Daily Fantasy Hockey Picks for DraftKings & FanDuel - 4/29/16

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Welcome back for another day of daily fantasy hockey, playoff edition. The second round is underway with two of the series already started. Tonight the remaining two get going with Nashville Predators visiting the San Jose Sharks and the St. Louis Blues visiting the Dallas Stars. Both St. Louis and Nashville are coming off hard fought, game seven wins while the Sharks took care of the Kings in five games and the Stars survived a heavy Wild push and took them out in six games. I definitely favor the home teams in tonight's game one matchups.

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.

 

Goaltenders

Martin Jones
Opponent - NAS
FD - 9000 DK - 7800

He wasn't spectacular in the first round but he got the job done on the powerhouse LA Kings as the Sharks took care of business in just five games. To make it even more impressive he won three of the four games on the road in Los Angeles. The Sharks will now get home ice advantage in the second round as they face the Nashville Predators coming off a huge game seven win in Anaheim. The Sharks had one of the worst home records in the league this season and will need to fix that if they plan to advance to the Conference Finals. I give the edge to Jones and the Sharks in game one as they are a much more rested team.

Kari Lehtonen
Opponent - STL
FD - 8500 DK - 7700

After winning the first two games in the first round it look ed as if the Stars would sweep the Wild and get a lengthy rest as they prepared for the rest of the Western Conference. This was not the case as the Wild tore apart Lehtonen and the Stars in game three which prompted the coach to turn to Niemi in game's four and five. Game four resulted in a win but game five saw the Wild fight back again winning 5-4 in OT to force a game six back in Minnesota where the Stars turned back to Lehtonen between the pipes. After jumping out to a huge 4-0 lead after two periods the Stars fell asleep in the third letting the Wild crawl back in the game. Lehtonen eventually shut the door to the game and the series as the Stars won 5-4 and will move on to face the St. Louis Blues. He faced the Blues twice in the regular season going 1-0-1 stopping 42 of 44 shots and picking up a shutout. Take the home team in game one.

 

 

 

 

CENTER

Logan Couture
Opponent - NAS
FD - 6500 DK - 6000

Couture had a terrific opening round vs. the Kings as he recorded a point in all but one game and had six total after his three assist explosion in the series clinching game five in Los Angeles. On a small two game slate you will need to pivot off some of the more popular plays to differentiate yourself and the Stars secondary scoring is a great way to go on Friday. You can get all three for a very affordable price and go big with the Stars high powered offense.

Stack with - Joonas Donskoi, Joel Ward

 

Jason Spezza
Opponent - STL
FD - 7700 DK - 6300

In the absence of one Tyler Seguin in the first round both the Stars top lines picked up their game scoring 21 goals in their six game series win vs. the Wild. Spezza was outstanding with four goals and four assists including three multi point games. Like Couture he comes at a higher price but if you are stacking, his linemates come at a nice discount.

Stack with  - Mattias Janmark, Patrick Eaves

 

 

WINGERS

Jamie Benn
Opponent - STL
FD - 9100 DK - 8400

He was clearly the Stars best player in the first round and tallied a point in each game for a series total of 10 points which led all skaters in the opening round. He has put the team and top line on his back without linemate and superstars Tyler Seguin in the lineup due to an injury. He faced the Blues five times during the regular season and had five points while averaging three shots on goal per game. Expect another big performance from the team leader as the Stars open the second round at home on Friday night.

Stack with - Cody Eakin, Patrick Sharp

 

Jaden Schwartz
Opponent - DAL
FD - 5300 DK - 5200

If you are looking to get some exposure to the Blues tonight, look no further than Jaden Schwartz. The skates on the top line with the teams best player(Tarasenko) and has been getting around 17 minutes of ice time per game.  After being held scoreless in game one of the opening round Schwartz caught fire and recorded a point in each of the final six game of the series. While I feel the Stars will win game one they are susceptible to giving up shots which could lead to 3-2 or 4-3 type of game. There should be plenty of opportunity for Schwartz to  extend his point streak in to the second round.

Stack with - Vladimir Tarasenko, Jori Lehtera

 

DEFENSE

Brent Burns
Opponent - NAS
FD - 8000 DK - 8500

The extremely high upside D man for the Sharks led their offense in the opening round with eight points in just five games vs. the Los Angeles Kings. He struggled against Nashville in the regular season with just one point in three games but this is a new season and the Sharks looked poised for a deep run this season after years of disappointment. To overcome the demons and beat the Preds they are going to need the offensive of their best player. Avoid for cash at high prices but he makes a terrific GPP play and could be low owned as it is fairly hard to fit him in on a small two game slate.

 

Johnny Oduya
Opponent - STL
FD - 3100 DK - 3700

This is play is strictly a punt play at the D position on DraftKings. He is getting over 20 minutes of ice time per game and while he picked up a goal vs. the Wild he does not carry much, if any, offensive upside. His value comes from blocked shots where he recorded 13 in the first round. He recorded 2+ fantasy points in all but one game on DraftKings in the opening round.

 

 

Daily Updates Below:

 

For the 1st time in @NHL history - no Original 6 or Canadian teams in the Final 8 of the #StanleyCup Playoffs! pic.twitter.com/crov9g01wr

— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) April 27, 2016

***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***

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