NHL Showdown Playbook June 3: Top DraftKings & FanDuel NHL DFS Picks
The Vegas Golden Knights and the Florida Panthers go head-to-head in the Stanley Cup Final. Both teams are looking to secure their first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. Not many people had the Panthers making it out of the first round, let alone to the finals. Vegas has now been to the finals twice in their six years in the league. Only one team can bring home the greatest trophy in sports, so this should be a battle for the ages. You can build daily fantasy hockey lineups on DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo Fantasy for Saturday, June 3rd, 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 Showdown slate.
Highest Expected Goal Totals
Vegas Golden Knights vs. Sergei Bobrovsky: (3.0)
Florida Panthers vs. Adin Hill: (3.0)
Florida Panthers Vs. Vegas Golden Knights
Players to target: Matthew Tkachuk, Brandon Montour, Carter Verhaeghe, Nick Cousins, Anthony Duclair Adin Hill, Jack Eichel, Jonathan Marchessault, Brett Howden, Alex Pietrangelo, Zach Whitecloud, Ivan Barbashev.
The total for Game 1 opened at 5.5 and should stay at that number as we approach puck drop. Sergei Bobrovsky has been elite since reclaiming his starting job. He allowed a total of six goals in four games against the Carolina Hurriances and is looking to continue his hot streak in this series. With the total so low, we can once again consider a goalie for the Captain spot. Many people are likely to back the Golden Knights in this first game, so the logical way to go would be to play Adin Hill, but we won’t go that way. Bobrovsky is going to see a healthy amount of rubber and that could help him get to over 35 saves. Even if he doesn’t win the game, he’s not likely to allow a ton of goals and can still hit value.
As for the rest of our lineup, we are going to need to find some value. On the Florida side, Matthew Tkachuk is the obvious choice. He has been nothing short of exceptional in the playoffs and the Panthers will need him to be at his best every game. He’s expensive, but he can find so many different ways to rack up fantasy points. If we’re paying up for him, we’ll need to target some forwards that are more affordable. Anthony Duclair and Nick Cousins are both skating in the top six and are under $5K. That’s pretty good value if you’re trusting the Panthers. On the back end, Brandon Montour didn’t have a great offensive series against Carolina, but he’s still a very talented defenseman that can jump up in the play and find the back of the net. Aaron Ekblad could also be an option, but I don’t see him having many offensive chances. His game will be to try and slow down the opposing team’s top players, so he could hit value by blocking shots.
On the Vegas side, it’s all about Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault. Eichel has been very good in the playoffs and he loves to have the puck on his stick. He’s going to get his chances to score goals, but he needs to find the back of the net. He’s also a likely candidate to finish with over five shots on goal. As for Marchessault, We know that he can score goals. He plays on the same line as Eichel and with this game being at home, he may be able to avoid Barkov’s line. If you really want to target value, William Karlsson is a name to remember. He has 14 points in the playoffs, ten of them being goals. The offensive upside is nice, but he’s more likely to be going up against Barkov’s line and they don’t give up many scoring chances. The assignment on paper is a tough one, but his price tag is very reasonable.
On the back end, Alex Pietrangelo and Zach Whitecloud are the only two players I’d really consider. Pietrangelo should see a good amount of ice time, while Whitecloud will have his chances to block shots. I can see an argument for playing Shea Theodore because he’s an offensive defenseman who can rack up points, but I don’t think he will see enough ice time, thus limiting his upside. It’s unlikely he blocks enough shots to hit value and I don’t see the Panthers allowing him to just shoot from anywhere.