Toronto Maple Leafs at Montreal Canadians

 

Montreal will look to draw even with Toronto tonight at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

The Maple Leafs will again be without John Tavares , and I expect Nick Foligno will be a game-time decision tonight after being a very late scratch last night. For the Canadians, Eric Staal and Artturi Lehkonen are both listed as day-to-day, so I expect them to be game-time decisions.

Montreal has effectively controlled the pace of play through three games which have allowed them to keep the scores down. William Nylander leads Toronto in points at this point and is a player I would continue to look at, even without Foligno and Tavares in the lineup as he has shown he can get it done without them. Auston Matthews and Mitchell Marner need to be considered because of their ability to put up big games, but they each only have three points through the first three games which don't excite me when I look at their price tags, even with Montreal going to Carey Price in net tonight on back-to-back nights. They are worth a look in GPP games, but I would be hesitant in cash games.

On Defence, it's Morgan Rielly or bust. Rielly is the most likely to provide points, and we really haven't seen any of their defencemen accumulate blocks which keeps them off the DFS radar.

In goal, we could see Frederik Andersen get the start tonight, which would make some sense with Jack Campbell 's injury history, but I would have a lot more faith in Campbell at this point than I would Anderson. You could use Anderson in a GPP, while I would be willing to go to Campbell in a cash game.

For the Canadians, we have seen production from Tyler Toffoli and Joel Armia so far, but not enough that I would want to put much weight into their skaters unless Anderson is getting the start. If that is the case I would be willing to stack Toffoli with Gallagher and hope to get a couple of goals and have both get five-plus shots.

On defence, if you're shooting for upside you can look at Jeff Petry , and Shea Weber , both are a threat to get points and are willing to shoot in volume. If you're aiming for value look at Ben Chiarot who has nine blocks in three games.

In goal, Carey Price will be back in net tonight. Price has played well in two of three games, and while I have some concerns about his usage on back-to-back nights, this is the reason why the Habs brought Jake Allen in, as Price only had to start 25 games during the regular season so he shouldn't be worn down at this point. That said, I would only be looking at price in GPP games. He has only hit 35 saves once in this series, and I think there is still too much risk to use him in cash.

 

Nashville Predators at Carolina Hurricanes

 

After the Preds drew even in the series after winning a pair of games in overtime at home, the series shifts back to Raleigh tonight.

Looking at injuries tonight, Jaccob Slavin is listed as day-to-day and is likely to miss tonight's game for Carolina. On the Nashville side, Viktor Arvidsson is still listed as day-to-day, and Mark Borowiecki is listed as week-to-week.

With the Hurricanes we should start with Sebastian Aho , who has been a force for them in this series. He has five points(three goals and two assists), to go along with 23 shots in the first four games. From there you can choose who you want to pair with him. Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen are both viable options, although Svechnikov is the preferred option as he is also on the top powerplay with Aho. You could also look to pair him though with Vincent Trochek or Jordan Staal as they will offer you more 5 vs 5 exposure, and still have them share power-play time.

On the backend, everything starts with Dougie Hamilton . he is tied with Aho with 23 shots in four games. He is a threat even if he has only accumulated one point so far. Brett Pesce is worth a look. He has four points in the series and eight blocks and will come cheaper than Hamilton. Brady Skjei is a value option also as he is blocking shots, but he isn't likely to get you any points, so his ceiling is limited.

I expect the Hurricanes to go back to Alex Nedeljkovic . He has played well in all four games and has made 88 saves in the last two games. He is a solid choice in both cash and GPP games.

Looking at the Predators forward group, they have spread the wealth around, and if I had to choose a pair, I would go with Filip Forsberg , and pair him with either Matt Duchene or Ryan Johansen , who have both played well in this series despite having lacklustre regular season performances.

On defence, Ryan Ellis leads the team in points, and Roman Josi leads the team in shots and blocks, so either could be useful tonight and likely don't see high ownership.

Juuse Saros has been the biggest reason for the Preds still playing right now. He has made 110 saves in the last two games, yes 110! He will likely see high levels of ownership in GPP, and you could use him in cash as well, but I would likely avoid him in cash games as the Hurricanes are likely to win this game, and if the game ends in regulation, the odds of seeing high save totals become a lot lower.