Are you ready for another Sunday of NHL action? I know I am. There are four games on the slate for DFS purposes with the first one starting at 5 p.m. EST. What you may not be ready for is setting those lineups, so here are my recommendations.
SLATE PREVIEW
Like most Sundays, they've stacked the teams on the second leg of a back-to-back with five in total. Neither Seattle nor Buffalo is in that scenario, and they'll be facing each other. The Hurricanes and Flyers (finishing up a home-and-home) along with the Oilers and Canadiens just played Saturday. The Wild are also on their second straight day and are set to take on a rested Boston squad, though they'll be at home while boasting a strong goaltending duo.
GOALIES
Brandon Bussi, CAR vs. PHI ($8,400): Carolina gets to be the home team for the second leg of a home-and-home. And while they're top-five in shots allowed, the Flyers sit bottom-five in producing shots. It would be a surprise if Bussi even sees 25 shots on Sunday, and this could be one of those games where the Canes' starting goalie doesn't even face 20 shots - similar to Saturday when Pyotr Kochetkov faced 18 during a matchup that went to a shootout.
Jeremy Swayman, BOS at MIN ($7,300): Since the start of November, Swayman has only had one subpar outing out of 13 with a 2.24 GAA and .927 save percentage over that stretch. The Wild just added Quinn Hughes, yet they also maintain a bottom-10 offense and also skated on Saturday.
VALUE PLAY/ONE-OFF
Morgan Geekie, BOS at MIN ($6,400): Geekie has built upon last year's 33 goals as he's already at 22. While his 27.2 shooting percentage will likely regress, he's not all about lighting the lamp having provided multiple assists from three of his last five appearances. Even if Filip Gustavsson is no slouch in net, the Wild are still bottom-10 in shots allowed while Sunday will be second game in as many days.
FORWARD LINE STACK TO CONSIDER
Sabres at Kraken
Tage Thompson (C - $7,600), Alex Tuch (W - $5,100), Peyton Krebs (W - $2,600)
This presumes Tuch returns from his illness, which is likely. Presuming he's healthy, both he and Thompson will be on Buffalo's top power play. The Kraken come in with the league's worst penalty kill, which is the primary reason behind this recommendation.
Thompson is riding a three-game goal streak that's also included at least one power-play point. He's also directed a whopping 113 shots on net through 31 games. Tuch was on fire prior to being out as he notched 12 points and 39 shots across 14 appearances. While he hasn't done a lot with the extra man, he hadn't been much involved on that situation with all of his three PPPs coming in his last 10 outings. Krebs doesn't participate on the man-advantage and has mostly worked further down the depth chart, though he's managed five points - all assists - in his last 15 games. And while he's only registered 36 shots, his zero goals on the season means he's been a bit unlucky.
DEFENSEMEN
Vince Dunn, SEA vs. BUF ($5,000): Dunn recently posted a three-point effort to give him 17 overall. He's also recorded 71 shots, with 18 of those over his last five. On the other end of the ice, the Sabres are bottom-eight in GAA and shots allowed.
Nikita Zadorov, BOS at MIN ($2,800): Zadorov has tallied seven of his 11 points during his last 13 games. A lot of that came while Charlie McAvoy was sidelined, but he came back Thursday and Zadorov still picked up an assist that night. He's even blocked four shots in each of his last two. Skating next to McAvoy on Boston's lead pair against a Wild team on the second night of a back-to-back provides Zadorov opportunity. And at his salary level, getting back on the scoresheet would be huge for your lineup.
