Daily Fantasy Hockey Picks for FanDuel and DraftKings 4/27/17

Hello hockey fans and welcome to a preview of the awesome Eastern Conference semi-final matchups that are about to begin. The Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins face-off in a battle of the top two teams from the east and the Ottawa Senators and the New York Rangers square off in the other matchup. I will be giving you my insight and predictions for these two series'. Let's get started shall we?

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NEW YORK RANGERS VS. OTTAWA SENATORS

NYR Offense (4th) vs. OTT Defense (9th)

OTT Offense (19th) vs. NYR Defense (12th)

The Rangers took care of the Montreal Canadiens in the first round in six games. It was a close battle throughout the series, but Henrik Lundqvist proved that he is still an elite goalie and that he can carry his team on his back. The Rangers out-scored the Habs 14-11 with two of the six games going into overtime. The leading scorer for New York was Mika Zibanejad with a measley four points. He had a goal, three assists, and 16 shots. The boys in blue are tough to roster in cash games because they spread the love around so much, but if I were to recommend one player for safety in this series it would be Rick Nash as he had two goals, an assist and a whopping 23 shots on goal last series. For your tournament lineups, the top two lines are (1) Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan and Mats Zuccarello and (2) Jimmy Vesey, Mika Zibanejad and Rick Nash. If the Rangers all of a sudden find an offensive spark, then both of these lines are decent GPP plays. On the defensive end, Ryan McDonagh plays on the #1 PP so he's in play for GPP's and a nice cheap cash game play could be Nick Holden as he has three shots and seven blocks while averaging 20 minutes of ice-time in his last two games. As you can see, there isn't much to be excited about here.

The Senators, on the other hand, had a few stand-out players from a fantasy perspective against the Bruins. They defeated Boston in six games while outscoring them 15-13. Four of the six games went into overtime and one went into double overtime. Former Ranger Derek Brassard led the team in scoring with 2 goals and six assists, he fired 17 shots on goal and he is a great play in all formats at his fair prices. He will also be motivated to destroy the team who traded him for Mika Zibanejad. Bobby Ryan was second on the team in scoring with four goals and three assists to go along with 16 shots. From a PTS/$ perspective, he could be the top overall play in this series as he plays on the #1 PP unit.  My favorite line stack is the second line that consists of Bobby Ryan, Derek Brassard, and Viktor Stalberg and a contrarian stack is Ryan Dzingel, Kyle Turris, and Alexandre Burrows, which is actually listed as Ottawa's top line. On defense, Erik Karlsson is obviously the best play here and he's cheaper than he's  been all year on both sites. It was announced that he played through two hairline bone fractures in his heel in the first series, but it will be fully healed before round two starts on Thursday. He had only six assists in the first series to go along with 15 shots and 12 blocks. I say only because he could easily double those points in this series. Cody Ceci is a cheap punt play as he had seven shots and a whopping 23 blocked shots in the first series.

The Rangers won the regular season battle two games to one and they have won 10 out of the last 15 regular season meetings between the two teams. The Rangers also won the only playoff series 4-3 in 2012. Ottawa's goalie Craig Anderson is no Carey Price, but the Senators are a much better offensive team than Montreal was. Lundqvist and the Rangers should eventually take control of this series though with their all around depth and experience.

MY PREDICTION: Rangers in 6 games.

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS VS. WASHINGTON CAPITALS

PIT Offense (1st) vs. WSH Defense (1st)

WSH Offense (3rd) vs. PIT Defense (15th)

So much for Sergei Bobrovsky shutting the door on the Penguins. They made him look silly as they won easily in five games. Pittsburgh out-scored Columbus 21-13, so they did allow a few goals while on the road, but they dominated on home-ice in the series as they out-scored the Blue Jackets 12-4 in their home barn. Only one game went to overtime and that was in Columbus. Unlike the other Eastern Conference series, there should be plenty of goals scored between these two power-houses. Evgeni Malkin is almost impossible to fade at this point in all formats as he led the Penguins with 11 points (two goals, nine assists.) His line-mates Phil Kessel and Bryan Rust are also strong plays. Kessel had two goals, six assists and 19 shots on goal in the five-game series and a goal and four assists in his last two games. Rust had four goals on 15 shots in five games and two goals and eight shots in his last two games. Rust is my favorite value play here. On the first line, we have Sydney Crosby and Jake Guentzel. We don't know who is going to play with them yet, so that is irrelevant at this time. Connor Sheary has been struggling and isn't in play anymore in my opinion. Guentzel has been a pleasant surprise so far in the playoffs as he has five goals, an assist and 16 shots on goal. Sid the Kid has two goals, five assists, and 16 shots and look for him to crank it up a notch in this series. To be contrarian in GPP's, the third line is decent with Patrick Hornqvist, Scott Wilson, and Nick Bonino. They combined for six goals and an assist against Columbus and I especially like this line when they are on the road. The Capitals will try their very best to shut down the top two lines, which opens up more ice for the third line. On defense, Nick Schultz plays on the #1 PP unit, but he hasn't done much so far, so he's only good for GPP's for me. Saving money on defense is almost always the best strategy and Ian Cole has three assists, five shots, and 14 shots so far.

I keep trying to tell myself that Washington is due to make a long playoff run, but Pittsburgh is just too good. The Pens aren't the best on defense and Fleury can have a bad game now and then, but the Pens' #1 offense usually covers up any holes they have elsewhere. The two teams split the season series 2-2 and the Penguins beat the Capitals in six games last year in the playoffs. The Pens own the Caps overall in the playoffs with a record of 8-1. Look for the Penguins to steal a road victory at some point in Washington and then finish them off on home-ice.

My Prediction: Penguins in 6 games.

Hockey is back and with it comes our NHL projections which help inform these picks every night. When you purchase a DFSR NHL subscription to our base hockey projections you also get access to our brand new NFL DFS suite of tools including full projections, optimal NFL lineups, and our Player Lab, which includes filters to help you create NFL lineups for FanDuel and DraftKings for any format. It’s a set of tools well beyond anything we’ve ever had, and something we feel will help our users *ahem* tackle the NFL season.

If you want to see the numbers behind our projections, create lineups with a single click, or research as deeply as your heart desires, click the button below to test out yourself.