Welcome to the Thursday edition of the daily fantasy hockey morning coffee. After a small four-game slate last night we’re back with a nice nine-game slate to work with for our daily fantasy hockey needs. There are three games I’ll look for the basis of much of my roster construction tonight:
Dallas Stars @ Boston Bruins (Boston, -235, 6 over/under)
Anaheim Ducks @ Winnipeg Jets (Anaheim, -115, 5.5 over/under)
San Jose Sharks @ Edmonton Oilers (Edmonton, -130, 5 over/under)
The first team I have interest in tonight are the Boston Bruins. Tonight the Bruins host a Stars team that has allowed a league fifth-worst 3.24 goals against per game since the All-Star break. Things haven’t been much better for Dallas this month as they have allowed 38 goals over the span of 13 games. Over their past 10 games Dallas has a SCA/60 rate of 27.76 — 12th-highest in the NHL. While Dallas has looked better recently in terms of keeping the puck out of the net they still have a team save percentage of just .901 percent this month. We also have a situation where one team, the Stars, are out of the playoffs while Boston still has not secured the final Wild Card spot. The overall recent stats can also be a bit deceiving as Dallas has played Vancouver, San Jose and New Jersey — all teams in the bottom-tier of the NHL in terms of goals scored. On the road Dallas has an xGA/60 of 2.93 while Boston has xGF/60 of 2.77 at home.
Since the All-Star break Boston has scored a league-best 3.61 goals for game, this includes a power play that has clicked at a league third-best 26.8 percent. This month Boston has scored a league fourth-best 3.23 goals for per game and over their past 10 games have the third-best CF% in the NHL at 55.05 percent.
Our Boston Stacks:
Line 1: Brad Marchand $7.7K / Patrice Bergeron $7.2K / David Backes $4.8K
Line 2: Drew Stafford $3.5K / David Krejci $5.7K / David Pastrnak $6.8K
Power Play Stack: Brad Marchand $7.7K / Patrice Bergeron $7.2K / David Pastrnak $6.8K / Ryan Spooner $4.4K / Torey Krug $5.1K
While Dallas has had a terrible time putting the puck in the net recently — they have averaged just 2.38 goals per game over their past 13 games — Boston might, might, be a team we can pick on in tournaments. While Boston has shown more offense since changing coaches they still have allowed 2.83 goals against per game since the All-Star break. After their performance against Nashville where they showed a great effort to block shots and more attention to team defense, this is still the same team that was on a recent four-game losing streak where they allowed 7, 4, 3 and 6 goals. I fully expect Boston to take care of business on home ice tonight, but a Dallas tournament stack would pay dividends, especially in a large $3 tournament as I don’t believe anyone will be on Dallas at all. Rask looked sharp against Nashville on Tuesday night but over his past five games he’s 1-4-0, with 16 goals allowed and a terrible .867 save percentage.
Our Dallas Tournamnet Stacks: