Daily Fantasy Hockey Picks for FanDuel and DraftKings 2/21/19

Welcome back hockey fans. Thursday brings us a huge 11 game slate and I will be switching up the way I go about the article. I will be writing up two to three goalie options to consider and breaking down some teams and situations to consider rather than just two players at each position. This allows me to touch on more plays overall. As always, don't forget to check out our projections system and lineup optimizer.

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GOALIE

Andrei Vasilevskiy FD - $9500 DK - $8300
Opponent - BUF
Proj Pts FD - 21.28 DK - 5.32

After the last few nights where we have had to deal with sub-par options in goal or good goalies in bad matchups, it feels like kind of a relief to write up Vasilevskiy. The Lightning are the most complete team in the league as they are dominant across the board ranking 1st in offense, 5th in defense, 1st in powerplay, and 2nd in penalty kill. On top of that, they have an elite goalie in Vasilevskiy who comes in after allowing just one goal in his last three games and has won five straight and seven of his last 10 games while posting a .944 save % with three shutouts while facing 31.9 shots per game. Tonight he gets a terrific matchup as a -265 home favorite against a struggling Sabers team that has lost three straight and four of their last five games while scoring just nine goals. Fire up Vasilevskiy in all formats.

Pekka Rinne FD - $8400 DK - $8400
Opponent - LA
Proj Pts FD - 20.61 DK - 5.15

We are blessed with two elite goalies tonight as the defending Vezina Trophy winner is in a great spot and comes at a big discount on FanDuel if you need the savings. He has been inconsistent at times this year and sits with just an average.916 save % overall but has looked sharp lately winning back to back games while stopping 70 of 74 shots. He and the Preds have been much better on home ice and that is where he will be tonight as a -220 favorite facing a Kings team that has dropped five straight and rank 29th in road offense scoring just 2.2 goals per game. I think Rinne makes a nice GPP pivot off Vasilevskiy on DraftKings but can be considered a core peice in all formats over on FanDuel where he is $1,100 cheaper.

Jake Allen FD - $7500 DK - $7700
Opponent - DAL
Proj Pts FD - 17.99 DK - 4.5

If you are looking to stack some expensive teams tonight, Jake Allen is a nice value play that can help you get there while also providing some upside as well. He has been losing starts to the red-hot rookie Jordan Binnington but is coming off a 32 save shutout of the Avalanche in Colorado and has been better on the road overall with a .924 save %(.878 at home). He will be on the road tonight again as a slight -125 favorite facing a Dallas team that has lost three straight and five of their last six games while scoring just 10 goals and getting shutout twice. Great GPP play in all formats.

San Jose Sharks @ Pittsburgh Penguins

Moneyline - PIT(-120)
Team Projections - SJ(3.3) PIT(3.8)

This game definitely stands out with a crazy 7.0 Vegas total and the last time we saw a total this high, the Blackhawks and Senators put up 15 goals. Looking at the team stats, both the Pens and Sharks rank Top 5 on offense with the Sharks ranking 26th in road defense and the Penguins ranking 27th in home defense. The Penguins come in hot having won four of their last five games while scoring 21 goals while the Sharks have won seven of their last nine while averaging 4.3 goals per game. Let's take a look at a few players at the top of my list for each team.

Logan Couture FD - $6700 DK - $6300
Opponent - PIT
Proj Pts FD - 13.69 DK - 3.9
Timo Meier FD - $5600 DK - $6400
Opponent - PIT
Proj Pts FD - 15.18 DK - 4.28
Joe Pavelski FD - $7600 DK - $6800
Opponent - PIT
Proj Pts FD - 15.85 DK - 4.55
Brent Burns FD - $7500 DK - $7000
Opponent - PIT
Proj Pts FD - 18.55 DK - 5.47

Let's start with the road team and their top line with Couture, Meier, and Pavelski. Timo Meier has been off the charts this season providing an elite floor with an 11.7 shots/60 and 20.6 iCorsi/60 on the season and has turned that into a career-year as he comes in with 51 points in 57 games. At center, Logan Couture is once again a consistent option with his third straight and fifth 50+ point season in his last six. he also comes in red-hot with multi-point efforts in three of his last four games and has 12 points over his last 10 while averaging 2.8 shots and just over 19 minutes of ice-time per game. The final piece of the line is veteran Joe Pavelski who has also been hot with 15 points over his last 10 games including five multi-point efforts while averaging over three shots per game. When spending up on defense, the first name that always comes to mind is Brent Burns and for good reason. The checks every box averaging a combined 5.3 shots/blocks to go along with 65 points in 60 games. Looking at all the skaters tonight, Burn sis 18th in FanDuel salary and 13th in DraftKings salary but 4th in average DraftKings and 5th in average FanDuel points per game. Load up in all formats.

