This article is part of our DraftKings NHL series.
It's the final Sunday of March, and the end of the NHL regular season is right around the corner. The schedule is stretched out in an unusual way, so much so I honestly couldn't parse earlier this week which games would end up being included in the main slate of DFS contests. In the end, we've got four games with the first starting at 5 p.m. EDT. Here are my lineup recommendations.
SLATE PREVIEW
Five of these eight teams are on the second day of a back-to-back. The Kings and Sharks are playing each other in LA. And the other three teams involved are on the road with Toronto in Anaheim, Ottawa at Pittsburgh, and the Isles visiting the Hurricanes.
GOALIES
David Rittich, LOS vs. SAN ($8,500): Both these teams may have just played on Saturday, though the Kings are at home. And the Sharks are bottom-five in GAA and bottom-eight in shots. LA ranks second in preventing shots from getting on target, so Rittich likely won't be too busy Sunday.
Pyotr Kochetkov, CAR vs. NYI ($8,300): It's Kochetkov's turn in the Carolina goalie rotation. And while he hasn't been as solid as Frederik Andersen, he still has a 2.50 GAA as the team has only given up 24.9 shots per outing. The Islanders are bottom-eight in offense and will be playing their second game in as many days.
VALUE PLAY/ONE-OFF
Quinton Byfield, LOS vs. SAN ($6,500): One hopes a 22-year-old will have the endurance to play well on the second day of a back-to-back, especially with no travel. Byfield likely won't match the 55 points he posted last year, but with 19 goals he's one off his peak of 20. The Sharks list the highest GAA with a young, rebuilding team and a porous defense that'll probably struggle on Sunday away from home.
FORWARD LINE STACK TO CONSIDER
Penguins vs. Senators
Sidney Crosby (C - $7,300), Bryan Rust (W - $6,400), Rutger McGroarty (W - $3,200)
One of these names is not like the others, and McGroarty could easily find himself elsewhere (like, say in a suite as a healthy scratch). Evgeni Malkin is banged up, so Rickard Rakell has been pulling spot duty as second-line center instead of his usual place on the wing alongside Crosby. For now, I have this stack for you mostly just for two players. The Sens are, of course, on the road for the second day of a back-to-back. Anton Forsberg is in line to start and he's registered an .896 save percentage the last three seasons.
Crosby is still crushing it riding a nine-game scoring streak with at least one point in 13 of his last 14 and 20 of 22. Rust is benefiting from Crosby's play with four multi-point efforts across his last 12 outings to go with 36 shots. As for McGroarty, um, he was the 2022 14th-overall pick. And if he plays next to Crosby, that'd bode well for him.
DEFENSEMEN
Jake Sanderson, OTT at PIT ($6,600): Sanderson hit the ground running in the NHL while continuing to mature. Now 22, he's the top defenseman for a likely playoff team alongside 49 points and 161 shots. Though the Penguins are the rested team in this matchup, they enter with a 31st-ranked 3.62 GAA.
Matt Grzelcyk, PIT vs. OTT ($3,200): Grzelcyk is wild. He's only directed one shot on net through his last 11 games while posting a four-game assist streak. Grzelcyk also lines up on Pittsburgh's top power play. Ottawa carries a below-average penalty kill and will be on the road for the second consecutive day.
