The first four NHL playoff series kicked off Monday. Now, the other four join the party Tuesday, and we’ve got eight teams taking the ice. Here are the players to target, and to avoid, for your DFS lineups.
GOALIE
Connor Hellebuyck, WPG at VGK ($31): This is a tricky day for picking a goalie. The Jets and Golden Knights have averaged the fewest goals per game of these eight teams, though the Golden Knights were better. However, Vegas is starting Laurent Brossoit in net, and I want no part of that. Hellebuyck had a 2.49 GAA and .920 save percentage in the regular season. I’ll go with the American netminder Tuesday.
GOALIE TO AVOID
Igor Shesterkin, NYR at NJD ($30): This is a classic battle, and while Shesterkin is no slouch in goal, he has a formidable matchup on the road. The Devils averaged 3.52 goals and 34.4 shots on net per contest, both top five in the NHL. Plus, they have Timo Meier now, lifting the offense to another level.
CENTER
J.T. Compher, COL vs. SEA ($17): Compher is not seen as a key cog for the Avalanche, but he averaged 20:32 in ice time and 2:46 on the power play. That helped him notch 52 points, a new personal high. The Kraken were good at suppressing shots, but their goaltending is a real question mark. Philipp Grubauer is expected to face his former team, but he had an .895 save percentage this season.
CENTER TO AVOID
Auston Matthews, TOR vs. TAM ($35): I don’t want to get too much into the pressure on the Maple Leafs, and their lack of playoff success. By the same token, I don’t want to make too much of the Lightning making the last three Stanley Cup Finals, or Andrei Vasilevskiy coming up big time and time again. However… that is all true. On the numbers front, Vasilevskiy had a 2.41 GAA and .923 save percentage over his last 10 starts, and Matthews commands a hefty salary. I’m looking elsewhere.
WING
Chris Kreider, NYR at NJD ($20): Can Kreider’s prolific shooting overcome the Devils’ stingy defense? New Jersey only allowed 28.2 shots on net per contest, but when shots got to Vitek Vanecek, he only had a .911 save percentage. Kreider notched 229 shots on net in 79 games, tallying 36 goals in the process. Even if he isn’t quite as active as usual, it’s unlikely the Massachusetts native is shut down entirely, and that could be enough.
Nino Niederreiter, WPG at VGK ($15): After being dealt to the Jets, Niederreiter tallied six goals and seven assists in 22 games while putting 51 shots on net. Also, if Nikolaj Ehlers misses this game, the former Predators wing is likely to see increased ice time. The Golden Knights committed to Brossoit as their goalie for Game 1, but there is reason for skepticism given his career .908 save percentage.
WINGS TO AVOID
Jared McCann, SEA at COL ($25): McCann scored 40 goals this season, but I can’t help but notice that they came on 19.0 percent shooting. He kept that going for 79 games, but regression could always rear up. Alexandar Georgiev had a 2.53 GAA and .918 save percentage in 62 appearances, so he could help with that regression.
Jonathan Marchessault, VGK vs. WPG ($19): Marchessault tallied 57 points this season, but he could be about to lose minutes to a returning Mark Stone. Also, 16 of Marchessault’s points came on the power play. In addition to the Jets having the seventh-ranked penalty kill, only one of Marchessault’s power-play points came in his last 14 games.
DEFENSE
Devon Toews, COL vs. SEA ($20): Toews enters the playoffs red hot, though the expected return of Cale Makar will eat into his power-play time. However, over his last 15 games the defenseman had 14 points and 33 shots on net. Grubauer, as I previously mentioned, had an .895 save percentage, which played a role in his 2.85 GAA.
Mikhail Sergachev, TAM at TOR ($19): I didn’t expect a changing of the guard on the Tampa blue line this season, but it happened. Sergachev outperformed Victor Hedman, at least offensively. A big part of that was his 27 points with the extra man. The Maple Leafs ranked 12th in penalty-kill percentage, which is not bad, but it isn’t particularly good, especially in the playoffs. They rank eighth among playoff teams. Also, Ilya Samsonov missed the last two games of the regular season due to an undisclosed circumstance, so perhaps he won’t be fully up to speed.
DEFENSEMEN TO AVOID
Dougie Hamilton, NJD vs. NYR ($26): All things considered, Hamilton’s salary is too high considering this matchup. The Rangers had the lowest GAA of the eight teams in action Tuesday. Shesterkin’s .916 save percentage was a step down from his Vezina-winning performance, but his 2.48 GAA was still one of the better numbers in the NHL. He also enters the playoffs looking like a Vezina goalie, having posted an 1.70 GAA and .946 save percentage over his last 10 outings.
Alex Pietrangelo, VGK vs. WPG ($21): Pietrangelo’s 170 shots on net in 73 games was good for a defenseman, but this is a guy we’ve grown accustomed to putting up over 200 shots on goal in a season. In fact, he had zero shots on net in his last two games of the regular season. Hellebuyck had a 2.49 GAA and .920 save percentage, and the Jets had the seventh-ranked penalty kill. Pietrangelo’s last two points have come with the extra man.
