This article is part of our DraftKings NHL series.
Friday's NHL slate features four games after 7:00 p.m. EST. Below, you'll find a breakdown of the action and suggested options for crafting an effective lineup.
SLATE PREVIEW
After falling by one goal to one of the league's top teams Thursday in Colorado, the Lightning are overwhelming favorites against one of the worst teams in Arizona the following night. The other three games all have clear but modest favorites, with the Stars, Oilers and Ducks all expected to take care of business against the visiting Jets, Islanders and Kraken, respectively. Lightning-Coyotes is expected to be the highest-scoring game with an over/under of 6.0 goals, while each of the other three games come in at 5.5 in what could be a low-scoring slate.
GOALIES
Brian Elliott, TB at ARI ($8,500): Elliott will likely get the nod for this second leg of a back-to-back after Andrei Vasilevskiy played Sunday. He's 4-2-2 with a 2.57 GAA and .907 save percentage behind a sturdy Lightning defense, and an Arizona team that's averaging 2.21 goals per game – .01 more than league-worst Montreal – is unlikely to generate many quality opportunities against Elliott.
John Gibson, ANH vs. SEA ($8,100): Gibson has an excellent floor here, as he's allowed three or fewer goals in each of his last 10 appearances while holding four of his last seven opponents to a single goal. His recent success should continue at home against a Kraken team that's scoring just 2.60 goals per game.
Ilya Sorokin, NYI at EDM ($7,400): Edmonton's hoping a coaching change will reverse the team's fortunes, but the Oilers have been trapped in a downward spiral for a while, and Edmonton has been outscored 8-1 in two games since the All-Star break. The Islanders appear to be catching them at the right time, giving the affordable Sorokin a nice opportunity to build on his 14-8-5 record, 2.34 GAA and .924 save percentage.
VALUE PLAYS/ONE-OFFS
Kyle Connor, WPG at DAL ($8,400): Connor's a candidate to work as the main building block of your lineup if you don't opt to build around the Lightning. His 2-4-6 line over an active four-game point streak has raised his season output to 25-23-48 in 44 games, and Connor's also third league-wide with 193 shots. The star winger should keep rolling against a Stars team that's allowed 18 goals over its last five home games.
Steven Stamkos, TB at ARI ($7,100): As the Lightning's leader in both goals (20) and points (52), Stamkos should be an integral piece of any Lightning stack. He has been particularly effective on the power play, mustering eight goals and 16 points with the extra man, and Arizona's penalty kill is the league's second-most generous at 72.6 percent.
Evander Kane, EDM vs. NYI ($5,600): Even with his team struggling, Kane's Oilers tenure is off to a productive start, as he has a 2-2-4 line along with 20 shots in five games. The power forward's flanking Connor McDavid at even strength while occupying a spot on the top power-play unit, so he should continue to get plenty of grade-A scoring chances.
Brock Nelson, NYI at EDM ($4,800): Nelson has found his offensive game of late, posting a 5-5-10 line in his last 10 games. He's been more effective as a distributor, but the scoring touch has been there all year, but it's largely gone unnoticed due to the Islanders' offensive struggles as a team. Nelson has 15 goals in 31 appearances, and he'll have a nice opportunity to add to that mark against an Oilers team that's missing its most effective goalie, Mikko Koskinen, due to COVID-19 protocols. Edmonton's allowing 3.32 goals per game overall.
FORWARD LINE STACKS
Lightning at Coyotes
Brayden Point (C - $6,900), Nikita Kucherov (W - $8,300), Ondrej Palat (W - $5,300)
Kucherov showed no signs of rust with a goal on eight shots Thursday in his first action since Jan. 22, bringing his season line to 6-12-18 in 12 games; his average of 1.5 points per game is the highest in the league. Point's production should increase with Kucherov back in the fold, but he's held his own without the star winger, notching a 17-15-32 line in 33 games. Palat has added a solid 15-17-32 line in 44 contests, and Tampa Bay's top line should dominate against a Coyotes team that's allowing 3.66 goals per game.
Stars vs. Jets
Roope Hintz (C - $7,200), Joe Pavelski (W - $7,300), Jason Robertson (W - $5,900)
One of the most productive lines in hockey should continue to roll at home against a Jets team that's won only eight of 23 road games this season. Pavelski and Robertson are both cruising along above a point-per-game pace, as the former has a 9-39-48 line in 44 games and the latter's at 19-24-43 in 36 contests. Hintz's 21-18-39 line in 42 games has him a bit short of a point per game, but he's been well over that threshold following a slow start during which he scored just one point over the first 10 games.
Ducks vs. Kraken
Trevor Zegras (C - $6,000), Rickard Rakell (W - $5,200), Adam Henrique (W - $4,600)
Zegras dazzled the Vegas crowd with his super skill level during All-Star weekend, and this was Anaheim's most productive line prior to the break, as Rakell had a two-game goal streak going and Zegras potted two himself in the preceding game to carry an otherwise struggling Ducks offense. Rakell's a two-time 30-goal scorer, while Zegras is second to Troy Terry among Ducks in both goals (12) and points (32). Henrique has been quietly effective on a per-game basis with a 6-11-17 line in 27 appearances, so this trio has the scoring ability to take advantage of a favorable matchup with a Kraken team that's allowing 3.47 goals per game.
DEFENSEMEN
Victor Hedman, TB at ARI ($7,100): Hedman's a great complement to all of Tampa Bay's weapons up front. His 10-37-47 line in 47 games has Hedman tied with Adam Fox for the league lead in points among defensemen, and he'll have an excellent opportunity to break that tie against the lowly Coyotes.
Jakob Chychrun, ARI vs. TB ($5,200): Chychrun has some against-the-grain appeal despite Arizona's underdog status, and he's proven he doesn't need to mark the scoresheet to provide substantial value. The well-rounded blueliner's averaging 17.6 fantasy points in his last four games despite producing just two assists in that stretch, as he's racked up 17 shots and 13 blocked shots. Chychrun's also a capable scorer from the blue line, as evidenced by his 18 goals last season – most in the league among defensemen.
John Klingberg, DAL vs. WPG ($4,900): Klingberg does much of his damage on the power play. His two helpers with the extra man Wednesday gave Klingberg 14 power-play points, which is ninth-most among defensemen league-wide. He'll have an excellent opportunity to add to that total against Winnipeg's bottom-five, 74.2 percent penalty kill.
Adam Larsson, SEA at ANH ($3,700): Larsson's usually a reliable source of blocked shots (92 in 47 games), but he's been surprisingly effective in the offensive end recently, notching a point in five of his last seven games. The Swede's a solid value option on the blue line at $3,700, especially if you care more about floor than ceiling.
