This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
SLATE PREVIEW
It's a light two-game slate with the Red Wings visiting the Lightning at 5:30 p.m. EST and then Bruins at Flyers at 8 p.m. The first game probably won't be close -- though the Wings were victorious in a 5-4 shootout win last March, the Lightning had won the previous 14 matches dating back to October 2016.
The Bruins should have the edge now that David Pastrnak is back in the lineup. He has scored three points in two games and sparked a big comeback win against the Capitals after trailing 3-0. The Flyers, meanwhile, have rattled off four straight wins but needed overtime to sweep the Islanders, and their even-strength play has yo-yoed a lot this season. The Bruins outscored them 11-5 in their two prior matchups this season.
(All fancy stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick)...
GOALIES
Andrei Vasilevskiy, TB vs. DET ($8,600): No reason to overthink this. Vasilevskiy is 8-0 with a 1.92 GAA and .939 Sv% in his career against the winged wheel. Only four Detroit forwards have scored more than one goal this season. With just two games tonight, Vasilevskiy will be a very popular pick.
Tuukka Rask, BOS at PHI ($8,200): There's definitely some upset potential here, but the top end of Boston's lineup is better with Pastrnak in the fold and the Flyers still missing Sean Couturier. Rask's .890 Sv% and 2.49 GAA is definitely worse than usual, but he's dominated the Flyers in his career with a 16-2-4 record, .930 Sv% and 2.02 GAA, including a 36-save shutout last season.
VALUE PLAYS
Nolan Patrick, PHI vs. BOS ($4,400): Patrick skated on the top line between Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek, both of whom have 10 points apiece this season. The Flyers have juggled their lines in order to find a spark and Patrick's in a good position with two veteran scorers.
Robby Fabbri, DET at TB ($4,400): It's hard to gauge how good he's been this season because he's only played two games, but the early returns have been good with a goal and four shots. Moving him to the left wing, and playing alongside their best player in Dylan Larkin, puts Fabbri in a very good position to create offense. He will feature on PP2 as well.
Taro Hirose, DET at TB ($3,000): I don't necessarily like Hirose's game, but he has some upside playing the second line and the top power-play unit. The undrafted playmaker has two points in five games and he's probably a reason why the Wings' power play ranks 26th, but no one else at the bottom of the players list gets to play the roles he does.
LINE STACKS
Bruins at Flyers
Patrice Bergeron (C - $8,100), Brad Marchand (W - $8,200), David Pastrnak (W - $7,700)
This stack constitutes three of the four players with the highest salary, so it may not be a popular pick because the rest of the entry will be rather thin. Still, this is arguably the best line on the ice tonight; despite playing just 22:07 of 5v5, they've already scored three goals with a 75.0 CF% and generate 89.46 CF/60. The Flyers have the worst possession numbers in the league, coming in at 44.07 CF%.
Lightning vs. Red Wings
Brayden Point (C - $7,400), Steven Stamkos (W - $8,000), Ondrej Palat (W - $5,300)
This will be a very popular line stack for obvious reasons, but they deserve it because the second line has scored only three goals. When the Lightning score, more often than not it's going to be coming from this line, which also features on the top power-play unit.
DEFENSEMEN
Charlie McAvoy, BOS at PHI ($5,000): He's usually in a tier below Victor Hedman ($6,900), but McAvoy can fool anyone with his play recently. McAvoy has picked up some of the offensive slack with Matt Grzelcyk, playing on PP1 and scoring a goal and seven assists in his past five games. McAvoy and Hedman are a cut above the rest tonight.
Mikhail Sergachev, TB vs. DET ($4,500): With Hedman playing in front of him, Sergachev probably won't be getting a lot of minutes, but he might not need to against Detroit. The Wings are 26th in GA/GP (3.50) and 31st on the PK (64.5%) even though they allow a modest 29.7 shots per game.
Shayne Gostisbehere, PHI vs. BOS ($3,900): Gostisbehere's profile is creeping up again after sitting out the beginning of the season, and through four games has an assist and nine shots on goal. It's very modest, but Gostisbehere is definitely trending up and taking away some of Erik Gustafsson's playing time. The big drawback is Boston's third-ranked PK.
Filip Hronek, DET at TB ($3,800): If the Wings want to have a shot at winning this game, they'll need to play well on special teams because goals will be hard to come by at even strength. Hronek's been very good at generating offense from the back end even though his team has been awful at finishing. On the bright side, Tampa's PK ranks 12th.
