-up, he’s almost a slam dunk for 20+ FanDuel NHL points.
Fortunately, Alex Martinez ($3,800) or Nate Schmidt ($4,400) are awesome value plays to stack with Theodore.
FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays for August 6
Vasilevskiy and Lehner are likely the top two goalie plays in this slate. Reimer is a solid GPP option, but Talbot is our favorite overall goalie, and Cam should be in all of your cash lineups.
From there, we’re stacking the VGK 1 or 2 lines, along with either the CGY 1 or 2, or the TB1 line. There is also some decent one-off value nuggets to help afford some of the more expensive picks.
Thanks for checking out this article on FanDuel NHL Blue Lines Power Play for August 13th! Our team will continue to bring you daily content, tools, and projections and a community that will help you make this your best NHL season yet.
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