Welcome to Thursday’s two-game NHL Slate. The Rangers head to Carolina up 2-0 in the series and are hoping to add another win to their total, while the Dallas Stars look to recover from their crushing overtime loss. There are lots of great players to choose from on this short slate, but we need to find good value plays and pick the correct goalie. You can build daily fantasy hockey lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel for Thursday, May 9th, but before you build those NHL daily fantasy lineups, don’t forget to check out our NHL DFS projections, the NHL Value Finder, and the NHL DFS lineup generator. Let's now take a closer look at the daily fantasy hockey top plays for tonight's NHL DFS slate.

 

Highest Expected Goal Totals 

Carolina Hurricanes Vs Igor Shesterkin (3.2)

New York Rangers Vs. Pyotr Kochetkov (2.5)

Colorado Avalanche Vs. Jake Oettinger (3.2)

Dallas Stars Vs. Alexandar Georgiev (3.5)
 

Carolina Hurricanes Vs. New York Rangers


Players to target: Vincent Trockeck, Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, Alexis Lafreniere, Adam Fox, Igor Shesterkin, Jordan Staal, Jake Guentzel, Seth Jarvis, 

The New York Rangers are an excellent hockey team showing no signs of slowing down. Even with the series shifting to Carolina, they still have a ton of forward options that we need to consider. Carolina will have some good options too, but I still like the Rangers to get the job done on the road.

We will go with the same group of forwards tonight as we did in Game 2 because why change a winning formula? Vincent Trocheck, Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider and Alexis Lafreniere are all worth considering. You should probably target three players, but if you don’t want to go that far, I’d settle for Trocheck/Lafreniere because they offer the best value. Adam Fox can be an option but don’t go crazy trying to fit him into your lineup.

Igor Shesterkin is my top goalie option on the board and it’s not even close. We are getting him at $7400 on DraftKings despite his impressive 54-save performance. Yes, that game went to overtime, but we could see that happen again tonight. Igor is elite and there’s no to-ways around it.

On the Carolina side, Jake Guentzel and Seth Jarvis are by far the two best options. They are at home, so they should get some favorable matchup. I expect the Hurricanes to come out and generate a healthy amount of scoring chances, so both players will have a chance to hit value. You could consider Jaccob Slavin or Brady Skjei as options on the blue line, but their upside is limited and their numbers are inflated because of overtime. New York also doesn’t shoot the puck a ton on the road, so it’s an uphill battle for both players to hit value. If you still want to go with one, make it Slavin. 

Pyotr Kochetkov is confirmed to get the start tonight and I don’t know how that makes me feel. Frederik Andersen hasn’t been good in his first two games, but it’s not all his fault. Can Kochetkov come out and have a strong game? Absolutely, but I also don’t want to pay $8000 for him because he needs to win the game to hit value. I’m staying away from him tonight and if that burns me, so be it.

 

Colorado Avalanche vs Dallas Stars

Players to target: Wyatt Johnston, Jason Robertson, Joe Pavelski, Logan Stankoven, Miro Heiskanen, Chris Tanev, Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko 
Rantanen, Valeri Nichushkin, Zach Parise, Cale Makar, Devon Toews.

The Dallas Stars had a 3-0 lead but lost the game in overtime. It’s crazy how good this team could be, but they just love to shoot themselves in the foot. They are a deep hockey team, but they proved in Game 1 that they can’t defend Colorado’s top line.

Dallas did show us that they can get pucks behind Alexandar Georgiev and I expect them to do that again tonight. Wyatt Johnston continues to be tremendous value and Jason Robertson is a solid player who can shoot the puck. Both players are worth considering. On the back end, Chris Tanev is about as safe as you can get. He’s all about blocking shots and we need that kind of value in our lineups. I can get behind Miro Heiskanen, but Tanev is a must-play just because of how high his floor is.

For the Colorado Avalanche, you know exactly who to pick. Nathan MacKinnon, Valeri Nichushkin and Cale Makar are three players that I will do everything I can to fit into the same lineup. All three play together on the top power play unit and they will see a ton of ice time in this game. There is no reason to overthink this part. If you want to play someone like Zach Parise or Devon Toews because you need to save some salary, that’s fine, but I would still focus on the first three names. 

When it comes to picking a goalie for this game, we are going to stay as far away as possible. Neither team had a ton of shots on goal in the first game, but seven goals were scored. Jake Oettinger couldn’t come up big when needed and Georgiev reminded us all that he is still a below-average netminder on a very hockey team. There is just too much risk with these two for me to want to trust them. Maybe one of them will step up tonight, but right now, there is just no value in playing either one