Written by LineStar Fantasy Life Coach @ZeroInDenver. Got NHL DFS questions or want to see something covered in this newsletter? Hit me up in LineStar Chat.

Welcome back to the NHL Hat Trick.

There's 10 games on the schedule tonight. Here's high-level data for each of the slates today:

As always, large slates can be intimidating, especially if you're playing a few lineups. I've made the recommendation before that you should see what you can eliminate. Remember taking a test in school, if you don't know the right answer, try to start by eliminating what you know are wrong answers. I usually start by focusing on teams that could score a bucket of goals. Below are my teams projected to score the most goals tonight and give up the most goals. Start with this, and it can cut your player pool almost instantly by half. It's certainly not perfect, and isn't a set in stone rule, but a good guide.

Let's look at my favorites on the slate:

Goaltending

Playing cash games? Fill in your goalie spot first. Playing tournaments? Fill your skater positions and pick the goaltender with the biggest upside for the least amount of salary. Here are my three favorite goaltenders on the night:

Pekka Rinne, NSH (vs COL) (DK: $8K, FD: $9.2K)

Last night I had Andersen in my top spot and even though he let in a couple goals, he made up for it with saves and the win. Same logic tonight. Colorado is playing well, but Nashville is a tough place to play if you're the visiting team. Rinne's numbers over the past month have been outstanding as well. I feel fine rolling him in both cash and GPP lineups.

Louis Domingue, TB (vs ANH) (DK: $8.3K, FD: $8.6K)

I'm not proud putting Domingue here. He's done well filling in for Vasilevskiy but I feel there's regression coming. Still, I like him if you're able to fit him in and he should pick up a win bonus tonight.

Mikko Koskinen, EDM (vs DAL) (DK: $7.5K, FD: $8K)

There's no one I'm thrilled about in the lower-salary tier tonight, but I'm willing to risk it with Koskinen. His numbers aren't great, but they're not terrible either. He should see plenty of shot volume and I'm willing to risk it against basically a one-line Dallas team.

#BiscuitInTheBasketWatchList 🚨

For those of you who aren’t familiar with hockey, “biscuit in the basket” is a term for scoring a goal. Here I’m going to give a center, wing, and defensemen for the top and value pricing tiers that I think has a good chance to score a goal. Remember - I gave some tips last week on numbers that I look for, and these players check most (if not all my boxes):

Sean Couturier: PHI - C (DK: $5.9K, FD: $6.5K)

There are a lot of top-tier centers on the night, and I wouldn't try to talk you off of any of them, but I think Couturier is the best value for centers on the night. He gets a great matchup against an Ottawa team that played last night and is giving up 4.5 goals a game over their past 5 games.

Kyle Connor: WPG - LW (DK: $6.8K, FD: $6K)

Connor has a 63 CF% with 6 shot attempts (2 high-danger) and 3.8 shots on net a night over his past 5 games. Solid matchup against a Pittsburgh team that is giving up 3.09 goals a game over their past 10.

Patrick Kane: CHI - RW (DK: $7.6K, FD: $8.2K)

This is a big contrarian as Fleury has been good and Laine is probably the best winger on the slate tonight. But Kane has been averaging 7.6 shot attempts (1.6 high danger) and 3.8 shots on net over his past 5 games.

Matt Dumba: MIN - D (DK: $6.1K, FD: $5.7K)

Dumba has made some DFS dreams come true for me so far this season and he's in a good spot again tonight against a Yotes team giving up 3.77 goals a game over their last 10. Dumba has a 60 CF% and averaging 7.6 shot attempts with 4.6 shots on net a game.

Value Sticks 💲

Similar to the biscuit-in-the-basket watch list, in this section I’ll provide a center, wing, and defensemen who are priced in the value tier. If I can find someone under priced on both sites, I’ll highlight them. But in some cases, it could be site specific.

Jeff Carter: LAK - C (DK: $4.6K, FD: $5.6K)

Vancouver gets Boeser back tonight, but they've still been averaging 3.97 goals allowed over their last 10. Carter has been averaging 2.8 shots on 20 minutes of ice time a night and plays on the top powerplay unit for the Kings.

Kevin Fiala: NSH - LW (DK: $4.4K, FD: $4K)

As an Avs fan, I don't have a lot of confidence in Varlamov on the road, which is why I have a lot of interest in Nashville across the board tonight. Fiala is a solid value play as he has a 63 CF% with 5.4 shot attempts and 3 shots on net over his past 5 games.

Ondrej Kase: ANH - RW (DK: $4.8K, FD: $4K)

Remember how I said that Domingue is due to regress? That's why I like Kase tonight. He's been averaging 5.8 shot attempts (2.2 high danger) and 3.8 shots on net a night over the past 5 games.

Justin Faulk: CAR- D (DK: $5K, FD: $4.5K)

Faulk has been averaging 6.8 shot attempts and 3 shots on net a game in over 22 minutes of ice time over his past 5 games.

Bottom of the Barrel

I did this last season, and I’ll do it again this season. These are the players in the bottom of the salary barrel but are in a good spot tonight.

Nick Bonino: NSH - C (DK: $3.6K, FD: $3.8K)

Nino Niederreiter: MIN - LW (DK: $3.7K, FD: $4.6K)

Bobby Ryan: OTT - RW (DK: $3.4K, FD: $4.6K)

Ben Hutton: VAN - D (DK: $3.7K, FD: $4K)

Line Stacks

Line stacking is a common strategy in GPP. You’ll see a lot of winning lineups where players are stacked from the same forward lines or power play lines.

Here are my three favorite stacks on the night:

PHI:  Giroux-Sean Couturier-Konecny (DK: $18K, FD: $19.6K)

Favorite stack of the night. Will be higher-owned but should be worth it tonight.

WPG: Ehlers-Scheifele-Wheeler: (DK: $17.7K, FD: $20.5K)

I mentioned before that the Penguins are giving up over 3 goals a game and this line is one of the highest-ranking lines in my personal model. In fact, I'll have both of the top two lines from Winnipeg in play tonight, but I prefer this one slightly.

TBL: Johnson-Point-Kucherov: (DK: $20.6K, FD: $21.9K)

This stack is expensive, but Anaheim's defense has been pretty bad since losing Lindholm and Fowler to injury. Anaheim is allowing 60.2 shot attempts a game (second worst on the slate) and 3.13 goals a game over their last 10 games.

Risk-It-For-The-Biscuit Stack 🍪

CAR: Martinook-Wallmark-Svechnikov (DK: $13.1K, FD: $10.3K)

I've really liked watching Svechnikov recently. He's generating a lot of scoring chances and combined, this line is generating 6 high danger shot attempts a game. Not much needed for them to hit value.

Good luck today! Tag me in the LineStar Chat @ZeroInDenver if you have any questions or feedback. Follow me on Twitter @ZeroInDenver.