This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
SLATE PREVIEW
It's officially Opening Night for the NHL. Lightning at Rangers and Golden Knights at Kings. The Lightning-Rangers matchup is a rematch of last season's Eastern Conference Finals. Asides from an eight-goal outburst in Game 1, the rest of the series were much tighter-checking games and no other game had more than five goals. Igor Shesterkin and Andrei Vasilevskiy are the league's two best goalies.
The Knights and Kings are both expected to improve from last season. The Knights have a bigger uphill climb with Robin Lehner out for the season, but at least Jack Eichel is healthy. Logan Thompson has a monumental task ahead of him, and he will likely be facing veteran Jonathan Quick, the fifth-oldest active goalie in the league.
GOALIES
Logan Thompson, VGK at LA ($7,500): Thompson made 38 saves in a win against the Kings last season and that was with Mark Stone and Reilly Smith out of the lineup. Now, all of the Knights key players are healthy, which should provide Thompson with enough goal support to get a win.
VALUE PLAYS
Phil Kessel, W, VGK at LA ($4,800): Kessel scored 52 points on a really bad Arizona team with a career-low 4.8 S% that is bound to bounce back from. Now, he's playing next to Jack Eichel on Vegas' top line with PP2 time.
Brett Howden, C, VGK at LA ($4,100): Howden is set to open the season on the second line with Chandler Stephenson and Mark Stone. The former first-round pick is coming off his best season (20 points in 47 games) after three non-descript seasons with the Rangers when he scored 16 goals in 178 games. This is a really good spot for Howden to produce points and he will also play PP2.
Kaapo Kakko, W, NYR vs. TB ($4,000): Kakko had a rough finish to the season sitting out their last game as a healthy scratch, but finds himself back on the top line with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad to start the season. If playing on the top line doesn't work out, Kakko has already shown chemistry on their "Kid Line" with Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil.
Brandon Hagel, W, TB at NYR ($4,000): Hagel's playing on the second line with Nick Paul and Alex Killorn, and also on PP2. The Lightning have one excellent line who does all the scoring, so there might not be a lot of offensive opportunities for Hagel's line. However, they will be playing a lot of minutes because the Lightning aren't particularly deep, so you're looking at quantity more than quality.
LINE STACKS
Lightning at Rangers
Brayden Point (C - $6,800), Steven Stamkos (W - $8,600), Nikita Kucherov (W - $9,500)
Expensive wingers but you get a great deal in a point-per-game player in Point. The Lightning have elected to stack their three best offensive players on one line. If any line is scoring against Shesterkin, it's this one.
Kings vs. Golden Knights
Anze Kopitar (C - $6,700), Kevin Fiala (W - $7,000), Adrian Kempe (W - $5,600)
I think this is good value because the smart money is on Kings-Knights to have more goals than Lightning-Rangers, and this is really the only threatening line on the Kings. A Jack Eichel line stack is tempting, but the Knights have balanced out their attack and their three best players – Eichel, Mark Stone, Jonathan Marchessault – all play on separate lines, making it tough to pick just one.
DEFENSEMEN
Shea Theodore, VGK at LA ($6,000): In terms of generating offense, Theodore is a better choice than either Drew Doughty ($6,300), who doesn't shoot the puck often enough, and Alex Pietrangelo ($6,100), who is behind Theodore on the power play depth chart.
