The matchups for tonight should mostly be the same with some exceptions in the Capitals-Blue Jackets game as they are in Columbus for the first time this series. You’ll see a lot of familiar lines of there being limited options on two-game slates, and there are matchups that are exploitable for multiple games in a row. You can check out the Awesemo Stack Rankings for a comprehensive look at today’s slate. Awesemo will weigh in first, and then I (Tommienation1) will will follow up.
CBJ1: Panarin-Dubois-Atkinson ($18,500 DK/$20,900 FD)
“The Blue Jackets have the highest implied total of the night at 3, and on home ice, they’ll be able to choose their matchup with this top line.”
Panarin, Dubois, and Anderson haven’t been too shabby on the road in the first two games, but going back home, they’ll be in a more favorable spot tonight. They hard-matched against the opposing top lines in their last two home games, so they could see a lot of time against the Kuznetsov line, which allowed 15.6 High-Danger Chances Against per 60 minutes on the road in the regular season. CBJ1 (“A” points grade) is going to be popular, but they should be in high-event matchups and they are all on the top power-play as well.
MIN1: Zucker-Staal-Granlund ($16,400 DK/$19,600 FD)
“The Wild have another solid team total of 2.8 at home against the Jets, and this top line won’t have shutdown duties at home tonight.”
While the Koivu line will be tasked with shutting down Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler, and Kyle Connor, the Staal line (“B” points grade) for the Wild should have room to roam against Paul Stastny’s line, which allowed over 29 Scoring Chances Against per 60 minutes and 13 High-Danger Chances Against per 60 minutes. This line created chance after chance in the first two periods of Game-3, and I expect them to do the same tonight in Game-4 as they will avoid the top Winnipeg line.
VGK2: Tuch-Haula-Neal ($15,400 DK/$16,800 FD)
“The Golden Knights second line is a nice contrarian stack tonight that is affordable on DraftKings especially.”
This line has sneakily been playing some of the best hockey of any line these playoffs. In over 40 minutes this postseason, Tuch, Haula, and Neal have a 59.4 Corsi For Percentage while outshooting their opponents 55-38 while posting 30 Scoring Chances and 13 High-Danger Chances. With Kopitar worried about the top Vegas line, they should again see mostly the 2nd and 3rd lines for the Kings which are both very favorable matchups for them. All getting power-play time as well, this line is one that I love tonight, and it should be relatively low owned, too.
