3 Daily Fantasy NHL Stacks for 3/5/21

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.

Every serious daily fantasy hockey player looks forward to the NBA All-Star break probably more than anyone besides the actual NBA players. That's because we see the prize pools in tournaments juiced up very high, and they are filled with players who might not be as familiar with the NHL.

So if you are new coming from the basketball streets -- welcome! Let's hope you can learn a thing or two that will help you not go in blindly, and hopefully, you can win some money.

Boston Bruins

On Wednesday, the Boston Bruins let fantasy managers down a lot. They only scored one goal and really didn't generate many good scoring chances. They had just 43 shot attempts and 1.07 expected goals, according to Natural Stat Trick. That's way lower than their season averages in those metrics, so we can expect them to do much better tonight.

They'll face the same Washington Capitals team that held them in check that game. Washington is in the bottom half of those metrics, so the matchup isn't tough for Boston on paper. The Capitals also allow the ninth-most goals per game, so the Bruins should be able to get back on track here.

The line we'll want to stack is the same one that we always like to stack for Boston: the top line, known as the "perfection line" because of how dominant they are at both ends of the ice.

David Pastrnak ($8,400) still has the highest shot attempt rate in the league and leads in goals per 60 minutes. He already has two hat tricks in his 13 games this season, so he's one of the players most likely to get you the hat trick bonus money in the $4.44 Breakaway on FanDuel tonight. Brad Marchand ($7,500) has points in three straight games and leads the team with 24 points. Patrice Bergeron ($7,700) will help the line drive play in the right direction as he has throughout his career.

Boston will be a popular team to stack, even after their struggles on Wednesday. There are a few ways to make this stack unique with a fourth player.

You could add Matthew Grzelcyk ($3,800), as he returned on Wednesday and stepped right back into his first power play role, which correlated with this top line. Fantasy players missed this development on Wednesday, as Grzelcyk appeared in less than five percent of lineups. Hopefully, he continues to go overlooked in favor of Charlie McAvoy, who has a much higher salary and doesn't play on the first power play anymore.

The other player you could use is Nick Ritchie ($4,200), as he is very affordable and plays on the power play with the first line. That has seen him bag five power play goals this season, and he was in just over five percent of lineups on Wednesday.

The Bruins' implied team total is just a shade under three goals, perhaps taking into account the game on Wednesday. We should feel fine going back to them on this slate, as the line has the potential to go off in any game.

Vegas Golden Knights

It's pretty amazing to think about how the Vegas Golden Knights have been Stanley Cup contenders for their first three seasons in the NHL and are once again in their fourth season. They sit atop the West Division despite playing the fewest number of games thus far.

Their offense is really starting to click, as they have produced the sixth-most expected goals in the NHL. They are coming off scoring five goals in consecutive games, and they get a much better matchup on Friday night.

The Golden Knights will face the San Jose Sharks, the team that has been their biggest rival since they entered the league in 2017. The Sharks have allowed the fifth-most expected goals and the fifth-most high danger chances per 60 minutes. Some teams can get away with this if their goaltending is good enough, but San Jose's definitely isn't, and this has resulted in them allowing the second-most goals per game in the NHL.

The line we want to stack for Vegas is the top line. Max Pacioretty ($7,800) has been his typical self, as he is second in shot attempt rate in the league. He has been firing a lot of late, with over five shots on goal in the last three games, and he leads the team with 10 goals. Mark Stone ($7,400) produced a reasonable encore performance on Wednesday after his five-assist game on Monday, producing a goal and an assist. Chandler Stephenson ($4,400) also had a goal and an assist, and his salary remains too low for someone with his role on the top line and top power play.

This trio makes up three of the five on the first power play for Vegas, and they are joined by offensive defenseman Shea Theodore ($5,900). Theodore is fourth in points per game among defensemen who have played at least 10 games. He also likes to shoot from the blue line, as he has the fourth-highest shot rate for defensemen this season.

There is an alternative stack on Vegas that you can also use. The line of Jonathan Marchessault ($6,000), William Karlsson ($5,800), and Reilly Smith ($4,600) is more affordable and also gets full correlation on the second power play. This line was on fire during Vegas' inaugural season and could re-live some of that magic in this game. Vegas has the highest implied team total at 3.81, so there should be goals to go around, and this line will likely be less popular than the first line.

Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche haven't been quite as dominant this season as many people expected. They have a 12-7-1 record and are just third in the West. They have had some injuries and some might also be chalked up to bad luck. They are leading the league in shot attempts per 60 minutes but are just 14th in goals scored per game. With the talent they have, that's bound to regress, and they should be flying high by the end of the season.

Their most talented player, Nathan MacKinnon ($8,300), took a shot to the head and left the last game, but he should be good to go in this one. He was still able to extend his point streak to four games despite exiting early. He's joined by his two Scandinavian wingers in Mikko Rantanen ($8,100) and Gabriel Landeskog ($6,500), who both went off last game on the five-minute power play that came from the illegal check to the head of MacKinnon.

The Avalanche will face an Anaheim Ducks that will be overmatched in this game. The Ducks are dead last in the West and allow the eighth-most expected goals per 60 minutes in the league. Most of that happened before their best defenseman Hampus Lindholm suffered an injury, and they really don't have anyone else that can slow down a player like MacKinnon.

If stacking the Avs tonight, we can go back to the well with Samuel Girard ($5,300) on defense. He has four points in the three games since he took Cale Makar's spot on the top power play unit. Your fourth player could also be Nazem Kadri ($6,600), who plays in front of the net on the power play. His salary is higher than what we would like, but he has upside to score multiple goals in his role and should be less popular than the guys on the first line.

Colorado's implied team total is only behind Vegas on this slate, so they are definitely one of the top teams to stack tonight.

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.