SLATE PREVIEW
There are five games in the NHL on Friday. Florida travels to Carolina, Detroit hosts San Jose, Tampa Bay plays in St. Louis, Colorado welcomes Nashville and Anaheim heads to Los Angeles. Below, you'll find suggested options for crafting an effective lineup.
GOALIES
Andrei Vasilevskiy, TB at STL ($7,800): Vasilevskiy has been one of the hottest goalies in the NHL of late having won his last eight starts. He'll be taking on the Blues Friday, who rank list in scoring at 2.49 goals per game. All signs point to Vasilevskiy picking up his 20th victory of the season.
John Gibson, DET vs. SJ ($7,600): Gibson has won four straight and 13 of his last 15 where he's posted a 2.07 GAA and .930 save percentage. He's set to face a San Jose side that played in Washington on Thursday.
VALUE PLAYS
Nikolaj Ehlers, CAR vs. FLA ($5,600): Ehlers got off to a slow start with the Hurricanes by failing to register a point in his first five outings. He's gone on to rack up 11 goals and 23 assists while on pace for his fifth campaign of at least 60 points.
Andrei Kuzmenko, LA vs. ANA ($4,300): Kuzmenko has turned it around since Dec. 22 having scored four goals while adding five assists. He's also registered nine points on the power play overall and comes in at a very reasonable salary.
FORWARD LINE STACKS
Avalanche vs. Predators
Valeri Nichushkin (W - $5,700), Brock Nelson (C - $6,500), Gavin Brindley (W - $3,700)
The Avs' second line is capable of breaking out at any time. After a tough start, Nelson has notched 21 goals and 15 assists during his last 36 games, including eight goals on the power play. Nichushkin is due with no points from his last six appearances after five goals and eight assists from the previous 11. Brindley supplied two assists on Saturday to give him five goals and six helpers on the year.
Ducks at Kings
Beckett Sennecke (W - $5,600), Mikael Granlund (C - $5,900), Alex Killorn (W - $3,900)
The Ducks' second unit is led by rookie Sennecke as he's found the scoresheet in six of his last seven games. The 19-year-old is also up to 15 goals and 20 assists overall. Granlund is riding a three-game scoring streak with a goal and two assists with 19 points through only 28 outings. Killorn has struggled so far with four goals and nine helpers and hasn't found the back the net across the last three matchups, though did so during in each of the previous two.
DEFENSEMEN
Cale Makar, COL vs. NSH ($7,400): Makar has posted a whopping 53 points through 45 games and could easily hit the 100-point mark for the first time coming off back-to-back campaigns of at least 90 and four straight reaching 30 PPPs.
Aaron Ekblad, FLA at CAR ($4,900): Ekblad has recorded a goal and two assists since Seth Jones was sidelined with an upper-body injury. He's also provided 18 points on the season and will continue to carry additional fantasy relevance as long as Jones is out.
