This article is part of our DraftKings NHL series.
How about a little early hockey action on Sunday? There are four games on the DFS slate at DraftKings, three of which start at 5 p.m. EDT, plus one that starts at 7 p.m. EDT. I'll take my cue from the NHL and get to it early, as well!
SLATE PREVIEW
There is a game at 2 p.m. ET that is cut from the docket for DraftKings' DFS slate, so we can't take advantage of the Blackhawks facing the Kraken. It also leaves us with a back-to-back heavy day, which is typical on a Sunday. Four of the eight teams in action are finishing off a back-to-back. Three of them, the Islanders, the Blue Jackets, and the Sharks, are on the road, while the Flyers are at home hosting the Sharks.
GOALIES
Igor Shesterkin, NYR vs. CLM ($8,100): By dint of not having the highest salary of any goalie Sunday, Shesterkin is a veritable steal. I know that the Russian goalie is off to a slow start, but he won the Vezina last season. He has a career 2.33 GAA and .927 save percentage. Shesterkin will be fine, and getting the Blue Jackets at home when they are on the second leg of a back-to-back should help.
Felix Sandstrom, PHI vs. SAN ($7,700): Both these teams are on a back-to-back but like I said the Flyers are at home. If there is an advantage here, they have it. Sandstrom has made one start this season, but it was on the road against the Panthers on the second night of a different back-to-back, so I am not concerned that it did not go well. Since the start of last season, the Sharks are last in goals scored. Yes, it's not the Coyotes. It's the Sharks.
VALUE PLAYS/ONE-OFFS
Sam Bennett, FLA vs. NYI ($5,400): Bennett was a non-factor in Florida's first game, but since them he has two multi-point outings, and he's put 16 shots on net in his last four games. His 6.3 shooting percentage is going to improve. Semyon Varlamov is one of the better backup goalies in the NHL, but it still isn't easy for a team to be on the road for the second leg of a back-to-back, and Varlamov did have a .911 save percentage last season.
Dominik Kubalik, DET vs. ANA ($4,600): With both Tyler Bertuzzi and Jakub Vrana currently unavailable, Kubalik is up on both the first line and the top power-play unit. I know he won't convert on 25 percent of his shots forever, but he's on a three-game point streak. Now it seems like he's going to get to face John Gibson, who has a 3.10 GAA and .903 save percentage over the last three seasons.
FORWARD LINE STACK
Rangers vs. Blue Jackets
Vincent Trocheck (C - $5,800), Artemi Panarin (W - $6,900), Alexis Lafreniere (W - $3,400)
The Rangers share the wealth across their top two lines, so you can't really go wrong either way. Columbus is the clear team to target Sunday. They are on the road for the second leg of a back-to-back, and since the start of last season they've allowed 35.1 shots on net per contest. Daniil Tarasov will likely be in net, and he has a 4.50 GAA and .890 save percentage in two starts this season.
Trocheck has taken to his new teammates immediately. Through five games he has six points and has put 20 shots on net. His 10.0 isn't even inflating his numbers in this early-season sample size. Of course, it's easy when Panarin is on your wing. The "Bread Man" has 11 points already, including five on the power play. Columbus has the 18th-ranked penalty kill since the start of last season, but that's not good enough to make Panarin sweat. What's encouraging with Lafreniere is that the one-time first overall pick is active. He's put 18 shots on net. While he has a 5.6 shooting percentage, last year he had a 17.3 shooting percentage while putting 19 even-strength goals in the net.
DEFENSEMEN
Jacob Trouba, NYR vs. CLM ($6,200): Why not get another crack at those Blue Jackets? They are bottom five in GAA and shots on net allowed per game since the start of last season. Trouba has been shooting a lot this season, with 16 shots on goal in five games. That comes after he had 204 last year. All those shots last season led to 11 goals, and while he has zero this season, that will likely change, and perhaps as soon as Sunday.
Filip Hronek, DET vs. ANA ($4,600): Points have not arrived yet for Moritz Seider, but Hronek has an assist in each of his last three games. That includes two power-play assists, and the Czech defenseman has averaged 3:17 per game with the extra man. In addition to Gibson's questionable goaltending for a few years, Anaheim's youth movement and current blue line regimen does not speak to a team with a lot of upside on the penalty kill.
