This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
SLATE PREVIEW
There are just three games on a light Wednesday slate, starting with the Bruins visiting the Capitals in a potential Eastern Conference Final playoff matchup. Both teams are 7-2-1 in their last 10 though the Caps should have the slight advantage on home ice, and historically they've had the upper hand, winning all but one of their meetings since 2014.
The Senators and Canadiens will be an interesting matchup. The first gut instinct is to pick the Habs, but they're just 7-7-3 at home and six of the Sens' 13 wins have come when their opponents score first and they're fourth in the league with four wins when trailing after the first period.
The Flyers will visit the Avalanche to cap off the night, and both teams have been on a roll lately, but the Flyers will be shorthanded with three forwards potentially out of the lineup. The Avs, meanwhile, are 4-0-1 since Mikko Rantanen's return.
GOALIES
Neither Braden Holtby ($8,700) nor Tuukka Rask ($8,600) seem like very appetizing picks in a toss-up game. Holtby is an incredible 17-3-0 with a .944 Sv% in his career against the Bruins, the best numbers he's posted against any team, while Rask is 2-11-5 with a .889 Sv% against the Caps, but the Bruins have looked so good this season it's hard to pick against them. Holtby should be the better pick if you have to make a call.
Philipp Grubauer ($7,700) is projected to start with the Avs yet to call up a goalie from the AHL. He missed Monday's game due to injury but he's been quite good for most of the season. The Avs should be able to provide tons of goal support, but don't discount Carter Hart's ($8,000) ability to steal a game. Hart has won four straight and he's 10-3-3 with a .928 Sv% all-time against Western Conference teams.
That brings us to Cayden Primeau ($7,200), who will get his second career start in a game the Habs should win. When Carey Price's reign is over, Primeau is expected to take over the net, and despite a loss against Colorado it was a promising start to his career with 32 saves. He is the best value play among goalies for tonight, going up against Anders Nilsson ($7,700), who has lost four of his past five but does tend to get a little streaky sometimes.
VALUE PLAYS/ONE-OFFS
Joel Armia ($4,400) is a high-volume shooter for the Hab who's currently on their top power play unit. He's also second on the team in goals with 11 and sits just two shy of matching last year's career high, quietly having a breakout season in his fifth NHL campaign.
Anthony Duclair ($5,000) has two straight two-goal games and now has 15 goals on the season. Without a go-to trigger man, Duclair has taken advantage of his opportunities with solid puck chasers Chris Tierney and Vladislav Namestnikov creating turnovers and scoring chances for him. At this price and with his hot hand, he's a good value play.
We shall have to see who will center this line with Nazem Kadri injured, but Joonas Donskoi ($4,900) has been lights-out lately with three goals and five assists in five games. Wingmate Andre Burakovsky ($4,900) has been producing as well.
Tyler Pitlick ($3,000) is a fringe/fourth-line player so I'm not buying what Alain Vigneault's selling when he skated in Travis Konecny's usual spot. The money will be on rookie Joel Farabee, the struggling James van Riemsdyk or even Kevin Hayes to take those shifts, but the key remains Morgan Frost ($3,800), who has just one assist in eight games but continues to get quality ice time on offense.
FORWARD LINE STACKS
Colorado Avalanche (TOTAL: $23,800)
C – Nathan MacKinnon ($9,100)
W – Mikko Rantanen ($7,600)
W – Gabriel Landeskog ($7,100)
Expensive, but usually worth it. Landeskog has two goals in three games, Rantanen is so damn good his "cold streak" is two games and MacKinnon keeps doing his MVP thing. Hart is a good goalie, but when he's bad, he can be pretty bad (.862 Sv% in losses).
Montreal Canadiens (TOTAL: $19,000)
C – Phillip Danault ($5,500)
W – Tomas Tatar ($5,900)
W – Brendan Gallagher ($7,600)
We all had our doubts, but Danault is at least a No. 2 center and now has seven points in seven games. Gallagher is also finding his scoring touch with a four-game goal streak and he's an elite high-volume shooter; he is fifth in the league in shots (421) since last season. Tatar's always had the finishing ability, just not the ability to stay consistently good.
DEFENSEMEN
Another day, another John Carlson no-brainer. He had an assist and five shots on net in nearly 27 minutes against the B's earlier this season.
Ottawa's power play is slowly improving but is still really bad, but because the Habs PK is so awful, Thomas Chabot ($5,800) is a defensible pick. He logs a lot of minutes for the Sens, gets stats in nearly category and has assisted on four goals in five games.
Torey Krug ($5,400) is very power-play dependent and doesn't seem like a strong pick against the Caps. He shoots a lot but he doesn't do it every game, and he also doesn't block a lot of shots. High risk, high reward.
Cale Makar will not play, so that gives Samuel Girard ($3,700) a chance to run the power play. After the Avs committed $35 million to him over the summer, he's yet to live up to expectations. He has zero points in four games but with so much offensive talent on that team, he makes for a potentially strong value play at this price. Ryan Graves ($4,100) is also another good option; at least in lieu of points he can get some blocked shots.
