This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
As Semisonic once put it, every new beginning is some other beginning's end. That is to say, we have the last game of the opening round and the first of the second stage of the NHL playoffs on Sunday. The first puck drops at 4 p.m. EDT. Onto the DFS recommendations!
SLATE PREVIEW
The first-round series still going is Game 7 with the Stars facing the Golden Knights in Dallas. As for the new matchup, the Rangers are hosting the Hurricanes in the opener. Goaltending circumstances seem clear. No key players are injured, with all due respect to Mason Marchment. Let's get to it!
GOALIE
Frederik Andersen, CAR at NYR ($8,000): The Hurricanes finished first in shots allowed and penalty-kill percentage. While their GAA wasn't as robust, the long-gone Antti Raanta played a key part in that. Andersen posted a 1.84 during the regular season and a 2.25 in the first round. The Rangers and Canes finished neck-and-neck in offense, though the Hurricanes were third in shots while the Rangers were 12th. So a slight edge goes to Andersen here for me.
VALUE PLAY
Wyatt Johnston, DAL vs. VGK ($7,400): After a breakthrough sophomore season where Johnston tallied 32 goals and 33 assists, he's been arguably the best player for the Stars during the playoffs having found the back of the net three times alongside three helpers and 23 shots. Adin Hill was the playoff hero last year, but he's the most questionable among the four goalies in line to start Sunday. He managed a .909 save percentage this season and wasn't even Vegas's starting netminder when the playoffs began.
FORWARD LINE STACK
Rangers vs. Hurricanes
Mika Zibanejad (C - $7,900), Chris Kreider (W - $7,700), Jack Roslovic (W - $5,500)
Only four teams are in action. Dallas is at home, and Jake Oettinger has been red hot. Neither the Rangers nor Hurricanes have a great matchup, yet the former's at home. They also feature a top line that's quite hot, so that's the stack I've selected.
Zibanejad registered two points in each of the final three games of the first round. That wasn't the beginning of his strong play as he's currently riding a 10-game scoring streak. The battle between Kreider and the Hurricanes will be intriguing. Carolina is excellent at killing penalties and preventing shots while Kreider produced 18 power-play goals with 246 shots on the season. He's also potted eight goals from his last 14 appearances. Roslovic is the third member of this unit, and he's been chipping in with a point in every postseason outing so far.
DEFENSEMAN
Miro Heiskanen, DAL vs. VGK ($6,600): While I was watching Game 6, I heard a note that the Stars were basically using only five defensemen versus the Golden Knights. And Heiskanen has shouldered the bulk of those minutes averaging a whopping 27:36 while recording five points, 14 shots and 13 blocked shots.
