This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
SLATE PREVIEW
Preparations are being made as the final round-robin games to determine playoff seeding will be played today. The winner of the Vegas-Colorado matchup will face three-time Cup champions Chicago, while the winner of the Tampa Bay-Philadelphia matchup will face Montreal. Both Chicago and Montreal are coming off upsets against heavily favored Edmonton and Pittsburgh, respectively.
GOALIES
The Lightning aren't giving Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9,000) a lot of goal support, and expected Flyers starter Carter Hart ($7,600) is a very good value play as the Flyers look like the best team in the East after two round-robin games.
Philipp Grubauer ($8,400) is a pretty good bet considering how good the Avs look. Robin Lehner ($7,900) is slightly more expensive than Marc-Andre Fleury ($7,800), but neither goalie has shown well in round-robin play. It should be a high-scoring game since both teams like swapping scoring chances, but the edge should go to Colorado with their elite forwards.
VALUE PLAYS
Scott Laughton ($4,200) and the second line combined for eight points in their win against Boston, and it's a combo that Alain Vigneault seems to really like. Don't expect them to be a scoring line all of a sudden, but the extra offense is nice to go along with Laughton's usual output of shots and blocks.
Joel Farabee ($3,300) is expected to take Jakub Voracek's spot and line up next to Claude Giroux on the top line. He has some offensive upside and generated a couple scoring chances despite limited action against Washington.
LINE STACKS
Avalanche vs. Golden Knights
Nathan MacKinnon (C - $8,700), Mikko Rantanen (W - $7,400), Vladislav Namestnikov (W - $4,600)
The scary thing is this line has yet to get going. MacKinnon has zero goals on 11 shots and Rantanen has just two points. Namestnikov can pitch in with a point or two but note he usually doesn't get any time on the power play.
Lightning vs. Flyers
Anthony Cirelli (C - $4,400), Tyler Johnson (W - $4,400), Alex Killorn (W - $4,800)
AnalytI've-wise, this line is getting buried, but it's a cheap stack for a second unit, and they came through huge against Boston. Both Johnson and Killorn get time on the power play, so there's added value there.
DEFENSEMEN
Shea Theodore ($6,100) is appropriately among the cream of the crop as the second most expensive defenseman coming off a two-goal effort with seven shots against the Blues. He's been far more productive than Cale Makar ($5,600), who is still worth the price but hasn't looked as dangerous as usual.
Travis Sanheim ($4,400) and Samuel Girard ($4,400) are in the tier below for puck-moving defensemen. Victor Hedman ($6,300) has been underwhelming, and the Lightning have received just two power plays so far, capping his fantasy value without significant minutes with the man advantage.
Nate Schmidt ($4,800) and Ivan Provorov ($4,700) are safe picks, as usual. These two all-round defenders play in all situations for their teams and even if they don't score any points, they're usually pretty dependable generating shots and blocking them.
Philippe Myers ($3,700) has had a pretty good two-game stretch in his first taste of the NHL playoffs, and I wonder how long Matt Niskanen will stay on the second power-play unit if Myers continues to play well. He's an intriguing high-risk, high-reward pick among defensemen.
