FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: November 19
By Matt Rogers
Welcome to the FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays column for Sunday, November 19th. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.
The NHL has five games scheduled for Sunday, but only four of those games are part of the ‘Main’ FanDuel NHL slate. There are limited options for the ‘All Day’ slate, so we’re avoiding the Islanders visiting the Hurricanes at 5pm ET today.
Focusing on the four games, starting at 6pm through 8pm ET tonight, there are several great goalies in net tonight. However, some of those goalies have struggled recently, while a few others are playing beyond their previous potential.
Here’s a look at the NHL schedule for Sunday, November 19th ‘Main’ FanDuel NHL slate:
Avalanche at Red Wings (6pm ET)
Senators at Rangers (7pm ET)
Kings at Golden Knights (8pm ET)
Panthers at Ducks (8pm ET)
The Red Wings plan to have Howard in goal tonight, and he’s been hot. But Howard and the Red Wings have to stop a surprising Avalanche offense, currently scoring 3.39 goals per game, 5th best in the NHL.
The Avalanche are tied with the Ottawa Senators in goals scored per game, but the Senators have a tough match up in New York, facing the veteran Henrik Lundqvist in net. Meanwhile, Malcom Subban is back on the ice tonight after spending time on the IR. Subban and his Knights will try to continue his winning streak against Jonathan Quick and the Kings, in Vegas.
The Ducks have struggled this year, even in Anaheim where they’re playing this week. They’re giving up 2.83 goals per game, but they’re also scoring only 2.83 goals per game. Tonight, the Ducks host a Panthers team putting over three goals per game past the crease. But the Panthers scoring has been surging, and they’re more dangerous than they appear. So, should they be part of our stack? We’ll review.
As always, we’ll look to update our picks and final lineups prior to lock on our twitter account @FantasyCPR so make sure to give us a follow for all the late breaking lineup news.
Now let’s start building our lineups by looking at the top centers for this slate…
Top FanDuel NHL Centers: Nov 19th
The Ducks aren’t a bad team, but they’re struggled to win games at home this season. John Gibson is piling up saves, with 30 to 40 shots on goal lately. But Gibson is letting about three goals a game through the net lately.
Over the last five games, the Panthers are averaging just under four goals per game, including a 4-0 trouncing of the Kings, with Jonathan Quick in goal. This match up appears to be a good one for the Panthers, who are hot, and stacking the Panthers tonight is one of our objectives. We’re starting with Aleksander Barkov ($7,100).
In 19 games this season, Barkov has 19 points, including 13 assists and six goals. Over the last five games, Aleksander has two goals and two assists, and is getting around three shots on goal per game. Barkov is also getting a blocked shot on goal most games, likely due to his 22 to 28 minutes of ice team each night. Manning the Panthers top line tonight, in a game they likely score around four goals, Barkov is one of our top plays at center.
Another great, and more affordable, option is Vincent Trochek ($6,000). While not always on the ice as often, Vinny still gets over 20 minutes of ice time per game, and has 19 points this season, with more of his points (eight) being related to goals.
The Avs are one of the top scoring teams on the ice tonight, and Nathan MacKinnon ($6,400) is a solid choice. So far this year, Nathan has six goals and 14 assists, landing him with 20 points in only 18 games. But there’s risk with this play, with Howard in net for the Red Wings. Only play MacKinnon is you’re planning to fade Howard.
On the other side of the ice in Detroit tonight, Jonathan Bernier is tending net for the Avalanche. He’s giving up nearly four goals per game, making the Red Wings an ideal stacking target. With that in mind, both veteran Henrik Zetterberg ($5,800) and Dylan Larkin ($6,000) are great picks at center. The younger Larkin is more productive offensively, but either is a great pick.
Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…
Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Nov 19th
With mostly Panthers and Red Wings targeted for center, and taking on some risk from the Avalanche’s hot scoring, we know which teams to focus on for the four wing slots.
Jonathan Huberdeau ($6,600) is arguably the most talented wing on the ice tonight. The 24-year old Canadian has seven goals and 14 assists, totaling 21 points, in just 18 games. For a comparison, he’s tied in points with Evgeni Malkin who has already played 22 games, three more than Jonathan.
Huberdeau is likely priced cheaper due to the match up with Gibson. But as we already discussed, we think the Panthers don’t have much trouble scoring three or four goals tonight, and Huberdeau will be involved in one or more of those scores.
Completing a top-line Panthers stack, we’re going to grab Evgenii Dadonov ($5,200). Evgenii is seeing around 20 to 22 minutes per game and has 17 points in 19 games, with seven goals and ten assists.
