FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: February 13

Welcome to FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays for Tuesday, February 13th. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.

Last night was a great one for our column. With the exception of Evgenii Dadonov, we nailed every top play of the night. That won’t happen often and it’s easier with a three game slate, but we’ll take it. Dadonov had two goals on six shots for a total of 33.6 FanDuel NHL points, by the way. But the top player of the night was Vincent Trocheck, who had a hat trick (with an empty-netter) and 48.2 total points.

Our top goalie of the night, Antti Raanta, was a slam dunk pick. For only $7,200 we got 37 saves, only gave up one goal, and the win for 37.6 FanDuel NHL points. No other goalie was even close to as effective as Raanta in FanDuel NHL lineups last night.

Even though the Oilers defense was horrendous, again, in Edmonton last night, Connor McDavid stayed hot with a goal and assist for 29.6 FanDuel NHL points. Stacking McDavid with Leon Draisaitl ($7,200) paid off, as Leon added another goal, short-handed at that, for another 20.4 FanDuel NHL points.

Mitch Marner stayed hot on home ice, providing five shots on goal and one assist for 17.6 FanDuel NHL points, and Yanni Gourde had another goal for 15.2 points. On defense, if you played Aaron Ekblad or Keith Yandle, you had over 20 FanDuel NHL points, and Kris Russell added another 11.2 points on a cheap $3,900 salary, thanks to his assist. If you played the example lineup, you were likely happy with the 223.2 FanDuel NHL point result. But again, it was just a suggestion and we had plenty of other options on the table for an even better result.

Hopefully we can continue to roll into a bigger NHL slate tonight. Let’s take a look at the NHL schedule for Tuesday, February 13th:

Flames at Bruins (7pm ET)

Lightning at Sabres (7pm ET)

Blue Jackets at Islanders (7pm ET)

Devils at Flyers (7pm ET)

Senators at Penguins (7pm ET)

Kings at Hurricanes (7pm ET)

Ducks at Red Wings (7:30pm ET)

Blues at Predators (8pm ET)

Rangers at Wild (8pm ET)

Capitals at Jets (8pm ET)

Blackhawks at Golden Knights (10pm ET)

Coyotes at Sharks (10:30pm ET)

With Mike Smith‘s injury, the Flames will have David Rittich in goal against the Bruins, in Boston. Rittich is actually 5-1-2 this season, giving up only 2.2 goals per game with a .927 save percentage. He’ll have a tough match up against a hot Bruins offense, but Rittich could be a sneaky play in goal, and we need to be careful considering the B’s tonight.

The Sabres are without Jack Eichel who suffered another high-ankle sprain, different ankle than the one he injured last season. But that doesn’t bode well for the Sabres offense, and the Lightning could be a great team to stack tonight, exploiting the Sabres weaknesses in Buffalo without their start center.

The Islanders are hosting a Blue Jackets team who also has a lot of talent but, like the Isles this season, they’ve played inconsistently all year. Meanwhile, the struggling Devils are traveling to Philadelphia to play a Flyers team who has question-marks in net, but for some reason are surging at the same time.

The Caps and Jets appear to be a clash of two very talented, and good, teams in Winnipeg, but the Caps have also struggled in goal lately, with Braden Holtby giving up too many goals over the last three weeks. And the Golden Knights struggled to host the Flyers on Sunday, but they get a shot at the Blackhawks who looked horrendous is Arizona last night. Speaking of the Yotes, can they maintain their positive energy in San Jose? We’ll see.

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: Feb 13th

With the Penguins hosting a senators team who resembles a dumpster fire on the road right now, Evgeni Malkin ($9,200) and Sidney Crosby ($9,000) are obvious plays at center. Between the two, Malkin is the more offensively efficient pick for FanDuel NHL, but keep in mind you’ll need to find a couple of value picks at wing and, or, defense to afford either player tonight.

Two other chalky picks at center are William Karlsson ($7,200) and Erik Haula ($6,100). In fact, if you’re looking to stack chalk at center, these are better picks for affordability. The Golden Knights have show some signs of struggle lately, but the best way to bounce back is to play a Blackhawks team who was embarrassed last night in Arizona. Without Crawford, the Hawks are completely lost, and we expect Jeff Glass i goal tonight.

