This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
After a small Saturday night slate, we cap the week off with a five-game contest starting at 7:00 p.m. EST.
We have a few teams playing on the second half of back-to-backs: Seattle, Chicago, San Jose and Ottawa. The Kraken and their league's fifth-worst 3.54 GA will host the Hurricanes while the Lightning will hope to strike down the Blackhawks in Chicago.
DISCLOSURE: Things may not be the same at puck drop due to COVID-19 and injuries. Make sure to monitor the news feed and play at your own risk.
GOALIES
John Gibson, ANA vs SJ ($7,000): Gibson has been anything but a wall of late with two wins in his last five appearances, though he hasn't really been getting much support from his offense. However, there's no better time to rebound than against a state rival. San Jose looked abysmal last night at home against Nashville and will be traveling on the second-half of a back-to-back. This should give Gibson and the Ducks a boost along with the fact he comes in with the lowest salary of any netminder on the slate.
VALUE PLAYS
Jack Eichel, VGK vs OTT ($6,200): Eichel is running with weaker talent to produce after Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty went down with injuries, leaving the center to carry his line. Ottawa can't boast a good defense considering they gave up a season-high eight goals to the Coyotes on Saturday. That bodes well for Eichel, who offers great value.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi, CAR vs SEA ($3,800): If you're in need of salary saving, Kotkaniemi is your man. He hasn't done a lot over his career, but continues to be provided with plenty of chances. Seattle is always a great time to take a chance on someone like Kotkaniemi who will most likely garner little coverage and offers bottom-of-the-barrel salary.
LINE STACKS TO CONSIDER
Lighting at Blackhawks: Brayden Point (C - $8,500), Nikita Kucherov (W - $9,900), Steven Stamkos (C - $8,500)
The Blackhawks are turning some heads, but they're still the Blackhawks with constant line-shuffling and no consistency on D. This sets up the Lightning for a great spot and no better way to stack their high-powered offense than the trio that consistently leads the way. In their last five appearances, they've totaled 21 points and 44 shots. Chicago still ranks among one of the league's worst GAAs and this is the perfect time to pay up.
Hurricanes vs Kraken: Sebastian Aho (C - $8,700), Andrei Svechnikov (W - $7,700), Teuvo Teravainen (W - $7,200)
If you can't stomach the combined salaries of the Lightning trio, you can look to the Hurricanes instead. Nothing like the Battle of the Sea between the Hurricanes and the Kraken. Seattle does have a handful of players who've returned from IR, but they're still hurting for consistency. Meanwhile, Carolina continues to make their push for playoffs for the top seed in the Metro Division. This speedy unit has accumulated five goals, seven assists and 49 shots over their last five games.
DEFENSE
Jacob Slavin, CAR vs SEA ($5,600): There are many different ways to look at the defense position on this slate, but it ultimately comes down to who does what and for which salary. That is why Slavin is a great candidate based on an excellent floor. He's taken the reins for Carolina's top power-play ever since Tony DeAngelo got hurt. Slavin not only offers a similar floor to that of Victor Hedman and Alex Pietrangelo, but he's approximately $1K less. He also gets a soft matchup against Philipp Grubauer and the Kraken.
Mikhail Sergachev, TB at CHI ($5,600): Hedman will likely get most of the attention, so we'll pivot to Sergachev. After not producing much, he's displaying confidence with his puck handling and decision-making producing four points with 12.0 shots and 9.0 blocked shots across five outings.
