This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
Canada earned a tough 4-3 overtime victory over Sweden to open the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament. The tournament continues today with the USA versus Finland. Here are my FanDuel DFS lineup recommendations for that match.
SLATE PREVIEW
As was the case yesterday, this is a one-game slate, so the rules are the same: You're building a lineup of five players with a $55,000 budget. You can pick one player as your Captain, who will earn 1.5 times the points.
CAPTAIN
Kyle Connor, USA at FIN ($14,000): I gave serious thought to Auston Matthews ($14,500), but ultimately maneuvering everyone I wanted into my budget necessitated some adjustments, which led to me grabbing the slightly cheaper Connor. Besides, Connor's been stellar this season with 30 goals and 69 points in 56 appearances. He's also projected to play alongside Jack Eichel ($13,000) and Matthew Tkachuk ($11,000) – two Stanley Cup winners who should rise to the occasion in a tournament where every game is important.
UTILITY
Jack Hughes, USA at FIN ($12,500): Hughes is having another strong campaign with 24 goals and 65 points in 57 outings. He's also red-hot going into this tournament, having been held off the scoresheet just once over his past eight appearances. He's accumulated six goals and 10 points in that span.
Matthew Tkachuk, USA at FIN ($11,000): As noted above, Tkachuk will be playing alongside fellow Stanley Cup winner Eichel and top-tier forward Connor, so the 27-year-old Tkachuk has been put in a fantastic position to succeed. He has 22 goals and 57 points in 52 outings in 2024-25. He tends to perform in high-stakes games, supplying 17 goals and 46 points across 44 playoff outings over the past two postseasons.
Zach Werenski, USA at FIN ($9,500): Werenski is having the best campaign of his career with 17 goals and 59 points in 55 appearances. He has plenty of elite forwards to feed the puck to with Team USA and should play a key role with the man advantage.
Patrik Laine, FIN vs. USA ($8,000): You have to select at least one player on each team, otherwise I might have avoided Finland tonight, just because of how dominant Team USA starter Connor Hellebuyck (2.06 GAA, .925 save percentage) has been this campaign. That said, Laine is an interesting pick because of how much upside he has. The 26-year-old is an incredibly streaky goal scorer. It would be equally believable if he finished the tournament MVP or if he's held off the scoresheet entirely. Laine was cold going into the tournament with zero points and a -9 rating across his past eight appearances with Montreal, but he's capable of turning things around in a hurry.
