FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: December 19

Welcome to FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays for Tuesday, December 19th.  We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.

If you faded the Bruins yesterday, you likely lost every GPP play and struggled to gain much ground in the cash games.  Boston piled up a surprising seven goals while hosting the Blue Jackets.  But the result wasn’t all that surprising, as we had Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak as two top targets for wing picks.  With a goal and assist for Brad, and another helper from David, we totaled over 35 FanDuel NHL points between the pair.

Two of our top defenders yesterday also had a great night.  We said we had been fading Brent Burns since the start of the season due to his lack of performance weighed against his hefty price tag.  But Burns has been hot lately, and it continued last night with two assists and two blocked shots for over 21 FanDuel NHL points.

And while we were mostly fading the Avalanche to target the Penguins, it turns out the Avs stayed hot last night and scored another four goals on home ice, totaling ten over their last to games.  A big contributor was Tyson Barrie, one of our other top targets on defense.  Tyson had two of the four goals driving to an amazing 32.5 FanDuel NHL points.

While those results were great, spending heavy on the Penguins turned out to be a bad move.  Malkin was worth the salary, with a goal on seven shots and over 23 FanDuel NHL points.  But Kessel and Guentzel were quiet last night, totaling only just over 12 points.  And Patric Hornqvist was a late scratch, with an injury before the game.  So for now, drop Hornqvist from your list of FanDuel NHL options this week.

In goal, the Bruins Tuukka Rask turned out to be the right call, for the win at least.  But Tuukka ability to pile up saves was negatively impacted but the lack of shots on goal from the Blue Jackets, limiting his point total to only 16.8 for the night.

Two surprise picks on Monday night were Devils wingers Stefan Noesen and Jesper Bratt.  Bratt’s salary was only $4,500, and he provided a goal and assist for 25.3 FanDuel NHL points.  And even better bargain, Noesen’s salary was a dirt-cheap $3,200, and Stefan piled up 30.4 points on two goals from three shots, and a blocked shot.  If they were your value picks, you likely not only won some cash games, but made some dough on GPP as well.

So we’ll take what we learned from the match ups last night, and focus on the next slate.  Here’s a look at the NHL schedule for Tuesday, December 19th:

Hurricanes at Maple Leafs (2pm ET)

Red Wings at Islanders (7pm ET)

Ducks at Rangers (7pm ET)

Wild at Senators (7pm ET)

Bruins at Sabres (7:30pm ET)

Jets at Predators (8pm ET)

Capitals at Stars (8:30pm ET)

Panthers at Coyotes (9pm ET)

Canadiens at Canucks (10pm ET)

Lightning at Golden Knights (10pm ET)

Due to the early 2pm ET start, FanDuel NHL has two options, an ‘All Day’ slate and ‘Main’ slate, with the Main slate fading the 2pm ET game.  Unfortunately, the All Day slate doesn’t provide many cash game or tournament options, which is a shame because the Maple Leafs have a juicy match up, with one of the top FanDuel NHL goalies on the ice.  But we’ll consider each game throughout the day, to develop your NHL DFS optimal lineup.

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 NHL DFS optimal lineup by looking at the top centers for this slate…

Top FanDuel NHL Centers: Dec 19th

There is an overwhelming number of great picks tonight at center, but several do not have the ideal match up.  Steven Stamkos ($8,300) is leading the Blots in Vegas tonight, but while Stamkos is the leagues top scoring center, he only has two assists in the last four games, and the match up with the Golden Knights isn’t ideal.

Along with Stamkos’ tough match up, Tyler Seguin ($7,800), Mark Scheifele ($7,600) and Jack Eichel ($7,400) are all top talents with a bad goalie match up tonight.  And with options like John Tavares ($8,500) and Patrice Bergeron ($7,400) still on the board, after that group, they’re easy to fade.

Over the last four Islanders games, Tavares has two goals and a jaw-dropping seven assists.  In that time, John is averaging nearly 30 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, and against quality defenses like the Kings and Capitals.  And tonight, the Islanders, who are second in scoring the NHL, are hosting a Red Wings team giving up 3.19 goals per game, tied for 7th worst in the NHL.  Tavares is your top center play tonight.

