Wednesday's one-game NHL DFS slate is loaded with top-tier scorers as the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2023 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs continue. The Florida Panthers will look to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals tonight with a win at home, while the Carolina Hurricanes will try to keep their playoff dreams alive and push the series back to Carolina for another game. Look for the stars on both teams such as Matthew Tkachuk, Sergei Bobrovsky, Sebastian Aho, and Brent Burns to play big roles in this game. As you build daily fantasy hockey lineups for these NHL Playoffs matchups, be sure to check out our NHL daily projections, NHL DFS lineup generator, and other NHL daily fantasy tools. Let's get into our NHL DFS picks and top plays on DraftKings and FanDuel for today's Stanley Cup Playoff slate!

 

NHL DFS Picks May 24

Highest Expected Goal Totals 

Carolina Hurricanes: 2.8

Florida Panthers: 2.9

Carolina Hurricanes vs Florida Panthers

Players to target: Matthew Tkachuk, Brandon Montour, Sam Bennett, Jordan Martinook, Brent Burns, Martin Necas, Seth Jarvis

If Aleksander Barkov is not able to play today, look for Anton Lundell and Sam Bennett to play a much bigger role. Lundell will be asked to pick up a lot of Barkov's defensive duties, while Bennett will need to help generate more offence and he will likely see more time on the powerplay as well. I would also not count out Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe, and Sam Reinhart who have all been a factor in the first three games of this series, For the Hurricanes, if they are going to be successful in pushing this series to another game they need Sebastian Aho to break through. He has five shots in game three, but he is yet to make a real impact on the scoresheet for the Canes. If you are going to play a contrarian lineup today, I would want to include him.  

The defencemen in this series continue to be difficult to predict. Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin both had five shots for the Hurricanes, and the Panthers saw three of their defencemen including Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Forsling block three shots each. I would lean toward the Panthers' defensemen defencemen in this game. I think we will see a lot of shots again from the Hurricanes and I expect the Panthers players will be very willing to block shots today knowing they are just one win away from the Stanley Cup Finals so using players like Ekblad and Forsling who could also play a role offensively could be favorable.

We continue to see great performances from both sets of goalies. Sergei Bobrovsky has been an absolute difference-maker in these playoffs, and Frederik Andersen has lost two games by a combined total of two goals. I would want to play both goalies today if it was at all possible, and if I'm dreaming of hitting it big, I would lean toward Andersen, as I think he will see less ownership, and if the Hurricanes do manage to find their offence that play could really pay off, 

I am going to look to build lineups today around defencemen. I think the values of players like Ekblad, Forsling, and Slavin can help you get your goalie of choice or a top forward into your lineup, while still providing you with enough value to make them worthwhile. For me, Bobrovsky is a solid play, and I am surprised that he is still cheaper than Andersen on DK, but again I think most people will lean on the Panthers today so don't be afraid to build a pro-Hurricanes lineup as that is a play that can still pay off.

 

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