When there are only three or four games, we will not put out the full DFS Playbook, but will do optimal lineups along with a breakdown of the slate. Tonight, we have the typical Monday Night slate with three games to consider. 

First off, a disclaimer. I highly recommend focusing on just GPPs on the shorter slate. I think there’s enough skill to play cash games, but there’s going to be way more variance than usual. 

Montreal Canadiens @ New Jersey Devils (Montreal -120 favorites) - 7:00 PM ET

Starting Goalies:  Al Montoya (MTL) [Confirmed] vs. Cory Schneider (NJD) [Confirmed]

Top Plays: Max Pacioretty, Taylor Hall

Top Values: Alex Galchenyuk, Shea Weber, Kyle Palmieri, Miles Wood

At press time, Montreal was the favorite despite their up and down nature. It has not been an easy transition. The last time these two teams faced each other. It was the first line and the power play that turned a 1-1 game into a 3-1 victory. Montreal was the better team that night and even at 5 on 5, the top line was able to generate many chances against whatever New Jersey put up against it. 

New Jersey has won just five home games since an 8-0-2 start in Newark. It has not only been tough but New Jersey often cannot get out of their own way at home. Even when things do go well, they often go south. The last game against the New York Rangers was a prime example. They were down 2-0, bounced back with three unanswered goals, but ultimately lost because they were scared to lose. It will have to be more than the first line performing tonight for the Devils to have a shot here. 

Ottawa Senators @ Tampa Bay Lightning (TAM -180 favorites) - 7:30 PM ET

Starting Goalies: Mike Condon (OTT) [Possible] vs. Andrei Vasilevskiy (TAM) [Likely]

Top Plays: Erik Karlsson, Nikita Kucherov

Top Values: Zack Smith, Mike Hoffman, Victor Hedman, Jonathan Drouin (if he plays)

It will be wild to see how the Senators come out tonight considering they had a high paced game against Florida where Craig Anderson had to stand on his head just for Ottawa to sneak out two points. Nothing had been confirmed on the end of goalies for this one but Mike Condon plausibly could be in net. Ottawa may be a series of one-offs on this night because no one knows what to expect from Tampa's end. Mike Hoffman and Erik Karlsson may be pretty good plays but Zack Smith could be a solid value play. 

The same could be said for Tampa Bay as after the triplets line, it is anyone's guess what will happen. Jonathan Drouin is still dealing with the flu and may not be 100%. No one knows if other players still have the illness or not. There is a possibility of working with a mini stack of the Drouin line but will Brian Boyle be traded? It's an excellent question with no clear answer. We will have to wait to see what happens as far as line combinations.   

Los Angeles Kings @ Minnesota Wild (MIN -135 favorites) – 8:00 PM ET

Starting Goalies: Jonathan Quick (LAK) [Confirmed] vs. Devan Dubnyk (MIN) [Confirmed]

Top Plays: Jeff Carter, Mikael Granlund, Devan Dubnyk

Top Values: Tyler Toffoli, Nino Niederreiter, Jason Zucker

Los Angeles saw the return of Jonathan Quick and he was excellent against Anaheim. He stopped all but one shot in the victory. Quick will get another start tonight in Minnesota to faced a stacked Wild team. The trade for Ben Bishop is significant because of his value as a "1B" goalie. The second line err Kopitar line is the one that needs to step it up along with secondary scoring.    

Minnesota looks like they will have Martin Hanzal on the fourth line until he gets used to the Wild system. He will probably take a ton of defensive face-offs as the game goes on tonight. The second line again is the one to look at for Minnesota and even their power play can be stacked a bit using the first unit perhaps. Defensemen wise it may be wise to look up to the other two games as there are risks especially on the Minnesota side aside from maybe, Ryan Suter. .

Stacks To Consider (Ranked From Most To Least Confident):

MIN2: Jason Zucker-Mikko Koivu-Mikael Granlund

TAM1: Ondrej Palat-Tyler Johnson-Nikita Kucherov-Victor Hedman

LAK2: Tanner Pearson-Jeff Carter-Tyler Toffoli

MTL1: Max Pacioretty-Philip Danualt-Alex Radulov (possibly Shea Weber)

OTT1: Zack Smith-Kyle Turris-Mike Hoffman-Erik Karlsson

NJD1: Taylor Hall-Travis Zajac-Kyle Palmieri

MIN3: Zach Parise-Erik Haula-Jason Pominville (see if this holds)

Goalie Rankings:

1. Devan Dubnyk (Confirmed)

2. Al Montoya (Confirmed)

3. Cory Schneider (Confirmed)

4. Andrei Vasilevskiy (Likely)

5. Jonathan Quick (Confirmed)

6. Mike Condon (Possible)   

The DraftKings example lineup and FanDuel optimal lineup was posted around 3:45 PM ET. If you have any questions, please let me know on Twitter @ChrisWasselDFS Good luck!