Below is a breakdown of Sunday's two-game NHL DFS slate followed by example lineups. 

 

Boston Bruins Vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

This game will either be a high scoring affair, or a tight defensive game. Vegas has set the game total at 5.5, so it looks like we may see a goalie battle in this one. That being said, there are some players from both teams that we should be targeting.

Let’s start with Boston, specifically their second line of Jake DeBrusk, David Krejci and Ondrej Kase. The Lightning are the home team, so John Cooper will try to keep his top line away from the Bergeron line. I don’t know how successful he will be, but Kreji and DeBrusk should have the easier matchup. There’s no point in paying top dollars for Bergeon and company when we can get better value with the second line. Both players don’t see any time on the top power play unit, but we can get some exposure to them with Torey Krug.

For Tampa Bay, there are a couple of single bullets that are worth considering.

If we don’t see any line changes, Ondrej Palat joins Brayden Point and Nikita Kuchervo on the top line. He’s relatively cheap on both sites, so I expect his ownership to be up there. He also joins the group on the top power play unit, so that’s a nice added bonus.

Mikhail Sergachev has been seeing some time on the top power play unit. If that continues, he becomes a nice option to consider. It wouldn’t shock anyone to see Victor Hedman take back that role, but Sergachev is under $4K on DK, so that makes him very attractive. He does come with some risk, but the upside is there for him. 

If I’m going to “pay up” for a goalie, it’s going to be Vasilevskiy. He’s the most expensive goalie on FanDuel, but that might help keep his ownership down. The Lightning are the favourties in this contest, but not by much. Boston’s top line can do some damage, but outside of them, no one else scares us. If we plug in some value pays, we should have enough salary to fit the Russian netminder into our lineups.

Vancouver Canucks Vs. Vegas Golden Knights

The game total opened at 5.5, but has since moved up to six. The Golden Knights are a heavy favourite in this game, and for good reason. While we can expect them to win this game, Vancouver won’t go downwithout a fight.

Bo Horvat is $900 less expensive than Elias Pettersson on DK, but if we have the salary to pay up for him, we should. Horvat’s line should tangle with Vegas’ top line, giving EP40 more room to operate. It’s still a difficult matchup on paper, but it’s a GPP route that should be considered. Pairing him with J.T. Miller would be the optimal mini-stack.

For whatever reason, Quinn Hughes is $4700 on DK. The matchup on paper may not be great, but at that price, it’s impossible to say no to him. You can pair him with EP40/Miller for a three-man power play stack.

On the flip side, William Karlsson is affordable on both sites and is playing between Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone. It would be ideal to play the entire line together, but the ownership will be high, and salary constraints may prevent us from being able to do that.

On the back end, Alec MArtinez is a nice cheap defenceman to target. Shea Theodore would be the ideal player to roster, but paying $6K for him on DK is not something we should be interested in. Martinez gives us the flexibility to pay up elsewhere.

If you aren’t paying up for Vasilevskiy, Robin Lehner is the next best option. His ownership will be sky high, but he has the best chance at picking up the win. He’s the most expensive goalie on DK, but only by $200.

If you want to go contrarian and bet against everyone, Jacob Markstrom is the way to go. There is only a $500 difference on Dk between the most expensive goalie (Lehner) and the cheapest (Markstrom). You won’t be able to find a ton of savings at the goalie position, sp pick the one that fits best with your lineup and roll with him.