Joel Bartilotta 
Welcome to the Saturday Slapshot. I’m Jared and I’ll be your host. Tonight we have a nice sized 9 game slate where I’ll be highlighting some of my top plays for tonight’s NHL slate on Fanduel and Draftkings.
Before we dive in I want to highlight some terms you’ll see in my article that may be foreign to you:
- Corsi – Any shot attempt (goals, shots on net, misses and blocks) outside of the shootout
- Even Strength – Play where both teams have the same number of players (including goalies) on the ice. Includes 5v5, 4v4, 3v3
- Power Play – Play where the team has more players on the ice than their opponent due to penalties. Includes 5v4, 5v3, 4v3
- Penalty Kill – Play where the team has fewer players on the ice than their opponent due to penalties. Includes 4v5, 3v4, 3v5
Goaltending
Juuse Saros ($7.7k DK/$7.2k FD) vs. Montreal Canadiens – Any chance I get I try to pick on the lowly Montreal Canadiens. Offensively, they’ve been a mess. Over the last 2 weeks they’ve been averaging just 2 goals per game on around 32 shots. Quick math tells me that’s just an awful shooting % at just a shade over 6%. So the Canadiens are shooting the puck, just with no success.
In Saros we have a goalie that’s been playing pretty well, but not great. He hasn’t had a game under 14 DK points since early November so we know he’s not going to kill us. There should be some upside with Saros tonight with how the Canadiens have been playing. He’s one of my favorites tonight on FD as he’s only $7.2k there.
Jacob Markstrom ($7.6k DK/$7.9k FD) vs. New York Islanders – I’m chasing the ceiling with Markstrom tonight. He’s had back to back stellar games with more than 26 DK points in both. In his last game he shut out the Buffalo Sabres. With the matchup against the Islanders tonight he’s facing another team here that has an extremely low shooting %.
Over the last 2 weeks the Islanders have just a 4% shooting %. That’s insanely low and while I expect to see some positive regression with them at some point, I just don’t see tonight against one of the top goalies in the league. This is the cheapest that Markstrom has been on DK since late October. His price went down $900 on DK after his shutout. I’m all in on him tonight.
Jack Campbell ($8.3k DK/$8.7k FD) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins – I’ll start by saying I’m going to live with my top 2 goalie choices tonight in Saros and Markstrom. If you want to go the expensive route Campbell deserves some consideration.
He’s been lights out in November. In the 8 games he has started this month he’s been under 20 DK points just twice. The Penguins are getting healthy with Crosby back in the lineup but I don’t think they’ll be any match up for the surging Maple Leafs and Canadiens.
Stacks
Detroit 1 (Larkin/Bertuzzi/Raymond) + Seider or DeKeyser
I absolutely love Detroit tonight. They’re facing off against a Coyotes team tonight that’s just downright bad. They are certainly priced up tonight but w/ the match up I get it. The Coyotes have been giving up close to 33 shots per game over the past 2 weeks with a save % under 90%. Any time I see that combo I’m automatically intrigued by the matchup.
The Coyotes also have a slate worst 42% corsi over the past 2 weeks. Offenses are hammering them right now. Any offense w/ the Red Wings starts with Larkin. When he’s on the ice and the Red Wings score he’s always involved. My priority here would be Larkin and Raymond. Bertuzzi’s price is getting up there while the production hasn’t. Bertuzzi is far more playable on FD tonight.
Vegas 1 (Stephenson/Stone/Dadanov) + Hague or Pietrangelo
Let’s start by saying that the Columbus Blue Jackets gave up 4 goals to the Coyotes on Thursday night. The goaltending for them has been pretty shaky of late. Merzlikins has given up 12 goals over his last 3 games after starting out the year pretty solidly. In 4 of his last 5 starts he’s had a save % under .900.
With the Golden Knights tonight we should be able to find some goals. With Mark Stone back in the lineup the Golden Knights get back one of their key weapons. He’s had an assist in each of his last 3 games. My core in this stack is going to be Stone, Dadanov, and Hague. Hague at just $3.6k on DK feels like an absolute steal w/ his production of late.
Edmonton 1 (McDavid/Puljujarvi/Hyman)
You know the drill. When McDavid is on the ice, he’s in play. Thankfully for us he gets a solid matchup tonight vs. a Blackhawks team that has one of the worst Corsi’s of any team on the ice tonight. They’re Corsi % over the past two weeks is at 43%. Only the Coyotes have a worse number of the teams playing tonight.
While I love Hyman, I’m more than likely going to pair him with Pulj tonight due to the savings. Over his past 5 games Pulj is averaging nearly 3 shots + blocks so we know we’ll get some productivity out of him. Look for McDavid to continue his dominance over the NHL Tonight.
Other stacks (Edmonton 2, CBJ 1, STL 1, NSH 1, Tor 1 or 2)
Top Defenseman
- Zach Werenski – Columbus Blue Jackets
- Seth Jones – Chicago Blackhawks
- Charlie McAvoy – Boston Bruins
- Nicolas Hague – Vegas Golden Knights
- Dante Fabbro – Nashville Predators
- Martin Fehervary – Washington Capitals
Summary
We have a fun looking slate tonight. There are 4 games w/ a total of 6 and the rest of 5.5. We should definitely see some offense tonight. I can’t wait to see what a young Red Wings team can do tonight vs. an awful defensive team in the Coyotes.
Good luck and hope to see you in the green!
Make sure you follow me on Twitter at @rangerzfan79 and be sure to sign up for an ALL ACCESS GOLD ACCOUNT here at Win Daily Sports. Gain access to our Projection Models and jump into our Discord where we will have our experts talking plays across every sport and slate!
