3 Daily Fantasy NHL Stacks for 3/4/21

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.

Thursday is a busy night in the NHL, with ten games on the slate. Let’s look at the best way to attack the slate from a stacking perspective.

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs are fresh off a three-game series sweep of the Edmonton Oilers to establish complete dominance of the North division. They now average 3.63 goals per game, the most in the NHL.

Auston Matthews ($8,900) returned to the lineup on Wednesday, and while he didn't have any points, he still got seven shots on goal. He played just 18 minutes in his return, but that is likely because the game was out of hand in the third period. Mitch Marner ($7,800) continued his great season, as points in three straight games have him up to 34, tied for third in the league. They are joined on the top line by Joe Thornton ($4,700), who has outperformed pretty much everyone's expectations. He has 10 points in his last seven games and has meshed well with the Leafs’ best players.

The matchup for Toronto is a good one on Thursday, as they take on the Vancouver Canucks. Vancouver allowed five goals in their last game on Tuesday and have now given up 3.46 goals per game. That's the third most in the league. The underlying metrics suggest that isn't a fluke, as they allow the most expected goals and most scoring chances against per 60 minutes, according to Natural Stat Trick. Matthews has lit up Vancouver this season, scoring five goals in three games, as they just don't have the defensive capabilities to contain him.

Another Leaf to have on your radar is Morgan Rielly ($5,600). He's tied for fourth in points among defensemen and plays on the first power play with all three of the top-line forwards. Toronto has the highest implied team total on this slate, so getting plenty of exposure to their top line makes a lot of sense.

Carolina Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes have been the Central Division contenders many expected, sitting in second place behind only the Tampa Bay Lightning. Despite scoring 3.27 goals per game, they haven't been on the fantasy radar too often so far this campaign as it has been pretty difficult to stack them and get the full correlation that we like.

Well, that has apparently changed, as of this morning. The line of Sebastian Aho ($7,400), Teuvo Teravainen ($6,000) and Andrei Svechnikov ($6,000) were reunited as Carolina's first line.

Aho leads the team with 20 points this season and was sixth in goals last year with 38. We know he can put the puck in the net. Svechnikov is a talented third-year player who is going through a bit of a scoring drought but still has 17 points and leads the team in shot attempts per 60 minutes. He has been getting opportunities and hasn't been afraid to fire the puck at the net. Teravainen is returning from a concussion and should be able to help facilitate the offense, as his assist rate was the 12th best in the league last season.

The line reunites at the perfect time, as the Hurricanes face the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday. Detroit's solid defensive play from earlier in the season has waned, as they have allowed the fourth most goals per game. They also have the second worst penalty kill in the league. This could bode well for power-play quarterback Dougie Hamilton ($5,200), who has been snake-bitten with his shooting luck. He has just one goal on 67 shots on goal -- good for a 1.5% shooting percentage. The positive news is that he is still contributing in fantasy, with assists in three straight games.

Carolina's implied team total is 3.44, second behind only Toronto's on Thursday night. With three highly skilled forwards all playing on the same line for the 'Canes for the first time in a while, they are definitely a stack to use in tournaments.

Philadelphia Flyers

We talked about the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night, and they didn't do too poorly despite a 5-2 loss. Sean Couturier ($7,600) had seven shots on goal and an assist to extend his point streak to seven games. James van Riemsdyk ($6,600) also had an assist to get his point total to 26, the seventh most in the league. The player who really helped your lineups if you had him was Joel Farabee ($5,500), who scored two goals. He continues to experience a second-year breakout, and his salary doesn't yet reflected that.

The Flyers get an immediate chance for revenge as they'll see the rival Pittsburgh Penguins again. The Flyers actually played better last time out than the score would have you believe, winning the shot-attempt battle 70-48 and producing 3.2 expected goals. Pittsburgh has allowed the fifth most goals per game and will be without Sidney Crosby again in this one. Couturier is known as one of the league's best matchup centers, but with Crosby out and Evgeni Malkin not playing well this season, it should allow the Flyers' number-one center to play in the offensive zone more often.

The Flyers also have an edge against the Penguins' penalty kill, as it ranks as the seventh worst in the league. This trio plays together at even strength and on the power play, and they are joined by Shayne Gostisbehere ($3,900) on the man advantage. Gostisbehere's salary is great for a player on the power play for a team that is implied to score 3.37 goals per game, so he's definitely a piece to add to this stack. We saw potential for this stack to go off on Tuesday, so we can go back to them and hope they pay off in this game.

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.