Welcome to another NHL season of the combo tag team of myself and Rob Geriak, who provided a solid Point Shot article for last nights two game slate. The format most nights will be just one article, especially early in the season while there are multiple other sports still going on. As we get into later December and January then you may see two articles on some of the larger slates.
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Thoughts on tonight’s slate…
Teams on B2B: Washington (A), Toronto, Colorado (A), Seattle (A). Chicago (A)
What stands out to me right away is that the Avalanche are going on the road after their Cup Ceremony last night at home and facing a good team in Calgary who although they overhauled their roster is probably licking their chops for this game.
I’m not overly concerned with teams on B2B early in the season and actually think it helps some of them out, but in the case of the Avs-Flames, the Flames are the definitive pick to win in that game.
This is a slate where I’m going to be prioritizing full line stacks.
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Ottawa Senators
We start right off with the Senators and Sabres, who would have been common teams to stack and target a season ago (heck for a while to be honest) and not much should be different starting things off this season either.
I love Stuetzle and Tkachuk but the Norris-DeBrincat-Giroux 2nd line (on the road) is going to jump out and score multiple goals today. They all see PP time although only Norris is on PP1 unit with the OTT1 line.
- C – Josh Norris
- W – Alex DeBrincat
- W – Claude Giroux
- D – Thomas Chabot
Toronto Maple Leafs
Washington’s defense is not great, and the amount of easy sniper shots that they gave up last night should carry over for quite a while. I would definitely be looking to use stud scorers against the Caps for a while, so hello Austin Matthews & Mitchell Marner
- C – Austin Matthews
- W – Mitchell Marner
- D – TJ Brodie
Vegas Golden Knights
Looking for a good matchup against a bad defense with an elite player and cheap wingers associated with him. Look no further than the VGK1 line.
Vegas should be a good team at home and the Blackhawks are coming in off a quick B2B to start the season.
- C – Jack Eichel
- W – Phil Kessel
- W – Reilly Smith
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Dallas vs Nashville
For the game stack crowd this game could wind up drawing some goalie attention to it tonight but I think it’s a mistake. This is an over I would back today but it’s a tricky one to stack with these teams.
- DAL: Hintz, Robertson, Heiskanen
- NSH: Duchene, Josi
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KEY ONE OFFS
Auston Matthews – Leafs
After being the wrong pick compared to McDavid last night (which absolutely nobody who read this made that mistake, right?) AM34 will be the right pick tonight. Consider him the most likely player to post a 3 point night with 1 goal and 2 assists.
Reilly Smith – Knights
For just $4200 Smith is a core must play today. This slate is going to be driven by top end Centers & D-men with lots of mid range and value wingers being in great spots. I said yesterday how I love to hunt goals in the 4k to 6k defenseman range, and in this case we are hunting that same range with wingers tonight.
Ivan Provorov – Flyers
Call me crazy but I like the Flyers to win today and win a low scoring game. So why Provorov? Well, he blocks a ton of shots and he averaged 8+ FPPG vs New Jersey in his last 12 spots. He just stands out as someone I trust to have a BS bonus, get an assist and be a nice anchor in your lineup.
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CENTERS
- Jack Eichel
- Josh Norris
- Tage Thompson
- Roope Hintz
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WINGS
- Alex DeBrincat
- Jeff Skinner
- Rickard Rakell
- Mitch Marner
- Matt Duchene
- Travis Konecny
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DEFENSE
- Roman Josi
- Thomas Chabot
- Shea Theodo
- Miro Heiskanenre
- Ryan Pulock
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TOP LINE(S) VALUE
Players projected on the top lines who grade out as being solid value plays.
- Phil Kessel
- Mikael Granlund
- Andreas Athanasiou
- Ty Dellandrea
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Ilya Sorokin (Islanders)
The Isles are going to be better this season while the Panthers probably take a slight step back. That begins tonight and for a cheap $7100 price assuming Sorokin gets the nod he should face a ton of shots and is great leverage against any Panthers (bad) chalk.
Jonathan Quick (Kings)
Seattle dominated the game vs Anaheim last night and still lost. They’re still not a great team and should lose on the B2B staying in L.A. today to the Kings.
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Slap Shots …
LINE LOCK(S) OF THE NIGHT:
Norris – DeBrincat – Girioux (Senators)
FAVORITE ONE OFF FORWARDS:
Auston Matthews and/or Mitch Marner
FAVORITE ONE OFF VALUE:
Reilly Smith
FAVORITE ONE OFF DEFENSEMAN:
Ivan Provorov
TOP BETS:
Flyers ML
Senators ML
Senators/Sabres OVER 6.5
Panthers/Islanders UNDER 6
Rangers/Wild UNDER 6