Chicago Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane celebrates after scoring his goal during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Edmonton Oiler,s Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015, in Chicago. The Blackhawks won 4-2. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The NHL season is here and we’ll be bringing you picks daily. We are also beta-testing a new NHL projection system.
Playing other daily fantasy sports like NFL, MLB or NBA. Go ahead and get access to the exclusive projection system that produces all of our picks. Sign up now and get our lineup construction tool for FanDuel & DraftKings.
Welcome to the Stanley Cup playoffs. They have finally arrived and 16 teams will now battle it out over the next two months to become the 2016 Stanley Cup Champion. Wednesday is the beginning of the journey for six teams as we only have three games on opening night.
The Detroit Red Wings, who got into the playoffs in the final week, will travel to Tampa Bay to face the Lightning. The Bolts are a bit banged up with injuries to Steven Stamkos who will miss 1-3 months. Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Johnson, and Ryan Callahan are also dealing with injuries but expected to return for Game #1. The teams split their four regular season matchups with the home team winning each one.
The New York Rangers will travel to Pittsburgh to open up the playoffs as they lost home ice advantage with the Penguins red hot run at the end of the regular season. The Penguins are expecting Marc-Andre Fleury to be ready for Game #1 but be sure to check the status before lineups lock. Evgeni Malkin did not practice on Monday and is considered day to day but not expected to see the first much time in this series if at all. Pittsburgh owned the season series winning three out of four games.
The St. Louis Blues will host the defending Stanley Cup Champions in their first round series starting tonight. The Hawks will have Corey Crawford back who missed time at the end of March due to an upper body injury. They will need him to be his playoff self if they are to get past the Blues who are red hot coming into the playoffs having won eight of their last 10 games. This could be one of the best series in the first round and I wouldn't be the least surprised if it went seven games. The Blues won the season series 3-2.
If you have any questions throughout the day be sure to join the conversation in the comments section below. Also, be sure to check LeftWingLock to get confirmation on all of the starting goalies for Tuesday. Now onto the picks.
Opponent - DET
FD - 9700 DK - 8200
Game #1 tonight has the Detroit Red Wings travelling to Tampa Bay to face the Lightning in a Atlantic Division showdown. These teams have met four times during the regular season with the home team winning each one. Bishop played in each game vs. the Red Wings and went 2-2 with an impressive .931 save % and around 4.5 fantasy points per game. I am sticking with the home trend in this series even with the Bolts missing Steven Stamkos and possibly Tyler Johnson. Why? I am confident in their top 5 defense going up against the 23rd ranked offense during the regular season.
Opponent - NYR
FD - 9600 DK - 8100
This is more of a GPP play tonight as it is still unclear whether he was cleared of his concussions. If he does play he could possibly be lower owned, especially in tournaments you enter early in the day. People tend to set lineups and forget them for the day. He faced the Rangers four times during the season and recorded a 3-1 record and .922 save percentage. The Penguins were red hot down the stretch winning eight of their last 10 games to leap frog the Rangers for home ice. Look for a strong performance in a low scoring game #1.
Also Consider - Brian Elliot - St. Louis Blues vs. CHI
Opponent - NYR
FD - 10000 DK - 8200
He was by far the MVP of the second half of the season with 44 points in 33 games. He also scored three times vs. the Rangers and added an assist in their four meetings. Crosby will have to keep the team on his back for the Pens to get through the first round as they will be without Evgeni Malkin for an unknown amount of time as he is day to day with a wrist injury(not a whole lot of info here but he is out).
Stack with - Patric Hornqvist, Chris Kunitz
Opponent - CHI
FD - 6000 DK - 5000
The Blues climbed to 2nd in the Western Conference in the closing month of the regular season going 14-4 and playing some inspired hockey. They got excellent secondary scoring from their second line of Stastny, Robby Fabbri, and Troy Brouwer. Stastny finished the year off on fire with 12 points in his last 10 games with an impressive +10 rating. The Blues could take advantage tonight as Corey Crawford could still be shaking off the rust as he spent almost a month away from the ice. He allowed five goals in a OT loss to Columbus to close out the regular season. Look for the Blues to take a 1-0 lead in the series at home tonight.
Stack with - Troy Brouwer, Robby Fabbri
Also Consider - Jonathan Toews - Chicago Blackhawks @ STL
Opponent - CHI
FD - 8800 DK - 7700
He lead the Blues in points during the regular season with 40 goals and 34 assists and 24 of those points came with the man advantage. The Blues face an even tougher task in the first round than they did last year when they were bounced by the Wild in six games. The Blues scored 10 goals in their two wins but only four goals in their four losses. They now go up against the defending champs who look hungry for another drink out of Lord Stanley's Cup. They will need all the scoring they can get and should be able to get a jump start in game #1 as Corey Crawford looks to get back to form after missing some time with injury.
Stack with - Jori Lehtera, Alexander Steen
Opponent - STL
FD - 7600 DK - 6600
The 24 year old led all rookies with 77 points and is the front runner for Rookie of the Year. He played alongside Patrick Kane for almost the entire season which is a huge benefit to any player. With their goaltender getting back to form after missing some time, the Hawks will need all the offense they can get from their top two lines tonight as they travel to St. Louis for Game #1.
Stack with - Patrick Kane, Artem Anisimov
Also Consider - Ondrej Palat - Tampa Bay Lightning vs. DET
Opponent - STL
FD - 5100 DK - 6100
With Duncan Keith missing one more game due to suspension , Seabrook will take the lead role again in Game #1. He was excellent in the five games Keith missed to close out the regular season, tallying seven points with four coming with the man advantage. He also finished the year 7th among D men in powerplay points with 25. As mentioned above the Hawks are going to need put up some goals tonight and take advantage on the powerplay to steal Game #1 in St. Louis.
Opponent - TB
FD - 3400 DK - 3400
If you are looking for a punt play on defense to fit in some top scoring forwards take a shot with Quincey. He finished the season with over 20 minutes of ice time per game and while he doesn't provide much offensive upside, he finished the year with points in three of his last four games. His best value is on DraftKings where he gets points for blocked shots(tallied 20 in his last 10 games).
Also Consider - Kris Letang - Pittsburgh Penguins vs. NYR
***All advanced stats in this article are sourced from www. puckalytics.com***
***All goaltender and team line combination information is provided by www.leftwinglock.com***
Love what you read, and hungry to learn more about putting together winning daily fantasy football lineups? Check out our FREE eBook by getting a copy below. Want to cut out the research, and just get the best plays?
image sources
Week 12 DraftKings and FanDuel cash game NFL plays.
DraftKings and FanDuel Week 11 cash game NFL plays
Week 10 NFL cash game picks for DraftKings and FanDuel
Daily Fantasy DraftKings and FanDuel NBA Picks & Projections Playing NBA DFS Nightly? Join one…
Week 9 NFL DFS plays for DraftKings and FanDuel
Packed slate of NBA action on FanDuel and DraftKings