3 Daily Fantasy NHL Stacks for Tuesday 1/18/22
In daily fantasy hockey, stacking is a key strategy in tournaments. We want to correlate our lineups with up to four players to maximize our upside, as if one player on a line is scoring goals, it's likely that his linemates are getting assists as well. Ideally, we'll want players that will get a lot of ice time together on an even strength line and a power play line. Two good resources for line combinations are LeftWingLock.com and DailyFaceoff.com, so be sure to check those sites for updated line information.
It's a fun slate with eight games tonight, so let's look at the best stacks.
Ottawa Senators
It's pretty surprising that the Ottawa Senators will be a popular stack tonight if you consider how poorly they played earlier in the season. They've been better in their last 10 games, going 6-3-1. They also score more than most of the bottom feeders in the league, and they have a great matchup tonight.
Ottawa's first line has been good throughout the season despite how the team has played. Drake Batherson ($7,000) leads the team with 30 points and was just named to his first all-star game. Josh Norris ($7,300) scored two goals on Saturday, bringing him to a team-leading 16 on the season. Brady Tkachuk ($6,700) has the lowest salary on this line, but we know that he has upside to score goals as he's always in front of the net. This line is fully correlated on the power play, which could lead to a big night.
The Senators will face the Buffalo Sabres, who are on the second night of a back-to-back. The Sabres have allowed the sixth-most goals per game and are really struggling with the health of their goalies. They are starting Michael Houser in net. He has played four career NHL games and allowed 4.16 goals above expected in them.
Ottawa went out west and put up 10 goals in a short two-game road trip, so they shouldn't have a ton of trouble against Buffalo. The Sens have an implied team total of 3.5 goals, which is one of the highest on this slate.
Florida Panthers
Most fantasy gamers have liked the Florida Panthers all season long -- and for good reason. They are one of two teams to average more than four goals per game. They took it to another level this weekend, scoring a stunning 16 goals over two games.
The Panthers' top two lines have been getting the job done. Aleksander Barkov ($9,400) has eight points in his last five games. He's playing alongside Carter Verhaeghe ($5,600), who has five goals in his last four outings. The relative newcomer to this line is Sam Reinhart ($7,200), who has multi-point outings in three of his last four games.
The second line was driving the bus in those big performances over the weekend. Jonathan Huberdeau ($9,500) had eight points in those two games and has 21 points across his last 10 games. Anthony Duclair ($6,400) leads the team in goals despite missing eight games and not playing on the top power play for most of the season. Sam Bennett ($6,700) had a hat trick on Friday and will be making his return to Calgary after requesting a trade and then turning his career around with the Panthers.
Normally we avoid teams against Calgary, but things may be changing. The Flames have allowed at least four goals in six of their last seven games, and they allowed six when they played the Panthers just two weeks ago. Florida has one of the highest implied team totals on the night, so oddsmakers are not worried about this matchup.
Florida's top power play has Barkov and Reinhart with Huberdeau and Duclair. You can stack up these four forwards to have two from each of the top lines and then the four forwards on the power play, creating a high-powered stack.
New York Islanders
Going a bit off the board for a value stack, we can look at the New York Islanders. They haven't been a fun team to stack all season, but that could make them fly under the radar in a good spot tonight.
Unsurprisingly, the Islanders are led in points by Mathew Barzal ($6,600). He's playing alongside Anders Lee ($5,300), who's second on the team with 10 goals. This line now has Kieffer Bellows ($4,200) on it, and he's a talented youngster who could do well with the increased opportunity. Lee and Barzal correlate on the top power play and could connect on a goal or two there.
The second line also offers a lot of value. Brock Nelson ($5,800) leads the team with 11 goals despite missing nine games this season. He's playing with Anthony Beauvillier ($4,200) and Josh Bailey ($4,700) in what is a modest-salaried, fully-correlated line.
They have a great matchup to produce a lot of fantasy points. The Islanders will play the Philadelphia Flyers for the second night in a row. New York put up 3.75 expected goals in the game last night. This was nothing new for the Flyers, who allow the most expected goals and most high-danger chances per 60 minutes.
The Islanders don't immediately leap off the page as a must-stack, but the value they provide is excellent. They can be stacked with either of the two teams we covered above or alongside squads like the Washington Capitals Dallas Stars or Tampa Bay Lightning.
Nicholas Vazquez is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Nicholas Vazquez also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username hbyanksman. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
