Welcome to Saturday’s Showdown NHL Slate. Toronto has done what some people thought was impossible; win two games in a row without Auston Matthews. They have all the momentum going into this game, but can they actually come back from being down 3-1?  You can build daily fantasy hockey lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel for Saturday, May 4th, 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 

Toronto Maple Leafs Vs Jeremy Swayman (2.6)

Boston Bruins Vs. Joseph Woll (3.0)


 

Boston Bruins Vs. Toronto Maple Leafs


Players to target: David Pastrnak, Charlie Coyle, Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy, Jeremy Swayman, Max Domi, Matthew Knies, William Nylander, Joseph Woll.


If you followed the Playbook for Game 6, you should have made a small profit depending on your build. The playoffs are a different animal and it gets even more challenging when you know goals will be at a premium. We will stick to the plan and back the Bruins to pick up a win. I’m having a hard time believing they will lose another series after being up 3-1.

The Captain Spot will make or break us for this game. Once again, Jeremy Swayman is who I’m targeting. He hasn’t been bad in the playoffs and continues to be the reason this series isn’t already over. Joseph Woll might be the popular choice and I don’t blame DFS players for wanting to go down that route. Boston has come out flat in the first period in the last two games, but I expect the urgency to be turned up for this one. You could choose either goalie and be in a good spot, but for me, it’s Swayman.

As for the rest of you’re lineup, we are going to get creative. Jim Montgomery called out David Pastrnak after the last game, saying he needs to be better. Sometimes that can light a fire under a player and that could be the case here. I won’t go out of my way to get him into my lineup, but I would start with him and work backwards. I’ll continue to have Charlie McAvoy in there because his floor is super high and I’ll also look at Charlie Coyle if the salary works.

On the Toronto side, we don’t know if Auston Matthews is going to play. He did practice with the team but is listed as a game-time decision. As of this moment, I’m going to assume that he is not going to be in the lineup, so I’ll target Max Domi who is on the top line and Matthew Knies for some added value. William Nylander is going to be a popular choice because of his strong performance in Game 6, so that is an avenue you can entertain if you don’t want to go with Pastrnak. 

I’m not a fan of using a goalie when building a Showdown lineup, but tonight, I’m going to have one build with BOTH goalies in the same lineup. The total for this game is 5.5 and I expect it to be a tight defensive game. You don’t want to make a mistake at this point of the series, so coaches are going to emphasize pucks in deep and no odd-man rushes. There’s also a strong chance that this game ends up going to overtime, thus increasing the value of both goalies. I don’t know what a lineup with both goalies will look like, but I think it’s worth exploring.