In daily fantasy hockey, stacking is a key strategy in tournaments. We want to correlate our lineups with up to four players to maximize our upside -- if one player on a line is scoring goals, it's likely that his linemates are getting assists, as well.
Ideally, we want players who will get a lot of ice time together on an even-strength line and a power-play line. Two good resources for line combinations are LeftWingLock.com and DailyFaceoff.com, so be sure to check those sites for updated line information.
We've got five games with some of the best offenses in action tonight. Let's look at three of the best stacks.
Toronto Maple Leafs
There's rarely a dull moment when things come to the Toronto Maple Leafs. They looked set to breeze into the playoffs -- and still will -- but things are not as smooth as they once looked. The good news for fantasy players is that the offense hasn't slowed down, and their games have just been creating better fantasy environments of late.
The Leafs luckily have Auston Matthews ($9,900) to try to outscore their defensive and goaltending problems. With 39 goals in 52 games, he's been able to do that quite often.
Mitchell Marner ($8,600) is on a six-game point streak. He has been clicking with Matthews and was named the NHL's first star of the month in February. Michael Bunting ($6,100) has been a great addition to the top line. He has 19 goals and 43 points despite not playing on the top power play with his other linemates.
You could consider the second line as a stack, as well. John Tavares ($7,000) broke a long goal-scoring drought on Saturday and could be ready to go on a run. William Nylander ($7,100) is tied for second on the team with 21 goals. These two will join Matthews and Marner for a stacked power play unit. Nick Robertson ($3,000) has been bumped up to this line and is a promising young player who you can play for the minimum salary.
Toronto will face off against the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight in what looks like a potential high-scoring affair. The game has a 7.0 over/under and the Leafs' implied team total is all the way up to 4.11 goals. With the way Leafs' games have been going of late, they might have the most upside of any team on a loaded slate tonight.
Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers had another eruption game on Saturday. They scored six goals for the 10th time this season. They get a great matchup which could see them do the same thing tonight.
The Panthers have been tricky to stack for a while now. That's because the correlations at even strength don't sync up on the power play for the most part. Aleksander Barkov ($9,400) is playing with Mason Marchment ($5,800) and Carter Verhaeghe ($5,300) at even strength. This line is affordable but has no power play correlation.
The second line at least gives us two players that play on the power play together. Jonathan Huberdeau ($8,500) and Anthony Duclair ($5,900) are great options who each have over 20 goals this season. Sam Bennett ($6,800) can be played with them for the full five-on-five line. You could also play Barkov with this line, as we have seen him center Huberdeau and Duclair late in games at times. This would also allow you to play Huberdeau and Barkov together, the two main pieces we want from Florida.
The Panthers are taking on the Buffalo Sabres on Monday. The Sabres are coming off a loss on Sunday and are 3-7-0 in their last 10 games. They've also allowed the sixth-most goals per game in the league.
Florida joins Toronto as teams with over four implied goals tonight. We can certainly consider using Aaron Ekblad ($5,900), too, as the defenseman has 14 goals and 49 points and is a good value for his salary.
The Panthers have been racking up goals all season long, and that probably won't change tonight.
Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames keep rolling on as serious contenders in the Western Conference. They beat the Colorado Avalanche on the road in a big test for them on Saturday. They'll face their arch enemies tonight in a huge game tonight.
Calgary's top line has been a great target all season. Elias Lindholm ($7,800) continues to be a quiet star, with 27 goals and 4 in his last three games. Matthew Tkachuk ($8,200) also has 27 goals but turned into a playmaker with three assists on Saturday. Johnny Gaudreau ($8,400) leads the team with 71 points and could be an MVP candidate with the way he and the Flames are going.
This line has dominated all season, scoring 51 goals at even strength. No other line has scored more than 31 at five-on-five this season.
Calgary will face their provincial rivals in the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers have not been completely fixed under new coach Jay Woodcroft. They just got beat by the Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens and allowed nine goals in those two games. They are also the seventh-worst team on the penalty kill, which could be bad if they give Calgary a lot of power plays in this rivalry game which tends to see a fair share of penalties.
The Flames are a possession-dominant team that can really hurt the Oilers. Their implied team total tonight is only behind the Leafs and Panthers, and they might go under the radar a bit compared to those two teams.
Nicholas Vazquez is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Nicholas Vazquez also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username hbyanksman. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.