This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
SLATE PREVIEW
It's quiet night with just two games on tap: Bruins at Rangers (7 p.m. EST) and then Maple Leafs at Canadiens (7:30 p.m.). This will be a showdown of the top two teams in the North Division, and the first meeting since a 5-4 overtime win for the Leafs in the season-opener. We have a lot more info and knowledge about these two teams, and so the question is: will the Habs' balance and depth prevail, or will the Leafs' elite talent break through?
(All fancy stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick...)
GOALIES
Carey Price, MON vs. TOR ($8,600): I don't like picking Price tonight at all. The Leafs are elite on offense and Price goes through lulls where he's really fantastic (3-0 vs. Leafs last season) or very pedestrian (0-2-3 between 2017-2019). There's just too much uncertainty in this coin-flip matchup, though I do like the Habs slightly better because of their deeper lineup and longer rest.
Tuukka Rask, BOS at NYR ($8,400): Not only does Rask sport pretty good numbers against the Rangers in his career (.920 Sv%, 2.33 GAA), the Bruins are just the better team. They're one of the best possession teams in the league and rank first in CA/60; that's a bad omen for the Rangers, who despite ranking seventh in Shots/GP also rank 24th in GF/GP — meaning their chances will be more limited than usual, and they already have trouble finishing.
Frederik Andersen, TOR at MON ($8,200): There's a value play here, but the $400 difference isn't that big. The Leafs are on a roll, but they've played mostly terrible teams over the past week, and this is their first real challenge. The talent on the Leafs is just difficult to ignore, and they defeated the Canucks basically playing only half a period. A sustained effort will be difficult for Montreal, even with their depth on defense.
VALUE PLAYS
Jonathan Drouin, MON vs. TOR ($4,600): It's going to be difficult to find value plays tonight because I think all four teams will be leaning on their star players quite a bit. That means Drouin, who is averaging 14 minutes per game over his past four games, might get a little more ice time than usual playing on Nick Suzuki's line. His career numbers against them are pretty good – 12 points in 19 games – his third-highest total against any team.
Zach Hyman, TOR at MON ($4,900): Top-line duty and sustained success against the Habs – 11 points in 14 games – makes Hyman a reasonable value play, not to mention he plays on the top PP unit. Goals may be hard to come by because the teams are pretty even, but if the Leafs need a goal, you can bet that Hyman's also probably on the ice with Auston Matthews.
LINE STACKS
Bruins at Rangers
David Krejci (C - $5,800), Nick Ritchie (W - $4,200), Craig Smith (W - $4,400)
It's not out of the ordinary to play five forwards on the power play, but it does raise eyebrows when one of them is Ritchie. Regardless, that's what the Bruins showed at Tuesday's practice, with Krejci and Ritchie joining the Perfection Line and bumping both Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk to the second unit. I'm not sure if Bruce Cassidy is just having some fun, but if he sticks with the five-forward unit, this is a good value line stack.
Canadiens at Maple Leafs
Nick Suzuki (C - $6,100), Jonathan Drouin (W - $4,600), Josh Anderson (W - $5,000)
Neither team has a very good penalty kill, and both Suzuki and Drouin feature on Montreal's top power play, ranking second and third in PP TOI/GP on the team. Anderson will be a handful for any Leafs defenseman and he gets action on the man advantage as well with the second unit.
Maple Leafs vs. Canadiens
Auston Matthews (C - $8,700), Mitch Marner (W - $8,100), Zach Hyman (W - $4,900)
There's no such as hot streaks for Matthews because he's always hot. This line decimated the Canucks and all three feature heavily on the top power play. Like the Suzuki line stack, we're banking on special teams being a big part of the game – the Leafs' minus-11 penalty differential and the Habs' minus-9 differential rank third and fourth-worst in the league, respectively.
DEFENSEMEN
Adam Fox, NYR vs. BOS ($4,500): Fox is the cut-off before the quality of defensemen tapers off, making him a good value play and perhaps no worse than McAvoy, who is playing PP2, or Jeff Petry on what seems to be an unsustainable heater. The major drawback is the Bruins' PK ranks second in the league.
Jake Muzzin, TOR vs. MON ($4,400): There's a dearth of options with only two games, so if you're looking for someone dependable and safe, it's Muzzin, who leads Leafs defensemen in blocked shots (24) and ranks second in BkS/60 (5.11). He averages 9.94 fantasy points per game, sixth-best among defensemen if you exclude Matt Grzelcyk, whose status is still questionable as of this writing.
Ben Chiarot, MON at TOR ($3,800): The good thing about playing with Shea Weber is that you're probably on the ice a lot, and because the opposition has to respect Weber's cannon, it also opens up other shooting lanes. Chiarot trails only Jeff Petry in shots, and at 2.3 Shots/GP is also firing them at a career-high rate.
