We have only one game in the NHL on Thursday. If Vegas wins at home, it moves on to face Montreal in the semifinals. If Colorado wins, the series moves to Game 7. For daily fantasy purposes, here is how Yahoo's single-game contests go. You get $125 of salary for five players. One player is your "Superstar" worth 1.5 times the points.
Here is a lineup that entices me from the options Thursday...
SUPERSTAR
Mark Stone, VGK vs. COL ($30): Stone, a Selke finalist, has a real defensive load to handle. That doesn't stop him from having offensive success, though. He had 61 points in 53 games this season. On top of that, the 29-year-old has a three-game point streak. Clearly trying to shut down Colorado's top line hasn't stopped him from getting on the score sheet.
FLEX
Marc-Andre Fleury, VGK vs. COL ($32): I wanted to have Fleury in my lineup, but I didn't want to make a goalie my Superstar. Right now, Fleury is definitely the goalie to go with between him and Philipp Grubauer, especially with this game in Vegas. He has a 1.81 GAA and .925 save percentage in the playoffs. On top of that, the Golden Knights have been by far the best team at suppressing shots this postseason. They've allowed a mere 25.3 shots on net per contest.
Gabriel Landeskog, COL at VGK ($29): Landeskog was moved off the top line for Game 5, but in a weird way that's maybe not a bad thing. Like I said, Stone and Vegas' top line have been tasked with shutting down Nathan MacKinnon's line. They had a lot of success with that at home, getting last change and all. If Stone and company are facing MacKinnon's line, Landeskog will avoid that by being on the second line. Oh, and the Colorado captain also had 52 points in 54 games, so he's quite good offensively of course.
Jonathan Marchessault, VGK vs. COL ($22): I'm surprised that Marchessault's salary is this low, because he's been the hottest offensive player on either team recently. He has a point in every game in this series, including a hat trick on seven shots on net in Game 4. Marchessault has been active all postseason long though, as he has 43 shots on goal in 12 contests.
Valeri Nichushkin, COL at VGK ($12): My lineup is top heavy, so I needed a player on a lower salary to finish things off. You never know who might pop up and be a playoff hero. There's some reason to think Nichushkin could be the guy. He's on Colorado's second line, for one. The Russian had a three-game point streak earlier in the postseason too. However, what really got my attention was how active he was in Game 5. Nichushkin played 19:47 and racked up five shots on goal and two blocked shots.