At first glance the Bruins appear to be a chalky play tonight, but that may not be the case. With Mike Smith injured, the Flames are David Rittich in Boston tonight. Rittich doesn’t have much experience in the NHL, but his playing time has been impressive. In eight starts, Rittich has only given up more than two goals once, and has never giving up more than three goals in a game.

Hopefully that scares off some FanDuel NHL players targeting the B’s offense for their lineup, but Rittich’s experience hasn’t been against Bruins caliber teams. At best, David’s toughest opponent this season was the Avalanche in November. Tonight, Rittich and the Flames have a very tough match up against a red-hot Bruins offense.

So, we’re not giving up on Patrice Bergeron ($8,100) tonight. In their last five home games, the Bruins have a very good 25% power play scoring rate. That will be a problem for Rittich, and benefits the B’s top-line offenders like Bergeron. Also, Patrice has five goals in the last six games, and has at least a goal or assists in five of those six games. He stays hot tonight.

He’s another expensive option, but Sean Couturier ($7,500) and the Flyers are surging right now and host a struggling Devils team in Philly tonight. Sean is averaging more than a point per game in the last ten Flyers games, and has a goal and two assists in the last three home games. Meanwhile, the Devils have given up eleven goals in their last two road games.

The Hurricanes are playing in their eighth straight home game, in Charlotte, NC tonight. The Case are hosting a re-surging Kings offense, with Anze Kopitar ($7,400) becoming a formidable fantasy hockey option again this season. On the road, Kopitar has two goals and six assists in the last seven road-ice games for the Kings. The Canes have a solid 90.5% penalty kill rate in their last seven home games, but Kopitar is one of the best centers they’ve seen during this home-stand.

For a value pick, there isn’t much we like with so many great top players on the board for center. However, the Islanders have been dreadful defending the puck on the road. Meanwhile, Pierre-Luc Dubois ($5,600) has a goal in each of his last two games, and the Blue Jackets appear to be regaining confidence. This could be a great night to own some Jackets, and Dubois is our favorite value at this position.

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

Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Feb 13th

Tonight’s slate works out well, because while there are plenty of great expensive picks at winger, there’s also a boatload of incredible value. That value at wing matches well with the mostly expensive picks at center, making a great lineup easily affordable. So while we like Nikita Kucherov ($8,900) in Buffalo, Phil Kessel ($8,400) hosting a dreadful Sens team, and Brad Marchand ($8,300) continuing his offensive tear, we have other cheaper top picks for you as well.

Before we get there, Claude Giroux ($7,700) is on a tear right now for the Flyers. G has three goals, one in each game, and three assists over the last three games. Two of those games were on the road, and against the Golden Knights in Vegas, Claude had a goal and assist. If you have some salary to burn, but don’t want to spend over $8K at the wing position, Giroux is the best pick.

Filip Forsberg ($7,400) is finally back on the ice, which is why we like Viktor Arvidsson ($6,900) as our cheapest top pick for wings. In his last eleven games, Arvidsson has eight games with at least one goal or assist. During that time, Viktor has six goals and five assists. In his last five home games, Arvidsson is scoring on 25% of his shots. The Blues have struggled with a 77.8% PK rate in their last three road games, and the Predators are a team who can easily exploit that weakness.

We haven’t talked much about the Ducks in Detroit tonight, but Corey Perry ($5,700) changes that. On Sunday, Perry was offensively quiet against a very good Sharks defense. But in his last five games, Perry has three goals and four assists. In Toronto on February 5th, Corey had four assists for 42.1 FanDuel NHL points. We don’t expect that tonight, but over 20 points on a sub-$6K salary is feasible and a great bargain.

Our two favorite value picks at wing each scored last night. Yanni Gourde ($5,400) is absolutely on fire right now. Yannie has four goals in his last five games, and nine points in the last six games. The Bolts are likely to have a great offensive game in Buffalo without Jack Eichel on the ice, so we expect Gourde’s run to continue tonight, for a still cheap salary.

