This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
It's a busy Saturday night in the NHL with 10 games, and that means many players to choose from for your DFS lineups. Some matchups look better than others, so here are my recommendations. Pucks drop at 7 p.m. EST. Good luck!
SLATE PREVIEW
Seven of the bottom-10 teams in GAA are in action Saturday night. That's good! The only downside is that the two worst defensive teams in Columbus and Anaheim will be playing in the afternoon. But there are still some favorable matchups to target.
GOALIES
Alexandar Georgiev, COL vs. NAS ($8,300): Georgiev has been hit-or-miss, but with a 2.67 GAA and .918 save percentage. That's enough to like him at home against the Predators. Four teams have separated themselves - in a bad way - in terms of goals per game, and Nashville is one of them.
Craig Anderson, BUF at ARI ($7,600): Anderson has posted a .921 save percentage, but with a 2.71 GAA. He's faced a lot of shots, but that likely won't be the case here since the Coyotes rank last in shots and will also be on the second leg of a back-to-back.
Ilya Samsonov, TOR at WAS ($6,500): Samsonov will have the opportunity to get one over on his former team Saturday. He's been strong when healthy with a 1.70 GAA and .939 save percentage. Toronto has also only allowed 29.0 shots on net per game. The Caps have averaged 2.97 goals, which puts them in the lower half and close to the bottom-10.
VALUE PLAYS
Pierre-Luc Dubois, WPG at VAN ($8,100): Dubois has managedd at least one point in nine of his last 11 games. He's also averaged 3:32 on the power play, where he's notched 11 points. That bodes well since the Canucks maintain the 30th-ranked penalty kill.
Alex Tuch, BUF at ARI ($8,000): Tuch's first season with Buffalo was tempered by injury and an 8.6 shooting percentage, but this year he's exploded with 15 goals and 16 assists. And while his 17.9 shooting percentage is high, it's not unsustainable. This matchup is favorable to players putting the puck on net. Connor Ingram will likely be tending goal for the Coyotes, and he comes in with a career .870 save percentage.
Alex Iafallo, LOS vs. SAN ($6,100): The Sharks boast a top-five penalty kill, but still have a 3.52 team GAA. James Reimer has been better than that, but he still lists a 2.93 GAA and .903 save percentage. I wanted a Kings forward who hasn't been heavily reliant on the power play. Iafallo has only played in 10 games due to injury, but he's healthy now and has produced seven points with only one coming with the extra man.
LINE STACKS TO CONSIDER
Lightning at Canadiens
Nick Paul (C - $6,400), Steven Stamkos (W - $9,800), Alex Killorn (W - $5,600)
The Canadiens have allowed 33.0 shots on net per game. Jake Allen has a 3.25 GAA and .901 save percentage, which isn't surprising considering his 3.07 and .904 since joining the Habs three seasons ago. Tampa's second trio has one headliner on it, but he has a rising-tide effect on his linemates.
Paul has potted seven goals in his last 14 games, where he's also managed multiple points in four outings. Stamkos just had a 14-game point streak snapped. He's also already directed 100 shots on net in only 29 games. Killorn picked things up right around when Paul did, which was also when Stamkos' streak started. Weird how that worked out, huh? Anyways, Killorn has picked up 14 points from his last 15.
Rangers at Flyers
Vincent Trocheck (C - $6,800), Chris Kreider (W - $6,800), Jimmy Vesey (W - $4,400)
The Rangers recently decided to put Filip Chytil, Alexis Lafreniere, and Kaapo Kakko back on a line. That led to a shift that put this trio together. Trocheck and Kreider have potential as a duo, and they also both participate on the first power play. Carter Hart stood on his head in his last outing by making 48 saves on 49 shots. Of course, you could also look at that and note the Flyers just allowed 49 shots. Hart hasn't been great recently with a 3.20 GAA and .892 save percentage from his last 15 starts.
Trocheck's first season as a Ranger has been up-and-down, but he's up right now with five points in five games. The former Panther and Hurricane also has 99 shots in 31 games. A step down from last season was inevitable for Kreider, but don't let that lead you to knocking 14 goals on 99 shots. Both he and Trocheck each have 99 shots so far…and they're facing a team that just gave up 49 shots. Vesey, for his part, had an assist two games ago and just potted two goals in his last outing.
DEFENSEMEN
Rasmus Dahlin, BUF at ARI ($8,700): It would be nice to go with a lower-salaried Sabres defenseman, but there isn't really anybody worth it. Sometimes, bargain hunting gets in the way of the fact that a high-salaried player can still provide really good value. Dahlin has been crushing it this year with 10 goals, 25 assists and 91 shots. He hasn't slowed down with 12 points in his last nine games. Dahlin now gets to face a Coyotes team in the bottom-7 in GAA and shots on net allowed and on the second leg of a back-to-back.
Matt Roy, LOS vs. SAN ($5,600): I'm going with Roy because he doesn't line up on the power play, which matters facing the Sharks' excellent penalty kill. All of his 12 points, and probably all 57 of his shots, have not relied on the man-advantage. Roy will go straight up with a goalie in Reimer who's produced a 2.93 GAA and .903 save percentage.
Dylan DeMelo, WPG at VAN ($3,800): You see someone who just scored his first goal in 87 games, and maybe you aren't terribly enthused. However, DeMelo has five points in his last 11 outings. He skates with Josh Morrissey as the top duo for the Jets, so in those 11 games he's also averaged 20:00. The Canucks have struggled to a 3.83 GAA, which is the highest of any team in action Saturday evening.
