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Friday 2/11 NHL Breakdown
Welcome back for another installment of the Friday Night Forecheck here at Win Daily Sports. Tonight, we get a four game slate that starts at 8:30pm Eastern. This one looks a little ugly at first glance, but let’s see where we can go with it. Good luck!
Goalies
John Gibson – Anaheim Ducks: The Ducks host the Kraken tonight, in what should be a win for them. The Kraken have been struggling to score on the road, converting just 6.2% of their shots over their last five road games. Gibson is a solid goaltender, especially on home ice, and he should be a top point per dollar play tonight.
Brian Elliott – Tampa Bay Lightning: The Lightning are on a traveling back to back, and Vasilevskiy played last night, so the assumption is that Elliott will likely get the start tonight. Should Vasilevskiy get the start again tonight, he is an even better play. Elliott does carry some risk, since he doesn’t play all that much, but it’s the Coyotes, who have played a good bit recently, so this is feels like a safe play.
Bonus GPP Goalie Pick – Stuart Skinner – Edmonton Oilers: The Oilers….wow. What happened to this team? They were absolutely dominating in the first part of the season. Fast forward to February, and they fired their head coach. What a free-fall they have been on. We have to be careful with the Oilers tonight because new coach = most likely new approach, new lines, and new matching schemes, and even growing pains as the team adapts. Anyway, Skinner has been a bit up and down, but arguably the better goalie for the Oilers, especially recently. In a home matchup, against the visiting Islanders, this should be a decent play that carries some risk and upside. On the other side of this game, Ilya Sorokin (Islanders) can also be considered for a risky GPP upside play.
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).
Tampa Bay Lightning Power Play – Brayden Point/Alex Killorn/Steven Stamkos/Nikita Kucherov/Victor Hedman: The Lightning are far and away the best play on the board tonight. Even though they played last night, they are a far superior team to the Coyotes. On top of that, the Coyotes have played quite a bit over the last few days, so the Lightning should be able to skate through them all night long. Tired or not, the Coyotes don’t pose much of a defensive threat, and their 31st ranked penalty kill should be no match for this unit.
Dallas Stars 1 – Roope Hintz/Jason Robertson/Joe Pavelski/John Klingberg: The Stars host the Jets tonight, and Dallas is a much better team on home ice. Hellebuyck has been struggling of late, posting a 3.06 GAA over his last five games, which is second highest on the slate behind Vejmelka for Arizona. This line is the primary scoring line for the Stars and should be able to shine at home tonight.
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).
Anaheim Ducks Power Play – Ryan Gezlaf/Trevor Zegras/Rickard Rakell/Maxime Comtois/Jamie Drysdale: The Ducks’ 7th ranked power play unit will take on the Kraken’s 25th ranked penalty killing unit tonight. Since the Kraken are fairly disciplined, this play is not so much about the power play matchup as it is about getting access to the top two lines for the Ducks. Anaheim tends to match the Lundestrom line to the opposing top line, which will open up the matchups for the top two lines against the depth of the Kraken. Playing the power play unit gets you a mix of top and second line guys who are all in good spots. This game feels like it hits the under, which is why they are high risk, but the Ducks carry some nice upside tonight.
Winnipeg Jets 2 – Andrew Copp/Kyle Connor/Cole Perfetti: This second line for the Jets has a nice matchup tonight against the second/third line for the Stars. It feels like this game is going to be the key to the slate, so getting either Winnipeg and/or Dallas right could be the path to success. Josh Morrissey is a good defenseman to correlate with this line.
Edmonton Oilers 2 – Leon Draisaitl/Ryan McLeod/Zack Kassian: As mentioned above, the Oilers are going through a lot of changes, which is why this line is a high risk line tonight. They used to loosely match this line against the opposing second, but we don’t know if that will continue. If they do, this is a good spot for the Draisaitl line, who has been much better of late than the McDavid line.
Honorable Mentions: SEA1, TBL3, WPG1, NYI1, EDM1
Value Options – DraftKings
Center: Anthony Cirelli ($4000) – Tampa Bay Lightning
Wing: Cole Perfetti ($3000) – Winnipeg Jets
Defense: Ryan McDonagh ($3300) – Tampa Bay Lightning
Value Options – FanDuel
Center: Cole Perfetti ($3900) – Winnipeg Jets
Wing: Kailer Yamamoto ($3700) – Edmonton Oilers
Defense: Jamie Drysdale ($4000) – Anaheim Ducks
Cash Considerations – DraftKings
Center: Roope Hintz – Dallas Stars
Wing: Nikita Kucherov – Tampa Bay Lightning
Defense: Evan Bouchard – Edmonton Oilers
Goalie: Brian Elliott – Tampa Bay Lightning
Cash Considerations – FanDuel
Center: Roope Hintz – Dallas Stars
Wing: Nikita Kucherov – Tampa Bay Lightning
Defense: Evan Bouchard – Edmonton Oilers
Goalie: Brian Elliott – Tampa Bay Lightning
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.
