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Friday 12/17 NHL Breakdown
Welcome back to Win Daily Sports’ Friday Night Forecheck! We have a nice 6 game slate tonight. There is a ton of news to keep up on throughout the day, as COVID has started to cause issues throughout the league. With that being said, please make sure to keep up with Twitter and in our Discord all day long for the latest news and updates. Let’s get into it! Good luck!
Goalies
Tristan Jarry – Pittsburgh Penguins: A home date against the Buffalo Sabres tonight puts Jarry in a very, very nice matchup. He should have a nice night and should be considered safe.
Anthony Stolarz – Anaheim Ducks: The Ducks are in the same position as the Penguins tonight, with a home matchup against a weak opponent in the Coyotes. Stolarz has been playing very well, and this should not be too much of a test for him.
Marc-Andre Fleury – Chicago Blackhawks: Flower has really been playing well over the last few weeks. He and the Hawks are at home tonight against basically an AHL roster for the Predators, as Nashville deals with injuries and COVID. This spot for MAF is real nice, and he may be ignored with the other two heavy favorites on the board.
Bonus GPP Goalie Pick – Alexandar Georgiev – New York Rangers: The Rangers are slumping right now, and Vegas is hot, so this is a matchup that we are looking to catch Vegas tired a little bit. The Golden Knights played last night in Jersey, so they are on the second half of a traveling back to back. Georgiev is the only thing that has really been keeping the Rangers in games recently, so this could be a nice sneaky spot for a high upside upset. There is a good bit of risk involved in this, but the Rangers are due for positive regression at some point, and we want to catch them when that happens, not after.
Lines to Build Around
These 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).
Anaheim Ducks Power Play – Ryan Getzlaf/Trevor Zegras/Sonny Milano/Rickard Rakell/Jamie Drysdale: The Ducks host the lowly Arizona Coyotes tonight in what should be a very nice spot for both of the top lines. The second line is a little bit nicer looking than the first, but this unit gets you access to both of the top lines in very good spots.
Pittsburgh Penguins 2 – Jeff Carter/Jason Zucker/Danton Heinen: The truth is, Pittsburgh is in the best spot on the night, up and down the roster. They get to face Malcolm Subban in net for the Sabres tonight, and he is not a very good goalie. On home ice, the Pens have been matching the Crosby line to the depth lines and using this second line for a top line matchup (loosely). Because of that, this second line is favored a little more than the top. The Crosby line and the top power play unit are all squarely in play here.
Chicago Blackhawks Power Play – Jonathan Toews/Alex Debrincat/Patrick Kane/Brandon Hagel/Seth Jones: As mentioned above, because of the issues the Preds are facing with injury and COVID, they are rolling out an AHL/preseason type lineup tonight. That puts this unit in a good spot. The Preds are normally a decent penalty killing team, but without key pieces, they will be more vulnerable tonight, and will potentially take a few more penalties than normal.
High Risk Lines
These are 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).
St. Louis Blues 2 – Ivan Barbashev/Vladimir Tarasenko/Pavel Buchnevich/Torey Krug: The Blues host the Stars tonight in a game that should be winnable for them. However, this game feels like it could be a 2-1 defensive battle with both teams canceling each other out, which is why this line is considered high risk.
Vegas Golden Knights 1 – Chandler Stephenson/Max Pacioretty/Mark Stone/Shea Theodore: The Knights have been rolling, and they come into New York tonight to face a struggling Rangers team that is now without Artemi Panarin tonight (he did not skate in the morning skate). We are going to play the hot hand tonight, and since the depth scored last night, it’s this line’s turn to do the damage. They are high risk simply because they are on the back end of a traveling back-to-back. Also, make sure you aren’t playing this line in any lineups where you are playing Georgiev.
Winnipeg Jets 2 – Pierre-Luc Dubois/Kyle Connor/Evgeny Svechnikov/Neal Pionk: This second line for the Jets looks to be lining up against the top line for the Caps tonight in a plus matchup. Something to keep in mind, though, the coach for the Jets just resigned this morning, so there may be some changes in the lines and pairings for tonight. Contrarily, the Capitals are in a good spot too, as this game could be high scoring. On the Capitals side, Alex Ovechkin and his top line are always in play, but tonight, the second line looks a little better and could be sneakier (Nicklas Backstrom/Conor Sheary/T.J. Oshie).
Honorable mentions: BUF1, STLPP, VGK2, WSH2, PIT1, NYRPP
Value Options – DraftKings
Center: Dylan Strome ($3400) – Chicago Blackhawks
Wing: Kaapo Kakko ($3100) – New York Rangers
Defense: Brian Dumoulin ($3000) – Pittsburgh Penguins
Value Options – FanDuel
Center: Ryan Getzlaf ($5400) – Anaheim Ducks
Wing: Jason Zucker ($4300) – Pittsburgh Penguins
Defense: Brian Dumoulin ($3800) – Pittsburgh Penguins
Cash Considerations – DraftKings
Sidney Crosby – C – Pittsburgh Penguins
Kyle Connor – W – Winnipeg Jets
Seth Jones – D – Chicago Blackhawks
Anthony Stolarz – G – Anaheim Ducks
Cash Considerations – FanDuel
Sidney Crosby – C – Pittsburgh Penguins
Kyle Connor – W – Winnipeg Jets
Seth Jones – D – Chicago Blackhawks
Anthony Stolarz – G – Anaheim Ducks
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 the advanced rates referenced in the above article are pulled from www.naturalstattrick.com.
