This article is part of our DraftKings NHL series.
After you watch Army face Navy in college football, you can turn your attention to a robust evening of NHL hockey. There are 11 games on the docket starting at 7:00 p.m. ET or later. That leaves you a lot of options to pore over for your lineups. To help with that, here are my NHL DFS recommendations.
SLATE PREVIEW
There was only one game Friday, but we still have a team on the second leg of a back-to-back. Ottawa is hosting Pittsburgh. We do have a few teams on the first leg of a back-to-back, which could lead to goaltending situations playing out differently than what is currently projected, but projections are what I have at the moment (and Rotowire's goaltending projections are quite reliable regardless).
GOALIES
Connor Hellebuyck, WPG vs. MON ($8,400): Hellebuyck doesn't need the benefit of a good matchup to excel in goal. He's potentially heading to his third Vezina thanks to a 2.12 GAA and .926 save percentage. The Canadiens are 24th in goals per game. To even get there they have been lucky. Montreal has averaged 24.1 shots on net per game, the fewest in the NHL.
Joseph Woll, TOR at DET ($8,300): Anthony Stolarz suffered a lower-body injury in Toronto's last game. With this being the first night of a back-to-back, it makes sense for Toronto to go with Woll. Plus, the Leafs lose nothing, given that Woll has a 2.16 GAA and a .921 save percentage. The Red Wings' offense has been fairly futile, as they sit in the bottom five in both goals and shots on target per contest.
Mackenzie Blackwood, COL vs. NAS ($8,000): Blackwood has not played for the Avalanche since coming over in a trade from the Sharks, but Saturday should be the day. Fortunately, he steps into an excellent matchup. Colorado is hosting a Nashville team that has averaged a league-low 2.27 goals per game. Blackwood will get better offensive support now that he's with the Avalanche.
VALUE PLAYS/ONE-OFFS
John Tavares, TOR at DET ($7,400): For the fourth season in a row, Tavares has averaged over three minutes per game on the power play. While he had 20 power-play points last year, he only has four this season. I expect things to pick up, especially with Auston Matthews happy again. Besides, Tavares has 12 goals and 13 assists even without the power-play success one might expect. This matchup could help, as the Red Wings rank 31st on the penalty kill.
Troy Terry, ANA at CBJ ($5,700): Terry has tallied 10 points in his last nine games, getting him up to 22 points on the season. He has notched 31 shots on net over that time. The Blue Jackets have only allowed 28.5 shots on goal per game, though that number has been ticking up. Due to lackluster goaltending, they have a 3.55 GAA.
Rickard Rakell, PIT at OTT ($5,400): Playing next to Sidney Crosby on Pittsburgh's top line is paying off for Rakell. He had two goals and two assists in his last game. He has 10 points over his last eight outings. Catching the Senators on the second night of a back-to-back should help Rakell stay hot. Anton Forsberg is in line to start for Ottawa. He's on pace to have a sub-.900 save percentage for the second year in a row.
FORWARD LINE STACKS TO CONSIDER
Jets vs. Canadiens
Mark Scheifele (C - $6,900), Kyle Connor (W - $8,400), Gabriel Vilardi (W - $4,500)
This is a high-salary line, to be sure, but worth the investment for your roster. The Canadiens have a 3.72 GAA, second highest in the NHL. They have also given up 30 shots on net per game. That's enough to have them sitting in the bottom 10. That makes for a matchup worth shelling out the salary for.
Scheifele recently had a five-game point streak end – four goals and four assists. He's averaged over three minutes per game on the power play for a decade now with the Jets. He has 12 power-play points in 31 games. Connor is an elite goal scorer and shot generator. He's been a 30-goal guy every season other than the truncated 2020-21 campaign. With 16 goals this season, he's in line to do that again. He also has 101 shots on net. Injuries limited Vilardi to 47 games in his first campaign as a Jet, but he managed 36 points. He's responded with 22 points in 31 games in a healthy season so far.
Panthers at Flames
Aleksander Barkov (C - $7,500), Sam Reinhart (W - $8,100), Carter Verhaeghe (W - $6,900)
Again, you aren't going to pinch pennies on salary and land this line, but once again, I do believe it will be worth it. The Flames had moved away from their goaltending rotation, but with Dan Vladar banged up, rookie Dustin Wolf will likely tend goal. He has a .909 save percentage. Calgary has the 29th-ranked penalty kill, and this Panthers trio plays together on the top power-play unit as well. That's the primary reason I like this stack.
Since returning from injury, Barkov has 28 points in 20 games and has been held off the score sheet just three times. He has three power-play points in his past four games. Expectations for regression after Reinhart had 57 goals and 37 assists last year have not yet been met. He has 19 goals and 20 assists through 30 games and has tallied 12 points with the extra man. Maybe Reinhart has made like the aliens in Space Jam and sapped Verhaeghe's puck luck for himself. Verhaeghe has eight goals thanks to an 8.3 percent shooting rate. However, he's put 96 shots on net through 30 games, so I believe he can turn that around, and he's contributed 15 assists as well.
DEFENSEMEN
Neal Pionk, WPG vs. MON ($5,000): When a team is having a season like Winnipeg, there's room for more than one defenseman to excel. Josh Morrissey is still the guy on the blue line for the Jets, but Pionk has chipped in four goals and 20 assists. His 7.1 percent shooting rate is a bit high, but not unsustainable, as he had a 7.0 percent shooting rate two seasons ago. Montreal, by way of having a 3.72 GAA and two goalies with zero track record of NHL success, offers Pionk a chance to chip in some more.
Erik Karlsson, PIT at OTT ($4,700): Karlsson will have a chance to show off in his old stomping grounds Saturday. He has nine assists over his last 12 games. While he has zero goals in that time, his 2.7 percent shooting rate on the year is likely to improve. Facing Forsberg behind a defense on the second night of a back-to-back should help. The 32-year-old netminder has a career .904 save percentage.
Michael Kesselring, UTA at SJS ($3,400): Kesselring has a decidedly larger role this year, as his ice time has jumped over three minutes per game, all the way up to 19:17. That's helped him tally 15 points over 29 contests. The Sharks have allowed 32.3 shots on goal per game, second most in the NHL. Alexandar Georgiev is not primed to be a solution. Over the last five seasons, he has a .903 save percentage.
