This article is part of our DraftKings NHL series.
Sunday, the Rangers and Hurricanes kicked off their second-round series. The other Eastern Conference clash begins Monday. It's an exciting one. Florida faces Boston in a rematch of last year's instant classic first-round series. The Panthers aren't surprising anybody in 2024, though. For single-game contests at DraftKings, you get $50,000 in salary to allot to six players. One is your Captain, who nets 1.5 times the points. However, the Captain's salary is also elevated as a result. The puck drops at 8 p.m. ET. Here is a lineup I quite like for Monday.
CAPTAIN
Carter Verhaeghe, FLA vs. BOS ($12,900): Let me lay things out for these two teams. The Panthers finished the regular season first in goals against average (GAA) and third in shots on net allowed per game. Boston was fifth in GAA. These two teams finished sixth and seventh in penalty-kill percentage. In the first round, Jeremy Swayman posted a 1.49 GAA and .950 save percentage. So, yeah, advantages will be hard to come by. However, the Bruins allowed 30.5 shots on net per game this season, which was below average. Verhaeghe had three multi-point games in the first round. He also put up a whopping 246 shots on net in 76 games this season. That's why he's my Captain.
FLEX
Sam Reinhart, FLA vs. BOS ($9,200): As you will see, my other four players are Bruins because Swayman was better in the first round than Sergei Bobrovsky. My top two guys, though, are Panthers. Specifically, Panthers who excel at getting pucks on target. Reinhart scored 57 goals this season. While his shooting percentage was quite high, he still put 233 shots on net to secure all those goals. He added three more goals to his tally in the first round while putting 23 shots on target over five games.
Brad Marchand, BOS at FLA ($8,400): Marchand has been held without a point for three games in a row, but he opened the first round with a four-game point streak. He's also secured 67 points in each of his last two seasons. I mentioned Bobrovsky wasn't great in the first round. Indeed, he had a 2.78 GAA and a .896 save percentage. The Russian had a 2.37 GAA and .915 save percentage this year. Five games don't tell us a ton, but it is our most recent look at Bobrovsky in action.
Charlie McAvoy, BOS at FLA ($8,000): McAvoy mostly dished out hits and blocked shots in the first round, specifically 32 of the former and 19 of the latter. That being said, he did add four assists. He skates a ton of minutes, and he's also on the top power-play unit. This season, McAvoy averaged 3:14 minutes per game with the extra man. The Panthers may have finished sixth on the penalty kill, but power-play time still offers upside in a single-game contest.
Pavel Zacha, BOS at FLA ($6,800): Zacha only had two points in the first round, but recorded 23 points over his final 20 regular-season games. Granted, that included several games versus teams not nearly as good as the Panthers, but it still shows he was in form. He also plays on a line with David Pastrnak, which is to his benefit.
James van Riemsdyk, BOS at FLA ($4,600): In terms of lower salary options, van Riemsdyk sticks out. The veteran plays on the third line these days, though he sees power-play time. He can still chip in offensively evidenced by the three points he scored over the final four games of the first round.
