This article is part of our Crashing the Crease series.
We wrap up the final weekend of April, and the first weekend of the second round of the NHL playoffs, with two more games. The first one starts at 3:00 PM ET, so you'll have to get your daily fantasy lineup in early. Here are some players to target, as well as avoid.
GOALIE TO TARGET
Petr Mrazek, CAR at NYI ($30): The first game of this series was an 1-0 overtime affair, and that isn't surprising given these two teams. Mrazek has been playing some great hockey for a while, as he has an 1.96 GAA and .930 save percentage over his last 25 outings. The Islanders only averaged 28.8 shots on net per contest, so Mrazek may not be too busy either.
GOALIE TO AVOID
Philipp Grubauer, COL at SAN ($33): Grubauer was great down the stretch, but on the season he had a .917 save percentage. He allowed four goals in the first game of this series, and that could be about how tough this matchup is. The Sharks scored 3.61 goals per contest at home this season.
CENTER TO TARGET
Tomas Hertl, SAN vs. COL ($25): Hertl has been tearing it up in the playoffs. Through eight games he has six goals on 32 shots. If you stretch back into the regular season, he has 18 points in his last 15 contests. Philipp Grubauer had a good season, but he has a 2.67 GAA on the road including the playoffs. That's not bad,
We wrap up the final weekend of April, and the first weekend of the second round of the NHL playoffs, with two more games. The first one starts at 3:00 PM ET, so you'll have to get your daily fantasy lineup in early. Here are some players to target, as well as avoid.
GOALIE TO TARGET
Petr Mrazek, CAR at NYI ($30): The first game of this series was an 1-0 overtime affair, and that isn't surprising given these two teams. Mrazek has been playing some great hockey for a while, as he has an 1.96 GAA and .930 save percentage over his last 25 outings. The Islanders only averaged 28.8 shots on net per contest, so Mrazek may not be too busy either.
GOALIE TO AVOID
Philipp Grubauer, COL at SAN ($33): Grubauer was great down the stretch, but on the season he had a .917 save percentage. He allowed four goals in the first game of this series, and that could be about how tough this matchup is. The Sharks scored 3.61 goals per contest at home this season.
CENTER TO TARGET
Tomas Hertl, SAN vs. COL ($25): Hertl has been tearing it up in the playoffs. Through eight games he has six goals on 32 shots. If you stretch back into the regular season, he has 18 points in his last 15 contests. Philipp Grubauer had a good season, but he has a 2.67 GAA on the road including the playoffs. That's not bad, but it's not a deterrent either.
CENTER TO AVOID
Sebastian Aho, CAR at NYI ($25): Aho had a great year, which is why his price is a bit lofty. However, he hasn't had a multi-point game in his last 22 contests. That's a minor quibble, but it counts in the playoffs. More concerning is that Robin Lehner is a Vezina finalist thanks to his 2.13 GAA and .930 save percentage.
WING TO TARGET
Kevin Labanc, SAN vs. COL ($17): Labanc has been on fire, as he has five points over his last two games. He also tallied 20 points with the extra man this season. The Avalanche had troubles on the penalty kill, as they ranked 25th in the league on that front.
Alex Kerfoot, COL at SAN ($12): Kerfoot managed 15 goals and 42 points in his sophomore campaign, but right now he's getting to skate on Colorado's top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog. Martin Jones is definitely the biggest question mark among goalies in the playoffs. He had a 2.94 GAA and .896 save percentage.
WINGS TO AVOID
Anders Lee, NYI vs. CAR ($18): Lee had 28 goals this year, but only two in his last 15 games. Additionally, 10 of those 28 goals came with the extra man. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes had the eighth-ranked penalty kill this year, and a lot of that came prior to Petr Mrazek taking over as starter and finding his form. After the All-Star break the Canes' penalty kill rose to sixth.
Nino Niederreiter, CAR at NYI ($16): Niederreiter only has one power-play point in his last 22 games. That's concerning, because the Islanders' 17th-ranked penalty kill is the one place to potentially take advantage of their defense. Robin Lehner was great in the regular season, but he's been even better to start the playoffs. He has an 1.36 GAA and .958 save percentage in five postseason starts.
DEFENSEMEN TO TARGET
Erik Karlsson, SAN vs. COL ($25): Karlsson has been just fine in the playoffs after missing so much time to end the regular season. He has nine points in eight postseason contests. The Swede also put 169 shots on net in 53 contests. As for the Avalanche, they allowed 33.6 shots on net per game on the road.
Tyson Barrie, COL at SAN ($20): Barrie is a power-play maven. He averaged 4:03 per game with the extra man, notching 25 power-play points in the process. Barrie has also added four more points with the extra man in the playoffs. In addition to Martin Jones' .896 save percentage, the Sharks had the 15th-ranked penalty kill.
DEFENSEMEN TO AVOID
Dougie Hamilton, CAR at NYI ($20): Hamilton has made some defensive errors this postseason, which seems to be cutting into his minutes. He only played 17:48 in Game 1, even though that game went into overtime. Hamilton's top skill is putting shots on net, but the Islanders allowed a mere 29.5 shots on net per game at home, and less ice time would mean less opportunities.
Nick Leddy, NYI vs. CAR ($18): There isn't a lot of depth to these four defenses, so it's hard to find defensive players you might normally consider that you should avoid. With Johnny Boychuk out, Leddy is the only notable defenseman left skating for the Islanders. He may not be up for the role, though, especially in this lineup. After all, Carolina only allowed 28.6 shots on net per contest.
