This article is part of our DraftKings NHL series.
There are four games on the DFS slate over at DraftKings for Sunday. The first puck drops at 5 p.m. ET. You'll need to get your lineups a little early, but it's the weekend, so hopefully you can manage. Here are my lineups recommendations.
SLATE PREVIEW
I believe this is a first for me this season. There are eight teams in action on the docket. All eight of them played Saturday. Yes, all eight teams are on the second leg of a back-to-back. Now some teams, such as Boston, have the goaltending to handle that better than most. Other teams? Not so much.
GOALIES
Jeremy Swayman, BOS at CAR ($8,000): Swayman and Linus Ullmark have combined to lead Boston to being the best team in the NHL in terms of GAA by a comfortable margin. While Swayman is the 1-A to Ullmark, he still has a 2.19 GAA and .921 save percentage. With eight teams on the second leg of a back-to-back, why not just bet on the goalie who has been the beat this season?
Joseph Woll, TOR at NAS ($6,500): This is the inverse of recommending Swayman. I am recommending Woll because there is no goalie with a lower salary Sunday. Ilya Samsonov is away from the Maple Leafs on their road trip, so Woll got called up. I presume he will start, since Matt Murray started Sunday. We don't know what Woll is. He's spent most of the season in the AHL, is only 24, and has played in seven NHL games. However, the Predators have averaged 2.77 goals per game and dealt at the deadline. Why not take a shot at this salary?
VALUE PLAYS/ONE-OFFS
John Tavares, TOR at NAS ($7,100): Tavares did not have a point Saturday, but he put a staggering nine shots on net. That gives him 247 shots on goal in 71 games. Oh, and he scores plenty, with 72 points on the season. I focused in on the shooting, though, because the Predators have allowed 33.3 shots on net per contest. Right now Roman Josi is banged up, and seldom-used backup goalie Kevin Lankinen will likely be in net for Nashville as well. If Tavares is shooting like he did Saturday, this time I'd be surprised if a puck doesn't go in.
Tyler Johnson, CHI vs. VAN ($3,700): Johnson has nine points in his last 17 games, which is fine. However, what matters more to me in this matchup is that he has been on the point on the first power-play unit in recent weeks. The Canucks have the league's worst penalty kill. Also, Collin Delia will likely be in net, and he has an .879 save percentage this season.
FORWARD LINE STACK
Canucks at Blackhawks
J.T. Miller (C - $6,700), Brock Boeser (W - $4,800), Phil Di Giuseppe (W - $3,100)
The Blackhawks have a 3.56 GAA and have allowed 33.8 shots on net per contest, both of which are bottom eight in the NHL. Also, they dealt away quite a bit of talent earlier this season. Alex Stalock started Saturday, which presumably means Petr Mrazek in net for Chicago on Sunday. Mrazek has a 3.63 GAA and .895 save percentage. Vancouver, to its credit, has not played like a team waiting to hit the golf course come late April, and the second line is worth a stack in this matchup.
Miller doesn't just have a five-game point streak going. In 10 of his last 16 games he's picked up two points. Boeser has had some tough puck luck this year, but he still has 47 points in 64 contests. He's also not stopped shooting, as he's tallied at least three shots on net in each of his last five games. Di Giuseppe has only played in 20 NHL games, and he only has five goals. However, four of those goals have come in his last 13 contests, and two have come in his last three outings.
DEFENSEMEN
Quinn Hughes, VAN at CHI ($5,600): I am going to attack the Blackhawks once more here. Chicago also has a penalty kill that is floating just above the bottom 10, but with Mrazek in net, I imagine it will be less effective. Well, Hughes is as productive on the power play as anybody. The defenseman has 31 points with the extra man this year, which was his total last season for good measure.
Torey Krug, STL at LOS ($4,400): Krug returned to the lineup for the Blues on Saturday. He'll likely see Pheonix Copley on Sunday, and while Copley has a 2.61 GAA, he has a .904 save percentage as well. The journeyman actually has a .902 save percentage over the span of his career. The Kings also have a bottom-10 penalty kill, and, like Hughes, Krug has been something of a power-play specialist in his career.
