Today's three-game NHL DFS slate is highlighted by Sebastian Aho and the Carolina Panthers taking on Matthew Tkachuk and the Florida Panthers. Also don't miss out on some of the great value plays available on the wing today with Evan Bouchard of the Oilers facing the Kraken. Remember, you can use the lineup generator powered by Fanjections to help put your lineup together.

 

New Jersey Devils at Pittsburgh Penguins

The Devils come into this game having lost two straight games, but they have been among the best road teams in the league this season with a 12-2-1 record on the road. They have been getting strong play from the combination of Nico Hischier and Tomas Tatar, both players have three points in their last two games. They will also cost you much less than using Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt, although the Hughes/Bratt combination is also a viable play. For the Penguins, you will need to consider using Sidney Crosby with either Jake Guentzel or Rickard Rakell as they have proven their ability to have big games, even if they haven’t had them in the last week. Jason Zucker has been an interesting play as well. He has nine shots in his last two games, and with him playing alongside Evgeni Malkin.

On defence, you need to consider Dougie Hamilton of the Devils because of his ability to put a lot of pucks on goal, and also score goals. He has two multi-point games in his last three, but none of those have been goals so you could make the case that he is due. For the Penguins things will largely depend on if Kris Letang is going to play or not. If Letang is in the lineup, he will get the top powerplay time, but the Penguins have recently promoted Ty Smith from their AHL club, and there is the potential that he could see time on the powerplay which would make him a tremendous value.

With neither team playing consecutive games, we should expect it to be Vitek Vanecek to face Tristan Jarry in goal. Vanecek has started to struggle after a hot start to the season, and while he has a very good record on the road, the underlying stats show that his play hasn’t been great with just a 0.904 save percentage in road games. Jarry on the other hand has been stupendous at home. He has a 9-1 record with a 0.930 save percentage in home games which should make him one of the top goalies on today’s slate.

Florida Panthers at Carolina Hurricanes

The Panthers will come into this game riding the high of a 7-2 win over Montréal last night, including a five-point night from Aleksander Barkov. The Panthers also continue to see lots of production from Matthew Tkachuk who has four points (three goals and an assist) to go along with ten shots in his last two games. Depending on which player you want to go with you can pair Carter Verhague with Barkov, who has scored in three of his last five games, or you can look to add either Sam Bennett with Tkachuk or Eetu Luostarinen. Luostarinen in particular can be interesting as he comes at a very slow price. The Hurricanes can be much more difficult to predict as they get production from all of their lineup. Their most productive players over the last week have been Jordan Martinook and Jordan Staal, but I’m not certain I would put too much weight into either of those players aside from perhaps a one-off in your lineup. If you’re going to spend up on the Canes I would look to the players who have been shooting the most Martin Necas and Andrei Svechnikov who both have 9 shots in their last two games and will see the prominent offensive roles. I also like the pairing of Teuvo Teravainen and Seth Jarvis who are playing on the top line, and you will get them both at a value price.

When we look at the defencemen available on both teams there are two primary options. Brandon Montour of the Panthers has four points in his last two games and has really had a breakout season with 30 points in 34 games, but you will need him to get points for him to get to value. For the Hurricanes, however, you can look at Brent Burns. Burns is never afraid to shoot the puck, and he comes with the offensive upside that few other defencemen have, and is right up there with Dougie Hamilton on today’s slate for the highest upside among defensemen.

The Panthers, as previously noted are playing their second game in as many days, and will go with Spencer Knight in goal. The young Panthers goalie has really struggled on the road with a sub-900 save percentage on the road and will be in tough against this Hurricanes team. It looks like Pytor Kochetkov will likely get the start for the Hurricanes. Kochetkov hasn’t lost in regulation since November 23rd and has been impressive for Carolina putting up a 0.928 save percentage. 

Edmonton Oilers at Seattle Kraken

It’s hard to believe, but the Kraken has the same number of points as the Oilers in three fewer games this season. With that said, in any matchup, it is hard to ignore Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, especially on a short slate. Both teams have been middle of the pack in goals allowed so we shouldn’t be surprised if there are lots of goals scored today. We noted McDavid and Draisaitl who both have two points in their last two games, but I would also not lose sight of Zach Hyman who has points in three straight games and has been impressive all season as well. Looking at the Kraken, Jordan Eberle is coming off a two points game, and you can pair him with Matty Beniers who he plays with in even-strength situations. I think you can also look at players like Oliver Bjorkstrand and Daniel Sprong who are on the Kraken’s top powerplay unit.

The defence of the Oilers is often an enigma. Tyson Barrie looks to be holding the role on the top powerplay, and he has been shooting the puck a lot as well which is a good sign, but you also have Darnell Nurse who has three blocked shots or more in four of his last five games and has a very solid floor, and Evan Bouchard who comes at a discount is often a boom or bust player as he will have games where he shoots and blocks shots. Seattle doesn’t look to have their defence block shots or shoot all that much so if you’re going to play a defenceman on Seattle I would go with Justin Schultz who is on the top powerplay.

In goal, it looks like we will likely see Stuart Skinner face Philip Grubauer. Skinner has played really well for the Oilers so far this season, and would likely be a reasonable option today as he is coming off a big 46-save performance. Grubauer however would only be someone I would be willing to play in GPPs as there is a lot of risk of the Oilers' top players going off, and five-plus goals being given up. However, with that comes low ownership, and as previously noted the Kraken are winning more games than the Oilers' so if you can get 25 saves and the win with only a couple of goals given up that isn’t a terrible place to be.

 

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