3 Daily Fantasy NHL Stacks for Thursday 5/12/22

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.

This could be the last four-game slate of the season, so let's break down the options we have to stack tonight.

Tampa Bay Lightning

The Tampa Bay Lightning are in an unfamiliar position. They have their backs against the wall and are facing elimination. They haven't lost consecutive playoff games over their last two seasons en route to winning back-to-back Stanley Cups, and they'll need that streak to continue for them to stay alive tonight.

Even in the loss in Game 5, Tampa's best players performed well. Nikita Kucherov ($9,600) dished out two assists and also had six shots on goal. Steven Stamkos ($8,100) scored a goal for the second consecutive game and also put five shots on net. Victor Hedman ($7,400) also had a goal and now has seven points in five games in this series. This is the main trio you should use if stacking the Lightning.

You can throw in Ondrej Palat ($4,100), as he plays at even strength with these guys, or add Brayden Point ($6,100) for another piece on the power play.

Tampa Bay has been able to find offense against the Toronto Maple Leafs in this series despite being down three games to two. They should be able to dictate the matchups here just like they did in Game 4 in which they won 7-3. Toronto doesn't necessarily have the best personnel to get a good matchup against the Kucherov line, and coach John Cooper will do his best to exploit that.

The Lightning carry the second-highest implied team total on the slate tonight, and if they play like they did in their last home game, they could easily be what you need to take down a tournament.

Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild are another team with their season on the line tonight. They lost Game 5 at home and now need to get the job done on the road. The good news is that they have one of the top players in the playoffs, who is absolutely on fire right now and can be useful in a win or a loss.

Minnesota's hopes may rest on Kirill Kaprizov ($9,400). He's been great with seven goals in his last four games. Ryan Hartman ($5,900) hasn't scored yet, but he has obviously benefited from playing with Kaprizov and has five assists in this series. Mats Zuccarello ($6,600) only has four points in five games, but he's playing with Kaprizov across the board, so he definitely can be played with the Russian star.

We finally saw a nice game from Kevin Fiala ($6,900) on Tuesday, as he picked up assists on both of Kaprizov's goals. He's been a streaky player throughout his career and his role on the top power play definitely makes him a viable play tonight. Joel Eriksson Ek ($5,000) also fits the bill as a nice power play option, and he already has three goals in this series.

The Wild's offense tends to be concentrated among the top guys, especially Kaprizov. This makes it easier to have a good idea about where the goals are coming from and build around those players. Minnesota is a slight underdog on the road but definitely will be competitive in this matchup against the St. Louis Blues.

Edmonton Oilers

We go to our third team who lost on Tuesday and now faces elimination. The Edmonton Oilers had a furious comeback to tie Game 5, only to lose early in overtime. They are making some changes to their lines, which could result in a big night for fantasy purposes.

The Oilers were in desperation mode late in the game on Tuesday. That caused them to put Connor McDavid ($10,100) with Leon Draisaitl ($10,000) at even strength, and it worked like a charm. McDavid finished with a goal and two assists while Draisaitl bagged two goals and added a helper. It looks like this line will stick together with Kailer Yamamoto ($4,200) being the third piece. He can add necessary salary relief to this line stack that you will probably need, even if he isn't on the top power play.

Another piece on the Oilers to consider tonight would be Tyson Barrie ($4,600). He's at a fairly affordable salary and will play on the top power play. He also should see a bump in even-strength ice time with Darnell Nurse suspended for this game.

We haven't seen McDavid and Draisaitl play together much since Jay Woodcroft took over. We saw how dominant they can be last game and playing together for the whole game could lead to explosive results.

The oddsmakers still have the Oilers as the biggest favorites on the slate, and they have the highest implied team total tonight. They are great options once again considering they have two of the best players in the league playing together in all situations.

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.