3 Daily Fantasy NHL Stacks for 3/3/21
In daily fantasy hockey, stacking is a key strategy in tournaments. We want to correlate our lineups with up to four players to maximize our upside, as if one player on a line is scoring goals, it's likely that his linemates are getting assists as well. Ideally, we'll want players that will get a lot of ice time together on an even strength line and a power play line. Two good resources for line combinations are LeftWingLock.com and DailyFaceoff.com, so be sure to check those sites for up to date line information.
Wednesday night hockey has six games on tap for us, so let's sink our teeth into some stacks we can use tonight.
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are not in first place in the East Division, but they do have the highest points percentage. They have been a favorite stack of DFS players for a few years now because we tend to know where the production is going to come from. That would be from the "perfection line" that consists of their top three scorers.
Brad Marchand ($7,800) leads the team in points with 23 and is 12th overall in points per game with 1.21. A player above him in that metric is teammate David Pastrnak ($8,500), who also has the second-most goals per 60 minutes, according to Natural Stat Trick. The center on this is 35-year-old Patrice Bergeron ($7,600), who has shown no signs of slowing down and is also averaging more than a point per game.
Boston will face off against the Washington Capitals at home. Despite the lack of a crowd, they've performed well at TD Garden, with a 5-1-0 record. While the Capitals are currently in first place, they aren't doing it on the strength of their defense. They have allowed the sixth-most goals per game in the league. Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak each have three points in the two games they've played against Washington this season, so the Capitals have struggled to contain this line as many teams have since they were put together.
The Bruins will welcome back Matthew Grzelcyk ($4,100) to the lineup. Whenever he's been healthy, he's been on the top power play. His salary is just $4,100, and he has the injured tag next to his name, so he might go overlooked. He's definitely worth playing at this salary to get more exposure to the league's sixth-best power play. Boston has the second-highest implied team total tonight, and they are one of the premium stacks on this slate.
Colorado Avalanche
Things sort of came off the rails for the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night when they were a good team to stack. They had a two-goal lead in the second period and ended up losing 6-2. They'll get their immediate chance for revenge, as they play the San Jose Sharks again tonight. The Sharks allow the second-most goals per game in the NHL and gave up loads of chances to Colorado on Monday. The Avs had 40 scoring chances and 3.26 expected goals in the game, so a bit of bad luck might have played a role in the poor results for them.
Colorado's big line is the one we still want to target. Nathan MacKinnon ($8,400) managed to have a decent fantasy performance in that loss, with six shots on goal and an assist. Mikko Rantanen ($8,000) didn't get any points but had four shots on goal, so the opportunities were there. Gabriel Landeskog ($6,200) had a goal, which gave him tallies in back to back games for the first time this season. Samuel Girard ($5,100) remained on the top power play in place of Cale Makar and also scored a goal. If Makar remains out, Girard is a good play as an offensive defenseman with this role.
These guys will all play on the first power play unit, which could feast on the Sharks' poor penalty killing. They have killed off just 76.8% of their penalties, making their penalty kill the second worst on tonight's slate. Colorado has the highest implied team total at 3.79 goals, so it's definitely a good strategy to hop back on this stack tonight.
Vegas Golden Knights
The Vegas Golden Knights were not looking good on Monday, as they entered the third period down 4-2. They made some changes to the lines, and it worked like a charm. They dominated possession of the puck in the third period, with 26 shot attempts for compared to just nine against. They also created seven high danger chances in that period alone. They scored two goals to send the game to overtime and won the game in the three-on-three. Some players that had big performances in that game are now playing together, which makes things a lot better for fantasy purposes.
The standout player for Vegas on Monday was Mark Stone ($7,300). He was sensational, with a primary assist on all five of Vegas' goals. Two of those assists went to Max Pacioretty ($7,700), who scored the game winner in overtime. These two wingers were reunited with center Chandler Stephenson ($4,100). Stephenson has a very affordable salary and plays with these two on the power play, where he picked up an assist on Monday. Shea Theodore ($6,200) has emerged as one of the best offensive defensemen in the NHL, as he has 14 points in 15 games and is second on the team with 48 shots on goal.
This power play unit worked twice on Monday, which could have prompted the line switching. Vegas will face the same Minnesota Wild team that they saw on Monday, and we could see them rack up the goals like they did in that game. They created 14 high danger chances and 3.5 expected goals, and if they are able to do the same tonight, it could lead to a lot of fantasy points for this top line.
Nicholas Vazquez is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Nicholas Vazquez also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username hbyanksman. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
