This article is part of our DraftKings NHL series.
Monday may not be a big holiday, but President's Day means afternoon hockey. There are six games on the slate for the NHL, including two that start at 1 p.m. ET. DraftKings is including all six games for the main docket of contests, so be prepared to get your lineups in early! These are my lineup recommendations for the holiday hockey action.
SLATE PREVIEW
There are two teams on the second leg of a back-to-back Monday. One is the Jets, who are visiting the Rangers. The other is the Senators, who are visiting the Bruins. Oh, and the Senators are likely going to be starting their fourth-string goalie due to injury…against perhaps the NHL's best offense.
GOALIES
Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA vs. ANA ($8,500): Bobrovsky is coming off of an auspiciously-bad start, but even so over his last 10 appearances he has a 2.68 GAA and .921 save percentage. This matchup is perfect for getting back on track. The Ducks have averaged 2.46 goals per game, 31st in the NHL.
Philipp Grubauer, SEA at SAN ($8,000): Having started the last four games for the Kraken, I am expecting Grubauer in net for this one (though maybe Martin Jones will get a chance to play his former team if the Kraken coaching staff is feeling saucy). Grubauer, for his part, has an 1.84 GAA and .928 save percentage over his last eight starts. The Sharks, meanwhile, have put up 2.96 goals per game, which ranked 23rd.
VALUE PLAYS/ONE-OFFS
Anders Lee, NYI at PIT ($5,200): Lee now has Bo Horvat as his center, and he has five points and 15 shots on net in his last five games. On the year, Lee has averaged 3:14 per game with the extra man as well, with 11 power-play points to his name. The Penguins have allowed 34.1 shots on net per contest, bottom five in the NHL, and Tristan Jarry has been slow to return from injury. That has left Casey DeSmith and his .904 save percentage in net.
Matty Beniers, SEA at SAN ($4,900): It took Beniers a little time to get into the swing of things after getting hurt right before the All-Star break, but he has two points in each of his last two games. Also, of his 40 points, only eight have come on the power play. Why does that matter? Because the Sharks have the second-ranked penalty kill, but a 3.65 GAA overall.
FORWARD LINE STACKS
Bruins vs. Senators
David Krejci (C - $4,400), David Pastrnak (W - $9,600), Pavel Zacha (W - $3,800)
Pastrnak, clearly, carries a lofty salary, but he's one of the five best offensive players in the NHL, so that's fair. Plus, his presence helps lift this line, and there is more upside in Krejci and Zacha at their salaries. As to this matchup, like I said, the Senators are down to two inexperienced goalies that had been in the AHL prior to being called up. Mads Sogaard started Sunday, leaving Kevin Mandolese to start this game. He's made exactly one NHL start in his lifetime. Admittedly, he made 46 saves on 48 shots against the Islanders, but it is hard to believe he can do that again. If that was the level of goalie Ottawa could expect, he wouldn't be playing second fiddle to Sogaard, would he?
After a year off, Krejci has returned to the NHL and put up 43 points in 50 games. His power-play production has disappeared, but the Senators have a top-10 penalty kill, so that's not likely to hurt him. The Czech has managed 15 points in his last 16 games with zero coming on the power play. Pastrnak has 29 power-play points but, you know, he scores in all sorts of ways. The 26-year-old has 39 goals and 36 assists in 55 games, and he's put a whopping 264 shots on net. Zacha completes this line of Czechia-born players. He's also been hot recently, tallying eight goals and five assists in his last 13 games. His 38 points may be a career high, but he's never played with linemates like this before.
Panthers vs. Ducks
Aleksander Barkov (C - $6,700), Sam Reinhart (W - $5,500), Anton Lundell (W - $4,100)
Anaheim's offense bodes well for Bobrovsky, but its defense bodes just as well for Florida's forwards. The Ducks have a 4.16 GAA and have given up 39.2 shots on net per contest. Both of those rank last in the NHL, unsurprisingly. Anaheim is a long way from home facing the team that puts the most shots on net per game. The Panthers' offensive prowess starts here, with their first line.
Barkov has tallied 50 points and 142 shots on net in 48 games. While 22 of those points have come on the power play, the Ducks have a bottom-five penalty kill. In each of Reinhart's last two outings he's scored a goal and put five shots on net. He's also on Florida's top power-play unit, and he's tallied nine goals and nine assists with the extra man. Lundell doesn't play as much on the power play, but that hasn't stopped him from having 12 points in his last 15 games. On the year he only has a 7.1 shooting percentage, so he hasn't even gotten good puck luck this year.
DEFENSEMEN
Brandon Montour, FLA vs. ANA ($5,900): The Panthers are a dying breed: A team that plays two defenseman on the top power-play unit. However, when they produce like Aaron Ekblad and Montour, why mess with a good thing? Montour has averaged a robust 4:16 per game on the power play and has 19 points with the extra man. He also shoots quite a bit for a defenseman, putting 165 shots on net in 57 games.
Rasmus Andersson, CGY vs. PHI ($5,600): Since returning from, ahem, being hit by a car, Andersson has an assist in each of his last two games. All in all, he has 36 points in 53 games, including 16 on the power play. The Flyers rank 23rd on the penalty kill, and Carter Hart has a .910 save percentage on the season, not to mention a .906 save percentage in his career.