While Jonathan and Evgenii are the best picks on the top line, Radim Vrbata ($4,500) is manning the second line, and is a very cheap way of getting a lot of exposure to the Panthers second line. Vrbata has been quiet for most of November, but was hot through October, including a hat trick against the Ducks back on October 26th. With more time on the ice than usual tonight, Radim is a great way to get exposure to the Panthers second-line scoring, while still leaving plenty of salary for the Red Wings stack.
With so much focus on the Panthers already, we’ll look at the Red Wings and Avalanche for the rest of our picks. Of each of those lines, Mikko Rantanen ($6,300) is the best player. Rantanen is playing with MacKinnon on the very productive Avs top line, and is averaging over 13 FanDuel NHL points-per-game. But again, only plug in Rantanen if you’re fading Howard.
While looking for Red Wings to stack, we like Anthony Mantha ($5,900) and Tomas Tatar ($5,500). Mantha is incredibly productive, peppering three shots on goal each game, getting blocked shots, and scoring four goals and four assists in the last six games.
For only $5.9K, we’re getting a great deal with Mantha tonight. Tatar hasn’t been nearly as productive this year, and is getting less ice time on the Red Wings second line. Still, Tomas is getting points consistently each game, and has two goals in the last five games. And with a great match up tonight, Tatar has another solid shot at a goal.
Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Nov 19th
On defense, regardless of the match-up, we’re definitely going to play Senators superstar Erik Karlsson ($7,300). Karlsson is one of the elite defenders in the NHL, and is very productive on offense. Over the last nine games, Erik has double-digit points in seven of those games. In his last two, though, Karlsson only has a total of 11.2 FanDuel NHL points. Still, that’s abnormal for Karlsson and he’s very likely to bounce back tonight. Play Karlsson in all formats.
Craig Anderson, the Senators net-minder, is having a decent season. Anderson is only giving up 2.92 goals per game, but is 27th in the NHL in GAA and only has seven wins in 14 starts. In theory, Kevin Shattenkirk ($6,300) and Ryan McDonagh ($5,500) should be great plays tonight. But after a great six game winning streak, the Rangers offense only scored three goals in their last two games. And Anderson only gave up two goals in the last two games, including a shutout of the hot Avalanche offense. They’re both worth a consideration if you have the salary for them, but understand the risk here.
We talked a few times about how the Avalanche could be a solid play against Howard, if you’re fading him in goal. Tyson Barrie ($5,200) is the top Avs option on defense if you’re stacking Avalanche, or can afford some top defensive talent.
If you still have some room for Red Wings or Panthers, your top two targets are Mike Green ($4,700) and Keith Yandle ($4,800). Green is a great goal-scoring defender, and Yandle is one of the most productive players on the ice for the Panthers.
Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Nov 19th
Henrik Lundqvist ($8,900) and Jonathan Quick ($8,600) are easily the best goalies in net tonight. However, Lundy and Quick have both been on a bad streak, consistently giving up two to three goals per game and losses consistently over the last week. So both recommended fades.
We have mentioned our concerns with John Gibson ($8,500) multiple times, and in many cases are recommending stacking the Panthers, so Gibson is also a fade. But Jimmy Howard ($8,000) is one of our favorite options tonight. Howard won four of his last six games, one of those games being a 0-1 overtime loss. jimmy hasn’t given up more than two goals in a game since Halloween, October 31st. He has a tough match up against the Avs in Detroit tonight, but he’ll likely stay hot and is a great play for $8K.
With the Ducks cold lately, Roberto Luongo ($8,000) is also a great play. Luongo has only given up four goals in the last three games, and has won each game, totaling 27 to 48 points in each their last three games. Luongo and Howard each have a solid chance of being the top net-minder tonight.
If you’re looking for a great value pick, tonight offers one of the best. Golden Knights rookie Malcolm Subban ($7,200) was one of the hottest goalies in net before getting a ‘lower body’ injury and hitting the IR for four weeks.
Subban was recently activated from IR, and is starting tonight. In three games, Malcolm had two wins and no losses, a 2.06 GAA, and .936 save percentage (all very good). Still, there’s obvious risk. Subban doesn’t have much of a history for us to gauge his production, and they’re playing a solid Kings team. But as we mentioned earlier, Quick is struggling lately, and this could be a great time to play a sneaky great value pick in goalie.
So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Nov 19th FanDuel NHL:
C Barkov (FLA $7,100)
C Larkin (DET $6,000)
W Huberdeau (FLA $6,600)
W Mantha (DET $5,900)
W Dadonov (FLA $5,200)
W Athanasiou (DET $4,500)
D Karlsson (OTT $7,300)
D Yandle (FLA $4,800)
G Subban (VGK $7,200)
Note: This is a recommended lineup after discussing our top options for the week. You should use this as a guide, and provide your own input when building FanDuel NHL lineups. We are not telling you, or selling you, to use this lineup.
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