Can the Bruins stay hot against the Sabres?  Prognosis is likely.  We didn’t just like Bergeron and the Bruins offense yesterday because the Blue Jackets were struggling.  The Bruins offense has been heating up for well over a week, and Patrice now has three goals and five assists in his last seven games.  That’s more than a point per game.

If you need a more affordable top-center option, consider either of the Panthers top two lineman, Aleksander Barkov ($6,800) or Vincent Trocheck ($6,700).  The Panthers are traveling to Arizona on Tuesday night to play the leagues worst defensive team, the Coyotes.

The Yotes are giving up 3.46 goals per game, the worst in the NHL, and Barkov and Trocheck have been very productive on offense over the last two weeks.  If you’re going to grab any Panthers plays in any part of your lineup, these are your top two picks.

Falling down toward the mid-salary range, Erik Haula ($6,000) has been on fire lately for the Golden Knights, and his match up with the Lightning is misleading.  As we saw last weekend, the Bolts are struggling on defense lately, giving up six goals to the Avalanche, in Denver.  Haula likely stays productive tonight.

But in the same game, and in an identical situation leading his team’s second line, Brayden Point ($6,000) has continued to carry the scoring torch for the Bolts over the last two weeks.  Point has five goals in his last six games, and when not scoring goals he has two assists in his last seven games.  Brayden was one of our value targets over the weekend, and he paid off.  He’s another great pick tonight.

We don’t generally like the Red Wings offense lately, but the Islanders defense is giving up 3.42 goals per game, second worst int he NHL.  That opens the door for a play like Dylan Larkin ($5,900) to sneak in some great value tonight, with a goal and/or assist.

Another sneaky play from the Red Wings is third-string center Fans Nielsen ($4,200).  Frans has two goals in his last seven games, and should get nearly 20 minutes of ice time against one of the worst defenses in the NHL.  For only $4,200, he’s worth a shot for a value pick at center.

Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…

Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Dec 19th

Before we continue to blaze through our wings with stacking targets, we’re going to pause and focus on the Capitals match up in Dallas, which we haven’t mentioned yet.  The Stars are giving up a modest 2.88 goals per game, but the Capitals are scoring 3.12 per game, tied for 9th most in the NHL.

With so many other great stacking targets on the board, we’re mostly staying away from the Caps solid match up, but we can not ignore the potential of Alex Ovechkin ($8,800) tonight.

With 23 goals on the season, in 34 games, Ovi is tied with Nikita Kucherov ($9,000) for the most goals in the NHL.  We don’t love Kucherov’s match up in Vegas, but we do love Ovi’s odds of scoring one, or more, goals tonight.  Especially in cash games, Ovechkin is your top winger tonight.

With Patrice Bergeron already a target at center, and an eye on stacking the Bruins again tonight, Brad Marchand ($7,900) and David Pastrnak ($7,300) are obvious plays at wing.  But it’s going to be difficult to own all three, and between the three Marchand is your best chance at piling up points tonight.  Over the last six games, Brad has five goals and four assists.  Marchand (14 goals) provides plenty of helpers, but he and Pastrnak (15 goals) are the Bruins top goal-scorers.

Looking back at the Islanders in a similar situation to the Bruins, Anders Lee ($6,900) and Josh Bailey ($6,400) are two huge reasons the Isles are scoring so many goals this season.  Lee has been on fire since the middle part of last year, and Bailey has a player-of-the week under his belt already.  If you’re stacking Islanders tonight, Lee and Bailey should be your top targets, especially if you can’t afford Tavares.

He’s been quiet lately, but Jonathan Huberdeau ($6,400) is due for an up-swing in his streaky play this season.  Huberdeau is averaging over 14 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, with big games like he had earlier in December, where he had a goal and assist against the Avalanche, following a three assist effort against the Jets.  With the match up in Arizona, Jonathan is likely to bounce back again, after staying off the scoring sheet for the past three games.

