This article is part of our DraftKings NHL series.
The baseball season is over, so it's nice here in November to have a rich Saturday of NHL hockey. There are a whopping 13 games on the schedule starting at 7 p.m. ET or later. Sunday is when we "fall back," so you'll have to live the same hour twice. Wouldn't you rather live it as a DFS winner? Here are my recommendations.
SLATE PREVIEW
Though only four teams played Friday, we still get a few teams on the second leg of a back-to-back Saturday. Three, to be exact. Only the Sabres are on the road, and only the Blues get two home games.
GOALIES
Tristan Jarry, PIT at SAN ($8,400): Jarry, it's time to get on track. Pittsburgh's veteran goalie has struggled, but also weirdly has two shutouts. However…the Sharks are so bad. I know it's early, but they look like they could be one of the worst NHL teams in recent memory. Yes to win a game, San Jose has scored 10 goals in 10 contests.
Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA at CHI ($8,300): Bobrovsky has been hard for me to get a line on thus far. Part of that is the slim sample size, of course. He was bad last season, but then great during the playoffs, and this year he's been all over the place. For what it's worth, over his last six starts he has a 2.15 GAA and .925 save percentage. Even with Connor Bedard, the Blackhawks are still poor offensively, having averaged 2.11 goals and 26.3 shots on net per contest.
Jake Allen, MON at STL ($7,700): Allen has been alarmingly busy. To illustrate that, he has a .927 save percentage, but a 2.72 GAA. Yeah, if he keeps facing this many shots, it'll be a problem. Fortunately, the Blues have proven zero threat offensively thus far, bottom five in goals and shots on net per game. Plus, they are on the second leg of a back-to-back.
VALUE PLAYS/ONE-OFFS
Jake Guentzel, PIT at SAN ($7,500): Oh, the Sharks are also terrible defensively. Last in goals scored, but also last in GAA. San Jose has a 4.40 GAA and has allowed 37.8 shots on net per contest. Guentzel has nine points in nine games, but with a 6.3 shooting percentage primed to improve.
Sean Monahan, MON at STL ($5,300): Monahan centers Monteal's third line between Brendan Gallagher and Tanner Pearson. That's a solid veteran trio for a rebuilding team. However, Monahan has also found some of his old Calgary magic this year. He has six goals already and is on a four-game scoring streak. The Blues, as noted, are on the second leg of a back-to-back, and Joel Hofer is in line to get the start. He's made two starts this year. One was a shutout, in the other he allowed six goals to the Coyotes. I'm not concerned about Hofer.
Quinton Byfield, LOS at PHI ($3,700): Byfield was a second-overall pick, and he's only 21. Just because the start to his NHL career has been slow doesn't mean we should be worried. Joe Thornton had seven points in his first NHL season. As to Byfield, he has seven points through 10 games skating on the wing of the Kings' top line. The Flyers are the third team on the second leg of a back-to-back, and Carter Hart is apparently injured enough Cal Petersen was called up from the AHL and will likely start Saturday's game.
FORWARD LINE STACKS TO CONSIDER
Panthers at Blackhawks
Aleksander Barkov (C - $6,700), Sam Reinhart (W - $7,200), Evan Rodrigues (W - $5,400)
The Panthers are stacked in their top six, so you don't get a "bargain" line in the mix for a stack. Fortunately, you can still get plenty of bang for your buck in the right matchup, and this matchup is certainly that. Bedard-mania has covered a lot of issues with the Blackhawks, still a bad NHL team. They have a 3.56 GAA, but have also allowed a whopping 34.2 shots on net per contest.
Now that Patrice Bergeron is retired, Barkov can finally get to adding a Selke or two to his trophy cabinet, but he's also a point-a-game scorer. That's been true again this year, as he has eight points through eight games. Yes, Reinhart's 24.2 shooting percentage will likely regress, but he has eight goals and 33 shots on net through nine contests. The fact he is shooting that much should help him remain productive, even when his puck luck starts to fall to sensible levels. Rodrigues has been doing the journeyman thing, on his fourth team in five seasons. Perhaps he has found a home, though, as skating next to Barkov he has eight points in nine games, even with a 7.7 shooting percentage.
Capitals vs. Blue Jackets
Dylan Strome (C - $5,000), Alex Ovechkin (W - $8,100), Tom Wilson (W - $4,800)
Columbus is middle of the pack defensively, but I think as the season plays out it will get a little worse while some of the teams below them will get a bit better. The Jackets have a 3.20 GAA and have allowed 32.4 shots on net per contest, numbers that tend to be in the bottom 10 when all is said and done. Elvis Merzlikins has a 2.97 GAA and .902 save percentage, but over the prior two seasons he had a 3.54 GAA. The Capitals lack depth offensively, but at least the top line has gotten going.
You don't want a center to have zero assists through nine games, but Strome has six goals so that helps assuage concerns. Besides, he had 42 helpers last year, so we know he can dish it out. Ovechkin has surely had bad puck luck before, but probably not right from the get go, which leaves his numbers looking alarming. He's put 40 shots on net but has a 5.0 shooting percentage. That won't continue. Wilson's puck luck hasn't been as bad as Ovi's, but his 8.3 shooting percentage will likely improve as well. He has remained productive, though, with four points over his last five games.
DEFENSEMEN
Mike Matheson, MON at STL ($6,400): Matheson was a real diamond in the rough last season with the Canadiens, picking up 34 points in only 48 games. Healthy to start the year (minus some wear and tear that didn't lead to him missing any games), the defenseman has six points and 31 shots on net through 10 contests. The Blues are on the second leg of a back-to-back, and Joel Hofer has a career .903 save percentage.
Morgan Rielly, TOR vs. BUF ($5,000): Rielly has been streaky, which is hard to do when you've only played 10 games. All in all, he has seven points, though, and has averaged 24:38 per game in ice time. The Sabres are on the road for the second leg of a back-to-back, and Devon Levi may be making his first start in a couple weeks. He also has a career .901 save percentage.
Hampus Lindholm, BOS vs. DET ($3,900): Charlie McAvoy is suspended for a few games, and something notable happened in his first game missed. Yes, the game went into a shootout, but Lindholm still played a whopping 30:16 against the Maple Leafs, including 2:23 on the power play. That kind of ice time for a guy who tallied 53 points last year could pay off. Ville Husso will be in net for the Red Wings, and he has a 3.28 GAA and .900 save percentage.