Evgeni Malkin FD - $8600 DK - $7200
Opponent - SJ
Proj Pts FD - 17.37 DK - 4.96
Zach Aston-Reese FD - $3600 DK - $3600
Opponent - SJ
Proj Pts FD - 9.22 DK - 2.6
Kris Letang FD - $7400 DK - $6600
Opponent - SJ
Proj Pts FD - 15.75 DK - 4.7
Sidney Crosby FD - $9000 DK - $7600
Opponent - SJ
Proj Pts FD - 17.32 DK - 4.92

For the Penguins, I will be starting with a second line two-man stack that is playable in all formats. Malkin comes into tonight with 13 points in his last 10 games with 33 shots on goal and is cheaper than Crosby on both sits while providing very similar production. Zach Aston-Reese jumped up to the second line last game and if that is the case again, he will be near the top of the PTS/$ rankings once again tonight. He scored on three shots last game and even without being on the second lien long, has seven points in his last 10 games. Kris Letang on defense has seen his price go up quite a bit lately and with that, I would rather just pay up for Burns but with lower ownership, Letang makes a nice GPP pivot. You can also stack Malkin with Crosby, Kessel, Letang, and Hornqvist if you want to fully stack the top powerplay unit.

 New Jersey Devils

Moneyline - NJ(-140)
Team Projections - NJ(3.8)

The second game that stands out to me tonight has the Ottawa Senators visiting the New Jersey Devils. The line opened up with the Devils a -140 home favorite with a 6.5 game total. Not only are the Devils considerably better defensively on home ice, but they have also been almost a half goal per game better offensively at home as well. The problem with the Senators tonight is who is going to be starting as the trade deadline looms(Feb 25) and reports are that Matt Duchene will be sitting out with a trade imminent and Mark Stone and Ryan Dzingel have also been thrown around in trade talks. If none of that makes you feel comfortable consider the Sens also rank dead last in defense allowing 3.7 goals per game.

Nico Hischier FD - $5600 DK - $6200
Opponent - OTT
Proj Pts FD - 13.76 DK - 3.92
Marcus Johansson FD - $4600 DK - $4500
Opponent - OTT
Proj Pts FD - 10.79 DK - 3.16
Jesper Bratt FD - $4000 DK - $3900
Opponent - OTT
Proj Pts FD - 10.85 DK - 3.12

The Devils currently have the fourth-highest team projection(3.8) in our system and while they sit near the bottom of the league standings, provide us with a ton of value as Taylor Hall remains out of the lineup. Hischier has eight points(two on the powerplay), Johansson has eight points(three on the powerplay), and Bratt has 10 points(three on the powerplay) over their last 10 games and now face the worst defense in the league. Lock and load.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Moneyline - TB(-265)
Team Projections - TB(4.4)

Tampa has easily separated themselves from the pack as they lead all teams in the NHL with 96 points, 17 more than the next best team(17!!!), and also sit #1 in offense scoring 3.9 goals per game. That makes it no surprise they sit #1 in our system with a 4.4 goal projection tonight against a Sabres team that has lost three straight giving up 14 goals and rank 19th in road defense on the season. It's a third game in four nights for the Bolts but I am not worried and will have exposure to multiple players in their lineup tonight.

Nikita Kucherov FD - $9200 DK - $7700
Opponent - BUF
Proj Pts FD - 20.04 DK - 5.81
Brayden Point FD - $7800 DK - $7400
Opponent - BUF
Proj Pts FD - 16.71 DK - 4.85
Mikhail Sergachev FD - $3800 DK - $3900
Opponent - BUF
Proj Pts FD - 8.25 DK - 2.45

I will be targeting the second line, for the most part, tonight as Nikita Kucherov has been off the charts this season as he leads the league with 99 points, just one shy of his career-high set a season ago. He has also been somewhat quiet in putting up these numbers with Patrick Kane riding a 19-game point streak and while he doesn't have quite the shot volume as Kane(8.5 shots/60, 17 iCoris/60) he is slightly cheaper and is most definitely a core play tonight. Brayden Point is expected back in the lineup after being healthy scratched on Tuesday for missing a meeting. He has centered a line with Kucherov almost all season and come sin red-hot with points in six straight and has already shattered his career-high with 78 points through 59 games. Stay tuned for news. On defense, Victor Hedman was also held out of Tuesday's game but for a minor "upper body" injury. Mikhail Sergachev stayed on the third pairing but stepped into Hedman's top line powerplay and while he didn't record a point with the man advantage he still scored a goal on three shots. If Hedman is out again, be sure to get teh value D-man in your lineup once again.

Also Consider

The Carolina Hurricanes have some nice one-off plays for cash games(Sebastian Aho/Nino Niederreiter) and also make a nice potential low owned stack(add Justin Williams, Teuvo Teravainen for PP stack). Driving the low ownership is the fact the above players could be very chalky and these same Canes at high ownership let everyone down on Tuesday in a 2-1 loss to the Rangers.

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