NHL Daily Fantasy Helper: Monday 5/6/19

A good chunk of you played daily fantasy football this year, and I'd be willing to bet a significant portion have also tried out daily fantasy basketball and baseball. But hockey? Hockey?

It's time to give it a try over on FanDuel because it's a ton of fun.

And our analysis and projections can help you win. To help, let's take a look at some goalies, high-priced skaters, and lower-priced players to target for today's slate.

Goalie to Target

Sergei Bobrovsky ($7,700): Bobrovsky starts for the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night against the Boston Bruins. Bobrovksy was hit hard for four goals and lost his cool a few times in the third period of Game 5 on Saturday night. The goalie faced 36 shots with at least 25 scoring chances and 10 high-danger chances as well. Those are scary numbers reminiscent of Game 1. Bobrovsky happens to be the lowest-priced goalie on the slate, though, which seems odd. Consider that he could face the most or second-most shots on the slate and there is a recipe to save some money on Monday night.

High-Priced Skaters

Nathan MacKinnon ($8,900): The San Jose Sharks found a clever way to slow down MacKinnon on Saturday night. This involved keeping Erik Karlsson away from MacKinnon as much as possible and switching up some defensive pairings. Also, they played a bit of zone coverage on the center and it worked. MacKinnon managed just one shot on net and one scoring chance. Needless to say, the Colorado Avalanche center was seething on the bench at the end of Game 5. Expect a big impact to come from MacKinnon for Game 6 as Colorado will double and triple shift him if necessary to turn the matchups in their favor. Tomas Hertl ($7,500) expects to play a lot of minutes as well and is a viable option after scoring two goals in Game 5 and having seven scoring chances.

David Pastrnak ($8,600): Pastrnak rose from the ashes and though he still does not quite look 100%, the winger has been better in the last couple games, averaging 32 FanDuel points per contest. His shot still does not quite have the same zip, but the winger is finding space that he did not have in the early portion of the series. Has Columbus settled into a bad pattern? That is the question. This happened against Washington last year, where they lost three straight games to drop the series. Columbus had problems with the top Capitals line similar to the Bruins' first trio. Boston has several options that can be played, but a Columbus counter may be Artemi Panarin ($7,700). If Panarin does not come up with a better effort, Columbus will be on the golf course Tuesday.

Value Skaters

Matthew Nieto ($4,000): Nieto shockingly was one of Colorado's most dangerous players in Game 5 with three scoring chances and three shots on net. Again, his speed on the outside was giving San Jose some considerable problems from time to time. As the game goes on in altitude on Monday, Nieto may get a few more quality chances than usual. San Jose faltered badly in Game 4 and might again in Game 6, especially if Colorado can start playing their brand of downhill hockey. That starts with players like Nieto chasing down pucks and using that speed to create matchup problems. Ryan Dzingel ($4.000) is one option from Columbus who looked like the forward we saw in Ottawa, and Joonas Donskoi ($3,100) may be worth a flier at his price, especially if he gets any top-six ice time at even strength for the Sharks.

David Savard ($3,900): Savard has this amazing knack of hitting his floor and then value. He has done this in 11 of his last 15 games dating back to the tail end of the regular season. Game 5 saw the defenseman exceed those numbers with an assist, two shots, two scoring chances, and five blocks. Matthew Grzelcyk ($3,800) has been dangerous all series long for Boston as he generates at least two to three scoring chances per contest.

Chris Wassel is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Chris Wassel also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username chriswassel. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel