Friday 2/25 NHL Breakdown
Welcome back for another installment of the Friday Night Forecheck here at Win Daily Sports. This Friday gives us a decent six game slate with a lot of places to go. It should be a fun one. Good luck!
Goalies
Ville Husso – St. Louis Blues: The Blues host the Sabres tonight, and they are heavy favorites. Husso has some of the best numbers on the slate, and the Sabres have been struggling mightily on the road over their last five. This is a great spot for Husso, and probably the safest on the board tonight.
Laurent Brossoit – Vegas Golden Knights: The Knights head to the desert tonight to face the Coyotes, where they should be able to control the game. Vegas has also been struggling to score on the road over their last five, so Broissoit may be called on to keep them in the game tonight, which is kind of wild when you consider how bad Arizona is overall.
Darcy Kuemper – Colorado Avalanche: The Avalanche host the Jets tonight, and this is a bit of a riskier play than Husso and Brossoit. Kuemper has had an up and down season for sure, but his recent numbers definitely look good. The Jets have been struggling over their last five road games, and this looks like a really good spot for the Avs, so hopefully, Darcy can put in a good performance tonight.
GPP Goalie Pick – Marc-Andre Fleury – Chicago Blackhawks: The Hawks host the Devils tonight, who are in the second leg of a traveling back to back. Fleury is always a risk in net, but he has these games where he just shows up, and the Devils should be tired tonight. He should be a solid play, and with others on the board, he should go under the radar from an ownership standpoint.
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).
Vegas Golden Knights 1 – Jack Eichel/Max Pacioretty/Chandler Stephenson/Shea Theodore: As mentioned above, the Knights head to Arizona tonight in what should be a very good spot for them. This top line should see the Galchenyuk line for more of the night, and when they don’t, it’ll be the Boyd line. Both of these matchups should give this line plenty of opportunity to produce tonight. Feel free to drop Stephenson for a three-man.
Carolina Hurricanes 1 – Sebastian Aho/Andrei Svechnikov/Teuvo Teravainen/Jaccob Slavin: The Hurricanes’ top line should be matched up with the Blue Jackets’ top line tonight, and what a matchup that is for them. This line has a great chance to break the slate tonight, especially considering that they are up against J.F. Berube in net.
Colorado Avalanche 1 – Mikko Rantanen/Gabriel Landeskog/Andre Burakovsky/Cale Makar: Without MacKinnon, this line is just a little cheaper, and in their line matching, they should see the likes of the 4th line for the Jets for most of the night. What a matchup this is. Hellebuyck for the Jets has been up and down, so this game in theory could go either way, but look for this line to do some big damage tonight against the Jets’ depth. Feeling frisky? Andre Burakovsky as an anytime scorer prop is at +195 early in the day on DraftKings Sportsbook, and is definitely worth a look.
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 – Robert Thomas/Pavel Buchnevich/Vladimir Tarasenko/Torey Krug: Truthfully, the Blues’ second line is interchangeable with the Vegas top line, and this play borders on one to build around. These guys should see the likes of Buffalo 2 for a good portion of the night, setting them up for a really nice opportunity. Craig Anderson in net for the Sabres is the cherry on top, and this line may just fly under the radar. As long as Anderson gets the start for the Sabres, a team total over 3.5 bet is worth a look at -125 on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Los Angeles Kings 2 – Phillip Danault/Trevor Moore/Viktor Arvidsson/Mikey Anderson: The Kings head to Anaheim to take on the Ducks tonight, and the line matching trends suggest that this line is in for yet another good night. They have been the hot hand recently, and they could very well fly way under the radar tonight as a late night hammer. Gibson for Anaheim is decent, but he has not quite been himself recently, so this is an interesting, yet risky look.
Chicago Blackhawks 1 – Dylan Strome/Alex Debrincat/Patrick Kane/Seth Jones: On paper, this line looks like a fantastic spot tonight, especially going up against the Devils, who are on the back end of a traveling back to back. They are the Hawks, though, and they have been very inconsistent, even bad most of the time, throughout the season. The risk is there, but if there is a possibility that this line could dominate the game tonight against Jersey.
Winnipeg Jets 1 – Mark Scheifele/Blake Wheeler/Paul Stastny/Josh Morrissey: This is a contrarian play that is big opportunity at what should be very low ownership. The top line should see the third and fourth lines for the Avalanche tonight, creating a very nice plus matchup for them. If Kuemper has one of his off nights, this could be a line that makes a big difference on the slate. They may not break it, but they could very well combine for multiple goals. This one is reserved for deeper GPPs to be super contrarian.
Honorable Mentions: ANH2, VGK2, NJD1, CBJ1
Value Options – DraftKings
Center: Kirby Dach ($3300) – Chicago Blackhawks – not a part of the stacks above, but can be used as a one-off, as he should see extended ice time against the top line for the Devils
Wing: Paul Stastny ($3200) – Winnipeg Jets
Defense: Mikey Anderson ($2500) – Los Angeles Kings
Value Options – FanDuel
Center: Chandler Stephenson ($5100) – Vegas Golden Knights
Wing: Trevor Moore ($5000) – Los Angeles Kings
Defense: Mikey Anderson ($3800) – Los Angeles Kings
Cash Considerations – DraftKings
Center: Sebastian Aho – Carolina Hurricanes
Wing: Andre Burakovsky – Colorado Avalanche
Defense: Shea Theodore – Vegas Golden Knights
Goalie: Ville Husso – St. Louis Blues
Cash Considerations – FanDuel
Center: Sebastian Aho – Carolina Hurricanes
Wing: Andre Burakovsky – Colorado Avalanche
Defense: Shea Theodore – Vegas Golden Knights
Goalie: Ville Husso – St. Louis Blues
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All line combinations are courtesy of www.dailyfaceoff.com, and any advanced rates referenced in the above article are pulled from www.naturalstattrick.com.