The President's Trophy-winning Florida Panthers got themselves swept out of the playoffs, so there is only one NHL game Wednesday. The Avalanche could eliminate the Blues. St. Louis could force a Game 6 at home. It's single-game competition time! You get $55,000 for five players for your lineup. One player is your captain, and they earn you 1.5 times the points. Here's a lineup that entices me.
CAPTAIN
Mikko Rantanen, COL vs. STL ($13,500): The Avalanche are at home, and Ville Husso has a 4.74 GAA and .847 save percentage over his last four starts. All in all, the odds are in favor of Colorado. Rantanen has a point in every game of this series, and he had 92 points in 75 games this season.
UTILITY
Nazem Kadri, COL vs. STL ($14,500): I trust Rantanen a bit more than Kadri, which is why he is my captain. However, Kadri is coming off a game where he had a hat trick plus an assist for good measure. Since returning from injury late in the season, the center has seven goals and seven assists in 14 games, plus 45 shots on net.
Ryan O'Reilly, STL at COL ($10,000): O'Reilly didn't have a point in Game 4, but it ended a seven-game point streak. He's tallied at least one point in 11 of his last 13 contests. O'Reilly, a former Avalanche player, is hot, and he's centering St. Louis' top line as well.
David Perron, STL at COL ($9,000): Perron has been all-or-nothing in the playoffs. Across 10 postseason games, he has five multipoint games and five with zero points. He also had 26 power-play points this season, and the Avalanche had the 15th-ranked penalty kill.
Artturi Lehkonen, COL vs. STL ($8,000): Since being dealt to the Avalanche, Lehkonen has been either on the second line next to Kadri, or on the first line next to Nathan MacKinnon. He's really kicked it up recently, as he has two goals and eight shots on net over the last two outings.
