This article is part of our DraftKings NHL series.
It's a light night for the NHL on Monday. After a quadrupleheader kind of weekend, only two games are taking place Monday evening. The first puck drops at 7 p.m. EDT, and then of course the second game will start at least 20 minutes after the slated 9:30 p.m. start time. Playoff hockey, baby! Here are my NHL DFS recommendations.
SLATE PREVIEW
The goaltending situations are clear. Aleksander Barkov is good to go. Jason Robertson is not. I am starting to believe Miro Heiskanen may be more injured than the Stars have been letting on.
GOALIE
Andrei Vasilevskiy, TAM at FLA ($7,600): I was not worried about Vasilevskiy allowing six goals in Game 1. He made 21 saves on 22 shots in Game 2. When the series moved to the Panthers' arena, I was still not worried. Again, the Russian netminder only allowed one goal, this time while facing 34 shots. Vasilevskiy also faced Florida in his final regular-season game. Why yes, he did only allow a single goal. Let's see if he can do that again.
VALUE PLAY/ONE-OFF
Jamie Benn, DAL vs. COL ($4,200): Benn has two points in this series, both of which have come on the power play. The Avalanche ranked 12th in penalty-kill percentage this season, but of course this is the playoffs. That ranking was the lowest among these four teams. The veteran Benn is no stranger to power-play success (he had 22 power-play points just last season), and he and the Stars are back at home. With Dallas' injuries, Benn will presumably remain on the top unit, and that boosts his upside.
FORWARD LINE STACK TO CONSIDER
Lightning at Panthers
Anthony Cirelli (C - $4,200), Brandon Hagel (W - $5,800), Gage Goncalves (W - $3,300)
I decided to go with Tampa's second line over its first line, mostly so you would not stack that trio and then doing the DFS equivalent of scrounging for change in couch cushions. This is a bet on a trio with talent returning to a prior form, as opposed to going with the in-form line that requires a major salary outlay. In the playoffs, there are times when you need to pay up, but I think this time around you can eschew that. Sergei Bobrovsky did not look good in Game 3, allowing four goals on 21 shots. He is as erratic a netminder as the NHL has seen in recent memory, and with only four teams playing you might as well see what happens.
Cirelli scored a goal in Game 3, his first point of the playoffs. However, he had six points over his last five regular-season games. On top of that, Cirelli had seven hits and three blocked shots in Game 3, which speaks to a high level of activity at least. Hagel was suspended for Game 3, and he doesn't have a point yet in the playoffs. His regular-season campaign, though, was the best of these three. It was one of the best seasons anybody in the NHL had, frankly. Hagel scored 35 goals on 228 shots on target and added 55 assists. Goncalves has been the best of these three in the playoffs, but also has the least impressive track record. The rookie has three postseason points. While he only had 20 points in 60 games this season, he was not on the second line for most of that time. Down the stretch he was, though, and down the stretch he had six points over his last seven regular-season games.
DEFENSEMAN
Samuel Girard, COL at DAL ($3,400): When a secondary defenseman is in form, I say roll the dice and see if you can save some salary. Hey, it worked for me Sunday when Cam Fowler picked up another point. Girard is on a three-game point streak. In two different games in this series he's tallied three shots on net. I know he's not Cale Makar, or even Devon Toews, but at Girard's salary, a single assist, or even a few more shots on net, can give you bang for your buck.