Kevin Fiala ($5,200) is quietly scoring double-digits in each of the last seven Predators games.  In that span, Fiala has six goals and three assists, getting at least one point in all seven games.  The Predators have a tougher match up against a hot Jets team on home ice tonight, but Kevin is too hot right now to avoid, with a very cheap $5.2K price tag.

Digging for some value, we’re going to consider the Red Wings, again, targeting the Islanders poor defensive play.  While the Isles have been hot on offense, they’re giving up 3.42 goals per game, second worst in the NHL.  And the Red Wings slow offense is cheap tonight.

Darren Helm ($3,300) may be listed as a third-string wing, but he’s currently burning over 15 minutes of ice time per game, and is consistently flirting with double-digits over the last two weeks.  Tonight’s match up seems like a great time to pounce on the value with Helm.

Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Dec 19th

While we don’t like the match ups the Predators have against the Jets, or the Lightning have against the Knights, Roman Josi ($6,400) and Victor Hedman ($5,800) are out top-two FanDuel NHL defensive men for Tuesday night.

Josi has been consistently dominate this season, almost in the same way Brent Burns was last season.  And while Hedman is only averaging just under 12 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, he’s been hot lately, averaging around 20 points per game over the last three, with a goal and three assists.  Either is a great anchor for you lineup.

Another consistently scoring top defender pick, likely off the radar tonight, is John Carlson ($5,800).  With a goal or assist in five of the last seven games, Carlson has quietly and consistently provided double-digit FanDuel NHL points over the last two weeks.  Even when not providing a goal or assist, John is still racking up five-plus shots, along with blocked shots.  In Dallas tonight, this is a good match up for Carlson.

To complete a Bruins stack, Torey Krug ($5,500) is your most productive defensive option.  Over the last five games, Krug has four assists and a goal, and we love the odds of Krug at least getting an assist tonight.

To complete an Islanders stack, Nick Leddy ($5,400) is our top target.  Nick has been quiet over the last five games, but with around 25 minutes of ice time tonight, and a plethora of scoring chances, Leddy has a solid shot at over ten FanDuel NHL points again.

Related to our stacks, but likely off many radars, is Zdeno Chara ($4,100) and Keith Yandle ($5,000).  We love the Bruins and Panthers tonight, and with each defender leading their team’s top lines, Chara and Yandle have a higher potential to be involved in scoring, will take several shots, and always provide blocked-shots potential.

Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Dec 19th

After getting pulled from the ice in Montreal against the Edmonton Oilers on December 9th, veteran superstar Carey Price ($8,600) has bounced back nicely.  On Saturday, Price gave up two goals in a loss to the Senators, but he still had 35 saves, giving his Canadiens plenty of opportunity for a win.

And on December 14th against a high-scoring Devils offense, Price only gave up one goal and grabbed 31 saves.  Tonight in Vancouver, if leading the Habs between the pipes again, Carey is one of your top goalie picks tonight.

If you’re able to play the All Day slate, you definitely want Frederik Andersen ($8,500) in goal.  With improved defense this season, Andersen’s Maple Leafs are 17-10-1 when he’s stopping pucks for Toronto. That’s an improvement from last season, and along with Frederik’s NHL-leading 885 saves, Andersen is the top FanDuel NHL goalie this year.

If you’re looking for value at the goalie spot, veteran Craig Anderson ($7,400) is your best option.  Anderson has won each of his last two starts, and only gave up two goals in those games, shutting out the Canadiens on Saturday, and only giving up two goals against the Rangers late last week.

So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Tuesday, December 19th:

C    Bergeron (BOS $7,400)

C    Trocheck (FLA $6,700)

W   Marchand (BOS $7,900)

W   Lee (NYI $6,900)

W   Fiala (NSH $5,200)

W   Helm (DET $3,300)

D    Chara (BOS $4,100)

D    Yandle (FLA $5,000)

G    Andersen (TOR $8,500)

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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Best of luck in your FanDuel NHL contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all your DFS news and analysis across NHL, NBA, EPL, and NFL this fall!