This article is part of our DraftKings NHL series.
It's a robust evening of NHL action Saturday night. There are a whopping 13 games on the nighttime docket starting at 7 p.m. ET or later. You have a lot of DFS options, so to try and make your decision easier, here are my lineup recommendations.
SLATE PREVIEW
Two teams are on the second leg of a back-to-back, and both of them are on the road after being at home Friday. The Islanders are visiting the Sabres, and the Blue Jackets are taking a trip to face the Wild.
GOALIES
Jake Oettinger, DAL vs. PHI ($8,500): If you were on the "Oettinger might win the Vezina" train, the start to this season has been a boon for your prognostication reputation. He's rolling with an 1.58 GAA and .943 save percentage. The Flyers are a team I could see being better offensively this year, but they are in the bottom five in goals per game since the start of last season, so there is only so much upside there.
Filip Gustavsson, MIN vs. CLM ($8,400): Gustavsson had a 41-save shutout in the Wild's opener before getting smashed by the Maple Leafs, which for some reason left him on the bench for a couple starts. In the end, though, Marc-Andre Fleury just isn't a viable number-one goalie at this point, but the 25-year-old Gustavsson could be. Since the start of last season the Blue Jackets have averaged 2.59 goals per game, and the current layout of the lineup is more reliant on young, unproven players than even last year's squad.
Juuse Saros, NAS vs. SAN ($8,100): It's been an erratic start to the season for Saros, but he's also already faced the Lightning, Bruins, and Rangers on the road, plus the Oilers at home. That's not an easy slate. The Finn has a career .919 save percentage, so I think he shall be just fine. To his benefit, Saros is at home Saturday against the Sharks. They have averaged 2.78 goals per game since the start of last year, and Timo Meier and Erik Karlsson aren't around any longer.
VALUE PLAYS/ONE-OFFS
Evgeni Malkin, PIT at STL ($6,900): Geno is part of the quasi "Last Dance" vibe going on in Pittsburgh right now, and he's doing what he can to get that final shot at hoisting the Cup again. Malkin has tallied seven points this season, including two on the power play. Last season, the Canucks had the worst penalty kill, and it's early for special teams numbers to mean much, but now three teams are effectively tied for the worst penalty kill since the beginning of last year. One of those is the Blues.
Jeff Skinner, BUF vs. NYI ($6,200): Skinner, like several Sabres, is off to a slow start when it comes to scoring, with one goal through four games. What he's still been doing, though, is shooting a ton. He's put 12 shots on net, and he put 242 pucks on goal last year. Semyon Varlamov is one of the best backup goalies in the NHL, but he'll still be behind a team on the second leg of a back-to-back, and this will be his first action of the season. Might there be some rust to shake off?
T.J. Oshie, WAS at MON ($4,800): So, um, would somebody on the Capitals like to contribute offensively at some point? Oshie has tried, to some degree, as he's put 10 shots on net, including six in his last game. Plus, he's averaged 3:12 per game with the extra man. Since the start of last season the Canadiens are 29th on the penalty kill. Jake Allen has been tapped in goal as well, and he has a .900 save percentage since joining the Habs.
FORWARD LINE STACKS
Wild vs. Blue Jackets
Ryan Hartman (C - $4,800), Kirill Kaprizov (W - $8,000), Mats Zuccarello (W - $5,900)
This is an obvious high-end line to stack to me, especially with the Wild a little banged up and lacking a viable second line. As far as first lines, go, few are on the level of this trio. The Blue Jackets, as I noted, are on the second leg of a back-to-back. Elvis Merzlikins, assuming he can start after his illness issue that seemingly led to a late scratch from Friday's game, will be in net, but he came into this year with a career .906 save percentage.
Hartman's fantasy viability has ebbed and flowed the last few years, but it has essentially been tied to when he has been Kaprizov's center, which he is right now. All in all, he had 37 points in 59 games last year, and 65 points in 82 games the year prior. It's clear at this point that Kaprizov is one of the five or 10 best offensive players in the NHL. He's started the season with a four-game point streak and is coming off back-to-back 40-goal campaigns. Zuccarello also has a four-game point streak to start the year, having notched six assists total. Four of them have come on the power play, and since last year the Blue Jackets have the 25th-ranked penalty kill.
Predators vs. Sharks
Ryan O'Reilly (C - $5,900), Filip Forsberg (W - $6,900), Jusso Parssinen (W - $3,500)
The Sharks are rebuilding, which is all well and good and probably a long time coming, but that doesn't bode well for their goal prevention. They finished 30th in GAA last season, and the extent of effort to fix that came in bringing in Mackenzie Blackwood (career .906 save percentage) to vie with Kaapo Kahkonen for starts. Kahkonen has a career .899 save percentage himself. The Predators revamped their lineup, but Forsberg is still the linchpin, which helps keep the top line percolating.
The Predators are all-in on new first-line center O'Reilly, as he's averaged 19:57 per game in ice time, and 4:21 per game on the power play. He has four points in five games, and his 14 shots on net also provide encouragement. Forsberg is healthy again, and that's what matters. He has five points, though only one goal. However, he has put 24 shots on net, and his 4.2 shooting percentage is going to rise. Parssinen was one of the prospects Nashville eased into the lineup last year, and he tallied 25 points in 45 games. He opened this year with a goal in each of his first two games, and while he hasn't scored since then, that's a positive sign for an inexperienced player.
DEFENSEMEN
Quinn Hughes, VAN at FLA ($5,500): Hughes is who he is, but for DFS players, he's a guy who racks up assists and does a ton of damage on the power play. While he's maybe destined to be the rich man's Tyson Barrie when all is said and done, over 30 points with the extra man two seasons in a row is significant. He already has three power-play points out of his four total. Sergei Bobrovsky is coming off a strong start, which improved his numbers to a 2.81 GAA and .908 save percentage. Playoff run aside, since joining the Panthers he has a .905 save percentage during the regular season.
John Klingberg, TOR at TAM ($4,500): He's a turnstile, but Klingberg can contribute offensively, and he's deft at running the point on the power play. In his first season with the Maple Leafs the Swedish defenseman has already averaged 3:53 per game with the extra man, which means he is surrounded by all-stars on the top power-play unit. The Lightning are still stuck going with Jonas Johansson in net while Andrei Vasilevskiy recuperates, and Johansson has allowed at least three goals in all of his outings.
Calen Addison, MIN vs. CLM ($3,900): Last season Addison played some of the most-sheltered minutes in the NHL, and was effectively a power-play specialist. That panned out, though, given that the rookie had 18 points with the extra man. However, with Jared Spurgeon injured, something has been percolating in Minnesota. Addison's minutes are up, and in his last outing he played 22:27, with "only" 4:35 of that coming on the power play. That uptick in ice time will mean more opportunity for Addison against a Blue Jackets team that ranks 31st in GAA and shots on net allowed per game since the start of last season.
