We have a six game slate tonight for DraftKings and a four game slate for FanDuel. Also, there are several teams in action who are in the playoff hunt, so no rest for them as the season comes to an end. You should be looking at teams in higher over-under games. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh will be heavily picked on just because of the rivalry.
There are quite a few teams playing on the back end of a back-to-back on Sunday. They include Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Buffalo, Florida, Edmonton, NY Islanders, and Minnesota. That is over half the slate. The St. Louis-Buffalo matchup is a "sludge special" -- where both teams are on no rest. Also, Minnesota and New York are sludge as well. Both games expect to be as sloppy as the "Battle Of Pennsylvania". Remember, when picking around for plays, an over/under of 6.5 dictates offense, but an over/under of 5.5 tilts towards the goalies.
In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy hockey lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel on 3/17/19. The lineup picks will range from some of the elite players to mid-priced options and value plays. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to hit me up on Twitter @ChrisWasselDFS. Let's get to it, shall we?
Crosby's price went up ahead of the clash with Philadelphia which makes sense. He is facing a team that Crosby fares well against -- Crosby has three goals and three assists in three meetings. Also, Philadelphia allows 3.51 goals per game on the road and kills just 77% of its penalties away from home. This should put the Penguins in a spot to score several goals, which is indicated by the 6.5 over-under. Crosby plays on the top line and top power-play. Rested or not rested, the forward expects to play 20+ minutes in this game. Stacking options galore for Pittsburgh exist and keep in mind they will have Kris Letang and Bryan Rust back. Look to see how lines are set just to maximize correlation. Jake Guentzel and Jared McCann could still be with Crosby.
There are some noteworthy things when it comes to Stone tonight in this matchup. First off, he is at a nice price for his skill set. Consider, that the forward has 32 shots in his last ten games and is going up against an Edmonton team that just played on Saturday night. Vegas carries a nice 21-10-4 home record into this game and has won four of their last five contests. The Stone line will match up versus Edmonton's depth which is an advantage to Vegas every chance they can exploit it. Vegas line 2 will be the one to stack and may be one of the best stacks of the slate -- especially on FanDuel where there are only four games.
Theodore is still cheap enough to own with ease on Sunday night at home against Edmonton. With a weak Edmonton penalty kill, Theodore should be able to continue to hammer shots from the point. He has averaged over 7 shot attempts for the last 10 games (nearly 4 shots on net per game). He is facing off against a not rested Edmonton team that will try to get shots to the net. This provides a great opportunity for Theodore and the Golden Knights to counter and score. The defenseman generates enough opportunities and has a lower price on FanDuel which is a bonus. The biggest reason to attack is those shots and scoring chances. The power-play potential is also a plus.
Ekblad finally is providing a floor and starting to produce like the defenseman he is paid to be. He has eight points in his last ten games and has a combined floor of nearly 4.5 shots and blocked shots per game. Anaheim is no easy matchup but Florida can pile up 30-35+ shots with ease and the Florida defenseman could get 3-4 of those. Add in a few blocked shots and that makes for a close to value play already. Both teams expect to play a bit loose, so this could be a higher scoring game than expected as both are in the top-10 in high-danger chances allowed per 60.
Gibson is one of the best goalies in the league when facing a ton of shots. The last three starts featured big wins with the Anaheim goalie seeing 115 shots and almost 15 high-danger chances per contest. Florida again can rack up shots on net and often low and medium-danger shots at that. However, Gibson is one of the best at even strength with a .930 save percentage. That number improves to .936 at home. His price is low enough that it may attract elevated levels of ownership. So, do keep that in mind.