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For tonight’s Friday Night Forecheck, we have six games on the slate. Here’s a fun fact about this slate: half of the teams tonight are on the second half of a back to back. Let’s find the best NHL DFS picks for DraftKings and FanDuel. Good luck!
Goalies
Jacob Markstrom – Calgary Flames: The Flames will be hosting the Buffalo Sabres tonight, which should be a great matchup for them. The Sabres are not giving up a ton, and have been playing competitive enough to make this a viable play. Markstrom should be a top goalie on the night, and we should be able to target him for cash games.
Darcy Kuemper – Colorado Avalanche: Even though Kuemper has had an up and down season, he should be able to take care of business tonight against the Sharks. The Sharks have only been scoring 2.2 goals per game over their last five home games. Because of that, we should feel pretty comfortable with Darcy in net.
Sergei Bobrovsky/Spencer Knight – Florida Panthers: The Panthers head to Anaheim tonight to take on the struggling Ducks. Because they are on a back to back, we may not know who will start for them until warmups. However, since the Ducks have been struggling to score lately, we can play either of these guys tonight and feel pretty good about it. Keep in mind, Knight is a little riskier than Bob, but still a good play.
High Risk GPP Goalie Pick – Antti Raanta – Carolina Hurricanes: The Hurricanes play host to the Capitals tonight in what should be a very good Eastern Conference battle. This game should be a high event game that produces a lot of shots and chances. Because of those reasons, we can use Raanta as a GPP play. He may not be the best goalie on the slate, numbers wise, but he should face a lot of shots. With that, he also gets the Caps on the second leg of a traveling back to back. The upside here is interesting for a GPP play.
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).
Florida Panthers Power Play – Aleksander Barkov/Sam Reinhart/Jonathan Huberdeau/Anthony Duclair/Aaron Ekblad: Go figure that this is a top play tonight, right? The Cats have been flying high this season, and there is no reason it will slow down tonight. The Panthers head to Anaheim to take on the Ducks and John Gibson, who has really let the wheels fall off this season. We can expect a lot of scoring from the Panthers tonight, which is why we want to target the power play. Doing so will get you access to the top two lines, who are both in prime spots.
Calgary Flames 1 – Elias Lindholm/Johnny Gaudreau/Matthew Tkachuk/Rasmus Andersson: As we mentioned above, the Flames host the Sabres tonight. On home ice, over their last five games, the Flames have been scoring 4 goals per game. The Sabres, on the other hand, have been giving up 4.2 goals per game over their last five road games. This seems like a recipe for success. We also know that the goalie situation is very shaky in Buffalo, so it is all systems go for us to play Calgary tonight. You can also consider the depth lines, but keep in mind, Jarnkrok may make his Flames debut. As a result, the Flames may change up the lines a little bit, so be sure to keep an eye on the news.
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).
Boston Bruins 1 – Erik Haula/Taylor Hall/David Pastrnak/Charlie McAvoy: The Bruins’ top line is actually their second line from before Bergeron went out. That’s ok, though, because this line is in a great spot. They head to Winnipeg tonight to take on the Jets and Hellebuyck, who has been very inconsistent this year. Because this game has a potential to be higher scoring, we can definitely give this line a look. If Bergeron should come back, you can definitely pivot back to the Marchand/Bergeron/Debrusk line.
Carolina Hurricanes 3 – Jordan Staal/Nino Niederreiter/Jesper Fast: The third line for the Canes hard matches the opposing top line when they are on home ice. In other words, the matching will set this line up for a matchup against the Ovechkin line. While they are a defensive line, the Staal line still generates a decent number of high danger chances. The Washington top line is talented, but they also give up a decent number of high danger chances, so this line has a good chance to get on the board tonight.
Colorado Avalanche 1 – Nathan MacKinnon/Valeri Nichushkin/Mikko Rantanen/Cale Makar: The top line for the Avalanche is almost always in play. The Avs are in a good spot tonight against Adin Hill and the Sharks. This line should see the top line in a very nice matchup.
Ottawa Senators 2 – Nick Paul/Connor Brown/Alex Formenton: The second line for Ottawa is not one that you think of when you think of high powered offense. However, the numbers for this line look very good. They are worth a look in deeper GPP contests.
NHL DFS Honorable Mentions: WPG2, CARPP, WSH1, WSH3, SJSPP, PHI1, OTT1, BUF1
Value Options – DraftKings
Consider these NHL DFS plays to help save you some salary in your lineups on DraftKings. Be sure to stack!
Center: Jordan Staal ($3000) – Carolina Hurricanes
Wing: Maxim Mamin ($2500) – Florida Panthers
Defense: Nikita Zaitsev ($3100) – Ottawa Senators
Value Options – FanDuel
Consider these NHL DFS plays to help save you some salary in your lineups on FanDuel. Be sure to stack!
Center: Erik Haula ($3900) – Boston Bruins
Wing: Nino Niederreiter ($4200) – Carolina Hurricanes
Defense: Brandon Montour ($4000) – Florida Panthers
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: Elias Lindholm – Calgary Flames
Wing: Jonathan Huberdeau – Florida Panthers
Defense: Cale Makar – Colorado Avalanche
Goalie: Jacob Markstrom – Calgary Flames
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.
