allenjesse24@yahoo.com 
Happy Friday! We have seven games on the slate tonight, with a few teams on back-to-backs (NYI, CHI, ANH). Let’s find the best NHL DFS picks for DraftKings and FanDuel. Good luck!
Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy – Tampa Bay Lightning: This is the cash goalie pick of the night, as the Lightning host the Blackhawks. The Lightning are heavy favorites, and on the second leg of a back-to-back. These factors add up to what should be a very nice night for Vasilevskiy, even though the upside might be somewhat limited.
Igor Shesterkin – New York Rangers: This pick was a very close call between him and his opponent, Ilya Sorokin. The reason being is that both of them have been playing pretty well lately, with Igor rebounding a bit over the last week. You can flip a coin on this one, but the advantage goes to Igor, as the Isles are also on the second leg of a back-to-back.
High Risk GPP Goalie Pick – Chris Driedger – Seattle Kraken: This play is super interesting tonight, as the Kraken host the Golden Knights tonight. If he goes, Driedger has some good upside, and could be a strong GPP play. However, if his crease-mate Grubauer gets the nod, you can totally pivot to Logan Thompson for the Golden Knights. This game seems like it could go under, as the Kraken are not that good and the Knights are pretty banged up.
Lines to Build Around
These NHL DFS lines are considered top plays for the night and can be considered the focal point of your builds. They will be listed by position in the following order: Center/Winger/Winger/Correlating Defenseman (if applicable).
Tampa Bay Lightning 1 – Brayden Point/Steven Stamkos/Nikita Kucherov/Victor Hedman: There should be no surprise here, as the Lightning host the Blackhawks tonight and get to face Kevin Lankinen. A lot of times, we would recommend fading the heavy chalk, but it is going to be extremely hard to fade this play tonight. This spot is as juicy as they come, and they should be in for a multi-point night tonight.
Nashville Predators 1 – Ryan Johansen/Matt Duchene/Filip Forsberg/Roman Josi: The Predators head to Buffalo tonight to take on the Sabres in what should be a fun game to watch. Buffalo has actually been playing fairly well, and so have the Preds. This top line has looked very good over the last couple of weeks, and they have a good chance to continue that trend tonight. You can always replace Johansen with Granlund here and get a power play look. Oh, and Roman Josi, look up his game logs. It’s ridiculous.
High Risk Lines
These are NHL DFS plays that carry significantly more risk, but could pay off at low ownership. They will be listed by position in the following order: Center/Winger/Winger/Correlating Defenseman (if applicable).
Nashville Predators 3 – Colton Sissons/Tanner Jeannot/Yakov Trenin: As much as the top line is in play, this third line has been providing some solid depth support for the Predators of late. The preferred approach with this line is to pair Jeannot and Trenin together. They are dirt cheap and provide some decent value, plus access to a nice implied total.
Ottawa Senators 1 – Josh Norris/Brady Tkachuk/Drake Batherson/Erik Brannstrom: This matchup is all about the line matching. Detroit matches the Suter line to the opposing top line, and that is a fantastic matchup for this Ottawa top line tonight. In a small sample, the Suter line is bleeding high danger chances, shots, and goals against, so this line should have its opportunities tonight. Mentioned in honorable mentions, Ottawa 3 has my interest piqued as well, based on the line matching schemes.
Detroit Red Wings 1 – Dylan Larkin/Lucas Raymond/Tyler Bertuzzi/Moritz Seider: That same line matching scheme mentioned above puts the Larkin line in a great spot. They become high risk because Forsberg for Ottawa has been decent (not great) over the last five games. This game could see a lot of scoring tonight.
St. Louis Blues 1 – Ryan O’Reilly/David Perron/Brandon Saad/Nick Leddy: The Blues head into Edmonton, where this line should see a matchup with the Draisaitl line. On the surface, that seems like a tall task, but the Draisaitl line actually gives up a decent amount of chances. Couple that with the fact that Edmonton’s goaltending has not been good, and this becomes a very interesting upside play tonight.
NHL DFS Honorable Mentions: ARI1, ANH2, BUF1, OTT3, EDMPP, NYRPP, NYI1
Value Options – DraftKings
Consider these NHL DFS plays to help save you some salary in your lineups on DraftKings. Be sure to stack!
Center: Mikael Granlund ($4200) – Nashville Predators
Wing: Frank Vatrano ($3500) – New York Rangers
Defense: Mattias Samuelsson ($2500) – Buffalo Sabres
Value Options – FanDuel
Consider these NHL DFS plays to help save you some salary in your lineups on FanDuel. Be sure to stack!
Center: Mikael Granlund ($4500) – Nashville Predators
Wing: Brandon Saad ($4500) – St. Louis Blues
Defense: Erik Brannstrom ($3900) – Ottawa Senators
Cash Considerations – DraftKings and FanDuel
Consider these NHL DFS plays for your cash lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel. Cash lineups do not need to be stacked, and it is recommended to play no more than two players from a given team.
Center: Connor McDavid – Edmonton Oilers
Wing: Nikita Kucherov – Tampa Bay Lightning
Defense: Roman Josi – Nashville Predators
Goalie: Andrei Vasilevskiy – Tampa Bay Lightning
Player Props
This is a newly added section to the Friday Night Forecheck, where we will highlight some NHL player props that we like for the upcoming NHL slate.
Brayden Point: over 1.5 points
Ryan Johansen: over 0.5 points
Matt Duchene: anytime goal scorer
Brady Tkachuk: anytime goal scorer
David Perron: anytime goal scorer
Leon Draisaitl: over 1.5 points
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.
