Today's three-game NHL DFS slate is highlighted by Brady Tkachuk and the Ottawa Senators taking on Chris Kreider and the New York Rangers. Also don't miss out on some of the great value plays available on the wing today with Cole Perfetti of the Jets facing the Blue Jackets. As always remember you can use the lineup generator powered by Fanjections to help put your lineup together as well.

 

Senators at Rangers

These two teams played Wednesday in Ottawa with the Rangers winning 3-1. The scene shifts to Madison Square Garden today. It wasn’t a particularly useful DFS game with Chris Kreider being the only predictable goal scorer, and Ryan Lindgren putting together a rare 3-point, 3-blocked shot night. Looking at the forward groups tonight, I would look to the Ranger's top line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Both players are capable of scoring goals and putting five or more shots on goal. Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trochek are also options and come with lower price tags, but they also come with a lower floor. For Ottawa, their top line all has three points in their last three games, and Tkachuk and Drake Batherson both are capable of giving you a five-shot game with Tkachuk, in particular, having five shots or more in four of his last five games. You can certainly use them in your GPP, but I would avoid them in cash games, as the Rangers don’t give up a lot of goals, especially at home.

On defence, I continue to like the floor of Jacob Trouba. He has either blocked three shots or put five shots on goal in four of his last five games. If you want to get someone at a lower price though I think you can look at Ryan Lindgren again. Ottawa is a team that shoots a lot, and four Rangers defencemen blocked three shots or more in the game against Ottawa earlier in the week. For the Senators, we haven’t seen a lot of production from their defence recently. Thomas Chabot is a play in GPP games because of his point potential, but his floor is no where close to someone like Trouba, and you can find a higher upside with other players on this slate.

We are expecting Igor Shesterkin to be facing Cam Talbot. Oddly Shesterkin hasn’t played as well at MSG this season, with just a 0.910 save percentage in ten games at home. In his young career, he has typically played much better than that and I think there is the upside that he could face 40 shots in this game, so he is definitely worth consideration. Talbot could be an interesting GPP play. He has been very good for the Sens this season, and very good on the road. In his five road games, he has a 0.928 save percentage and a winning record. With the Rangers being the favorite in this game look for Talbot to see low ownership.

 

Predators at Islanders

This is a game that I wouldn’t expect a lot of goals to be scored in and Vegas agreed with the combined expected goal total sitting at just 5.6. If you’re going to look at forwards on Nashville, Ryan Johansen and Matt Duchene have played well. They both have three points in their last two games and you will get a nice price on Johansen in particular who is coming off a three points game. For the Islanders, if you want to play Mathew Barzal, who has three points in his last three games, you have some interesting value options. You can play Simon Holmstrom who is at min price, or you can play Oliver Wahlstrom who can be streaky with points and is coming off a five-shot game. Both players will also see time on the second powerplay units. 

The top defencemen on both of these teams are playable most nights. We know about the upside with Roman Josi, He has points in three of his last four games, he has five shots or more in four of his last five games, and he has blocked 3 shots or more in back-to-back games. That kind of production is hard to come by, and it will certainly cost you, I don’t love this matchup for him to get you big numbers tonight, but if you’re only getting the shots and blocks he could be close to value. Noah Dobson on the other hand is capable of putting up similar numbers, but he doesn’t do it with the same consistency, especially with respect to the shots on goal and points, but the Islanders are the favorite to score more goals and we do see nights where the Predators goalies don’t show well so that has some upside to it as well.

With Nashville having played last night we should see Ilya Sorokin taking on Kevin Lankanin. At home, this season Sorokin has practically been unbeatable with a 0.954 save percentage while Lankanin has played well as a backup this season, he has only played five games. Based on these numbers alone I would have no issue playing Sorokin in any format, and he likely doesn’t see as high of ownership as he should with other names who will be on the board tonight.

Blue Jackets at Jets

The Jets will be heavy favourites in this game (-240 on the money line) and with that they will see a lot of ownership facing a Columbus team that is giving up 3.4 goals per game over the last two weeks and have proven themselves capable of giving up much more. You’re getting a great price today on Blake Wheeler who has eight points in his last three games, as well as Cole Perfetti who is going to be playing with him in five-on-five situations and has five points in his last three games. With that said I wouldn’t lose sight of the top forwards on the Jets either with Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Pierre-Luc Dubois all worth consideration in this game. If you are looking at the Blue Jackets, Johnny Gaudreau is a safer play for them, he has four points in his last two games but doesn’t shoot the puck a lot, and Boone Jenner can be useful as well but likely won’t get you as many points. 

On the backend, Josh Morrissey continues to just crush it. He has points in five straight games and five points in his last two games. He doesn't give you the same floor in shots or blocked shots that you will get from Dobson or Josi, but the points have been there from him consistently. For Columbus Marcus Bjork will get the top powerplay time, but we haven’t seen a lot of production from him, and his price has risen now as well which doesn't makes it much harder for him to reach value.

It is projected that Jonas Korpisalo of the Blue Jackets will face Connor Hellebuyck of the Jets, but I would say neither goalie plays are overly concrete, as Columbus’s goalies have been inconsistent, and this could be a night that the Jets choose to get Hellebuyck the night off. If Hellebuyck does play his ownership will likely be very high, and rightfully so. The Jets are the favorite to win this game at home, and Hellebuyck has a 0.959 save percentage at home to go along with nine wins. Playing any Columbus goalie tonight will be risky. Winnipeg is scoring close to four goals per game over the last two weeks, and are doing so while putting less than 30 shots on goal, so the upside is capped there as well.