We're down to the final four! The Western Conference Finals kick off this round of NHL action with Wednesday's Game 1. The Colorado Avalanche host the Vegas Golden Knights at 8 p.m. ET. Whoever wins this series moves on to the finals, and obviously grabbing a Game 1 win would be big for either team.
For DFS purposes, it's single-game contests from here on out. You get $50,000 in salary for six players. One is your Captain, who nets 1.5 times the points, though at an elevated salary. Your roster can include a goalie if you want, though I opted against that for Game 1. Here is the lineup I landed on.
CAPTAIN
Martin Necas, COL vs. VGK ($12,900): Both of these teams scored with gusto in the first two rounds, and the Avalanche have a 2.56 GAA while the Golden Knights have a 2.58 GAA. However, Colorado has managed 32.6 shots on net per game, while Vegas has given up 29.3 shots on goal per contest. Those facts paired with the fact Colorado is at home had me looking in its direction for my Captain. With Necas as my Captain, I ended up with a fairly stacked lineup. Necas had 100 points this season largely skating next to Nathan MacKinnon. He's added 11 points in nine playoff games. That being said, Necas has put 25 shots on net and only scored one goal. He's averaged over a point per game and has had poor puck luck. If that wasn't enough, he had two assists in each of his last two games.
FLEX
Mitch Marner, VGK at COL ($8,800): I'll keep it simple. Marner leads all players in postseason points. He's tallied 18 points. Nobody else has more than 15. Yes, I grant you that the Avalanche have only played in nine games, and the Hurricanes have only played in eight. Marner has averaged 1.50 points per game, and MacKinnon has averaged 1.44. There you go.
Pavel Dorofeyev, VGK at COL ($8,000): I feel like this postseason the "You know, Pavel Dorofeyev is underrated as a goal scorer" has been said enough times that he's crossed over into properly rated. That being said, however you rate his goal scoring, it's something he excels at. The Russian has scored at least 35 goals and tallied at least 230 shots on net in each of the last two seasons. Dorofeyev is on a three-game goal streak, and he's scored two goals in each of his last two contests. I'm willing to ride that wave to see where it goes.
Gabriel Landeskog, COL vs. VGK ($7,600): Landeskog has frequently played on the top power-play unit, but he's also recently been skating on the top line as well. Colorado's captain has picked up his production here in the playoffs. The Swede has tallied eight points in his last eight games. Though he doesn't have a point in either of his last two games, he had six shots on net over those outings, and Vegas has had issues with shot prevention in the playoffs.
Nazem Kadri, COL vs. VGK ($7,400): As mentioned, the Golden Knights have allowed 29.3 shots on net per game. Kadri is, to evoke this word, underrated at getting pucks on target. He's put more than 210 shots on goal in each of the last five seasons. Kadri has notched 23 shots on net over his last six games, and in that time he also has five points.
Brett Howden, VGK at COL ($4,800): At this salary, I think Howden is almost as much of a no-brainer as Marner. He has eight goals over his last nine games. Only Dorofeyev has scored more goals in this postseason. Why wouldn't I round out my lineup with a player like that, even if he has admittedly been riding major puck luck?
