Our secret prediction was both amazingly accurate yet hilariously wrong. We suggested Nicolas Roy at the end of the article because he had earned himself third line center duties and scored a goal the previous game. Our prediction was that he would get even more minutes and capitalize on them. Well, he did score a goal but actually played over two whole minutes less and the goal was in overtime. It is kind of like having eggs Benedict all over our face. Delicious.
The Tampa Bay Lightning may have met their match in the New York Islanders. They go back to Tampa with the series tied at two. Goaltending on both ends has been great and forward depth continues to shine on each side. Defenses continue to block shots, generate chances, and just make life difficult for the opposing offense. This will be a very mixed bag of players today since we are looking at darn near a coin flip for who will win.
Here’s a mixed lineup For DFS Hockey 6/21/21 (using DraftKings Values)
| Captain | Point/Barzal | ~$14,000 | |
| Flex | Stamkos/Nelson | ~$8,000 | |
| Flex | |||
| Flex | |||
| Flex | |||
| Flex | $2,000 |
The top line centers for both teams scored a goal last game. Brayden Point is now on a seven game streak. That has to end some time, right? Mat Barzal picked up his game as we thought he would and will run you $1,200 cheaper. Rather than pick who you think might play better, just go with your gut on which team you think will come out on top.
This is not exactly an apples to apples comparison but we are choosing between Steven Stamkosand Brock Nelson for our next guy. Stammer has been having a very quiet series and that may be a key reason why Tampa has not locked this series down. Nelson on the other hand seems to have an every other game thing going on. He popped off last game with an assist and five shots so does he continue that streak and go cold today?
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•A fourth liner who has been playing out of his mind
•Defense thoughts on who will round out your roster
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Let us go straight to the big boys on defense. Erik Cernak is a guy who we have been saying we would talk about more and here we are. He has not been blocking as many shots as usual but he has turned that into two assists in the last two games. We think he has a big game coming up where he gets all the blocks, shots and maybe even a goal. The one time we leave Adam Pelech off our list he does just that. Pelech had two assists and four shots on net and almost got 20 fantasy points. These two are great comparables.
Do you stack Anthony Cirelli with Stamkos or Josh Bailey with Nelson? We find it hard to believe that Tampa’s second line can stay quiet for much longer. They are going home and need to make their mark on this series. The Isle’s second line does not have as high a ceiling but they are very consistent in both their ability to shut down the other side and come out on top on the scoresheet.
Our bargain basement deal of the day is Cal Clutterbuck. At the cheapest price possible you have a fourth line grinder who also excels at getting the puck out of his own end and generating some sort of chance on offense. He has three points in his last two games and there is no reason not to boost the average price of the rest of your players by taking him.
It looks like a lot of heatwave is cooling down for most of the U.S. and we hope you made it through alright. At the very least we have hockey to keep us sane, or crazy if your team is still in it. Either way enjoy your week and hit us up on Twitter (@FantasyDFSX) if you need anything. Peace.