Alex Killorn ($4,300) is still playing on the Bolts second line, thanks to injuries. But the Lightning are enjoying Killorn’s offensive success lately, averaging over 15 minutes on the ice per game, with five goals and five assists in the last six games. For only $4.3K salary, that’s incredible ROI. Killorn and Gourde should be in every lineup you play tonight, as value picks to allow you to pivot between more expensive picks throughout your lineups.

Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Feb 13th

While Brent Burns ($7,500) looks appealing against the Coyotes on home ice, if you’re spending that much on a defender, we prefer Victor Hedman ($7,000). While Hedman was somewhat quiet last night against the Maple Leafs, he has two goals and two assists in the last five games. During that time, Hedman had 12+ FanDuel NHL points in four of five games, his lowest result at eight points.

While we expect Hedman to have a great night in Buffalo, Shayne Gostisbehere ($6,700) has been on a team lately, and also could have a multi-point night against a struggling Devils defense, and goaltending. Ghost-bear has eight assists and one goal in the last six games, including a no-point result against the Golden Knights on Sunday.

All of that being said, we’re more interested in value at the defender pick tonight. Nick Leddy ($5,600) may not be helping the Islanders on the defensive side of the ice, but he has three goals and two assists in the last five games, a point in each game. Leddy will be facing another defender we like tonight, Seth Jones ($5,600). As the Blue Jackets have been heating up, Jones has been dishing out more helpers, three in the last two games.

While Zach Werenski ($5,000) has been quiet over the last few weeks, he’s still averaging 11 FanDuel NHL points-per-game this season, in 51 games, and had a goal and assist the last time the Blue Jackets played the Islanders. Werenski should be a cheap way to get double-digit points in FanDuel NHL tonight.

Finally, for affordability and to take advantage of a situation, we like Nate Schmidt ($4,100) on the Golden Knights top line tonight, facing a struggling Blackhawks defense. Schmidt isn’t even that much of a reach, providing a goal and three assists in four of the last five games. In fact, while Nate is averaging almost nine FanDuel NHL points-per-game in 55 games this season, he’s averaging closer to 15 points since the start of February.

Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Feb 13th

With two games and 24 goalies starting tonight, there is an overwhelming number of goalie options to pick through. We’re going to narrow them down to only three. We’ve already mentioned some of these options in some form.

First, starting with contrarian play, David Rittich ($8,000) is a great pick if you’re fading Bruins. Especially for GPP plays, Rittich has a tough match up in Boston, significantly reducing his ownership tonight. But Dave only gave up more than two goals in a game, once in his short career.

Averaging right around only two goals per game and a save percentage of nearly 93%, you’re getting a very solid starting goalie with a very good road offense from the Flames in Boston tonight. He’s definitely worth a shot.

Our two favorite picks for wins, but also a lot of saves, is Marc-Andre Fleury ($8,200) and Michal Neuvirth ($7,900). The Golden Knights are struggling a bit lately, but not nearly as bad as the Blackhawks. Fleury is averaging over 23 FanDuel NHL points per game, but for some reason his salary is still only $8.2K. Take advantage of this opportunity while you can.

Fleury struggled against the Flyers on Saturday, giving up three goals on only 17 shots. But the Flyers offense has looked great lately, and Neuvirth put on an amazing performance on the other end of the ice.

After being the first NHL goalie in history to come in during a shootout and win the game against the Yotes in Arizona, Michal made 38 saves on 39 shots against the Golden Knights and took another win for 38.4 FanDuel NHL points. We may not see as many shots on Neuvirth tonight, but 30 points is definitely in play for the hot net-minder.

So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Tuesday, February 13th:

C     Bergeron (BOS $8,100)

C     Couturier (PHI $7,500)

W   Arvidsson (NSH $6,900)

W   Perry (ANH $5,700)

W   Gourde (TB $5,400)

W   Killorn (TB $4,300)

D    Werenski (CLS $5,000)

D    Schmidt (VGK $4,100)

G    Neuvirth (PHI $7,900)

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!