This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
SLATE PREVIEW
There are 14 games on the NHL schedule Thursday. Ottawa hosts Chicago, Washington visits Toronto, the Islanders play in Florida, Columbus faces Pittsburgh, Philadelphia takes on Montreal, Carolina hosts Detroit, San Jose visits Minnesota, Vegas plays in Winnipeg, Calgary travels to St. Louis, Colorado hosts the Rangers. LA plays Edmonton, Seattle is home to Anaheim, Nashville heads to Arizona and Dallas goes north of the border to face Vancouver. Below, you'll find suggested options for crafting an effective lineup.
GOALIES
Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA vs. NYI ($8,800): Bobrovsky is due. The 35-year-old netminder is 0-4-1 in his last five starts, allowing 17 goals on 144 shots (.882 save percentage). It has put a bit of a damper on his outstanding season, as Bobrovsky is 32-16-3 with four shutouts, a 2.41 GAA and a .914 save percentage. He will face the Islanders, who are 11th in the NHL, six points out of a playoff spot with only 11 games remaining in the regular season.
Marc-Andre Fleury, MIN vs. SJ ($8,400): Fleury is 0-1-2 in his last three starts, after winning his previous four games in a row. The veteran should have an easy go of it versus the lowly Sharks – should Filip Gustavsson get the start, use him between the pipes – as San Jose has scored only 158 times, last in the NHL. Fleury is 16-12-5 with a 2.85 GAA and an .899 save percentage.
VALUE PLAYS
Jonathan Drouin, COL vs. NYR ($6,200): Drouin has moved back to the top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, giving him plenty of fantasy value. Drouin was held pointless against the Canadiens on Tuesday, but he had two goals and six assists in his previous four games. Drouin has 46 points in 69 games and has a fair opportunity to surpass his career high in points, as he had 53 points in 2016-17 and then again two years later.
Ryan Hartman, MIN vs. SJ ($5,800): Hartman has been seeing time on the top line during the absence due to injury of Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body). Should Eriksson Ek return to action Thursday, Hartman will play on the second line with Marco Rossi and Mats Zuccarello. Hartman has three goals and six points in his last seven games (as well as 20 PIM), giving the 29-year-old 18 goals and 41 points in 66 games.
Matty Beniers, SEA vs. ANA ($5,000): Beniers had a big game Tuesday with a goal and two assists in a 4-0 win over Anaheim, Thursday's opponents. Beniers has 11 goals and 31 points in 66 games, a huge difference from last season when he won the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie. Beniers also had a pair of helpers Dec. 23 in his only other game versus the Ducks this season.
FORWARD LINE STACKS
Predators at Coyotes
Filip Forsberg (W-$9,500), Ryan O'Reilly (C-$6,900), Gustav Nyquist (W-$6,700)
Forsberg is zoning in on career highs in goals (42) and assists (42), set two seasons ago, as he has 40 markers and 41 helpers with 10 games still remaining in the season. He has been especially hot of late, as he is on a six-game goal scoring streak, as well as a seven-game point streak. Forsberg has seven goals and 14 points in his last seven appearances, leading the Predators to a likely playoff spot. O'Reilly has been one of the best offseason free agent signings. He has 25 goals and 61 points in 72 contests, including 14 goals and 10 assists on the power play. Nyqvist has smashed his previous career high in points, as he has 65 thus far, 11 more than his previous best, set in 2014-15. The troika have combined for five goals and six assists in two previous games this season against the Coyotes.
Maple Leafs vs. Capitals
Auston Matthews (C - $10,200), Tyler Bertuzzi (W - $4,800), Max Domi (C - $4,800)
The trio were put together recently, after the injury to Mitchell Marner (high-ankle sprain). Matthews has 11 points in his five-game scoring streak, while Domi has six assists in his last four games. Bertuzzi has played well of late, finding the back of the net three times in his last four contests. Matthews, Domi and Bertuzzi struck gold in their last game against the Capitals, just eight days ago. Matthews had two goals and five points, while Domi had four helpers and Bertuzzi scored once in a 7-3 win. While Matthews is a high price, he is more than balanced out by the inexpensive duo of Domi and Bertuzzi. Matthews leads the NHL in goals with 59.
DEFENSEMEN
Brandon Montour, FLA vs. NYI ($5,800): Montour has six goals and 31 points in 56 games this season, including seven multi-point games. Montour was outstanding last season with 73 points and while he has slid back a bit this season (possibly due to offseason surgery on his shoulder), he still is the top man on the blue line and power play for the Panthers.
Brady Skjei, CAR vs. DET ($5,800): Skjei has two goals and five points in his last six games. He set a career high in points Saturday and has 12 goals and 41 points in 73 games, two points better than in 2021-22 as well as during the 2016-17 campaign. Skjei also has career highs in power-play points with 10. Skjei is worth looking at in FanDuel on Thursday.
K'Andre Miller, NYR at COL ($4,400): Miller is pointless in his last four games but had five points in his previous two outings. Miller has eight goals and 29 points in 70 games this season, a bit of a drop from last season when he had 43 points in 79 appearances. Nevertheless, Miller is nicely priced Thursday.
