Welcome to Thursday’s two-game NHL Slate. The regular season has come to an end, which means the real fun starts. 16 teams start their quest to become Stanley Cup champions, but only one team will come away victorious. We have four teams in action start and lots of good value to exploit. NHL DFS in the playoffs is different. You don’t build lineups the same way but don’t worry, I’ll be here to guide you. You can build daily fantasy hockey lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel for Thursday, April 25th, but before you build those NHL daily fantasy lineups, don’t forget to check out our NHL DFS projections, the NHL Value Finder, and the NHL DFS lineup generator. Let's now take a closer look at the daily fantasy hockey top plays for tonight's NHL DFS slate.


 

Highest Expected Goal Totals 

New York Islanders Vs Frederik Andersen (likely)(2.5)

Carolina Hurricanes Vs. Ilya Sorokin (3.1)

Florida Panthers Vs. Andrei Vasilevskiy (likely) (3.0)

Tampa Bay Lightning Vs. Sergei Bobrovsky (likely) (3.1)


New York Islanders Vs. Carolina Hurricanes


 

Players to target: Matthew Barzal, Bo Horvat, Noah Dobson, Jordan Staal, Jake Guentzel, Seth Jarvis, Andrei Svechnikov, Frederik Andersen


The New York Islanders return home down 2-0 in the series and desperately need a win tonight. They’ve haven’t look very good so far, but maybe coming back home will give them a slight boost. Ilya Sorokin is going to get his first start of the playoffs and is hoping to put together a strong game. Even if he does, the Islanders need to find a way to generate some offence.


If you think they can, then you’ll want to have some exposure to either Matthew Barzal or Bo Horvat. They are the two best players on the team and they can create offence. If you want to go all-in, you can add Noah Dobson and go with a three-man stack. Dobson can also be considered as a single-bullet due to how high his floor is.


On the Carolina side, Seth Jarvis is the best bang for your buck. He has been very good through two games and should continue to see a healthy amount of ice time and scoring chances. Jake Guentzel is another name to keep in mind. You can pair both players together and get good value out of them.


There has been talk that Carolina may want to give Fredrik Andersen a night off to keep him fresh, but I don’t see that happening. He hasn’t been elite in the previous two games, but he also hasn’t faced that many shots. He still has the best chance of picking up a win, so if he does start, I would not hesitate to plug him into my lineup.


 

Florida Panthers vs Tampa Bay Lightning


 

Players to target: Aleksander Barkov, Anton Lundell, Vladimir Tarasenko, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe, Brandon Montour, Aaron Ekblad, Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov Brandon Hegel, Anthony Duclair, Darren Raddysh.


The Panthers took care of business on home ice by winning both their games and are now looking to go into Tampa Bay and take a stranglehold on the series. We know that the Lightning are a much better team on home ice, so I expect them to come out and throw everything they have at Sergei Bobrovsky.


For the Lightning, there are many different avenues you can choose. The obvious are Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point. Kucherov is beyond elite and you know he’s going to find a way to get on the scoresheet. The problem is, he needs multiple points to hit value, but considering just how good he has been all season, that’s not an impossible task. If you want to save some salary, Brandon Hagel and Anthony Duclair are two players to consider. They are both playing in the top six but don’t see any top power play time. Still, the salary savings is enough to keep them on my radar. You can complete either stack by adding Darren Raddysh to the mix. He isn’t going to blow you away with a ton of points, but he is capable of blocking shots, so that will help keep his floor high. The Panthers are one of the best teams when it comes to shots per game on the road, so I like his chances.


On the flip side, Florida has just as many good options to choose from. Carter Verhaeghe is always a good option and Sam Reinhart continues to find the back of the net. Both players don’t take a ton of shots per game, but they can score goals and that is important. It wouldn’t surprise me if both players find the back of the net. If you need a value play, Anton Lundell is the way to go. Sam Bennett is not going to play tonight, so Lundell will move up to the second line centring Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk. At $3600 on DraftKings, that is some very good value. I’ll also take a look at Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour. Ekblad is a defenceman who can block shots, but his offensive upside is limited. Montour is on the top power play unit, so he’s a better fit if you have the salary to spend.


I don’t love Sergei Bobrovsky and Andrei Vasilevskiy tonight, but if you need to pick one, it would have to be Vasilevskiy. Bobrovskiy has been very good in this series, but Tampa’s inability to generate shots means he needs to pick up the win to hit value. I think he will see more shots tonight, but I’m not convinced that he is going to win the game. Vasilevkiy is a monster on home ice and can certainly steal a game for his team. Tonight would be the perfect opportunity to do just that.