As we come down the NHL DFS homestretch, we have a lighter playoff night we three games on tap. Two different teams can end their respective series tonight, with the third matchup a pivotal Game 5.

The Senators are one of the two teams with their backs against the wall, and they’ve received a spark from Craig Anderson in goal. The other team on the brink, the Penguins, have looked very “meh,” for lack of a scientific term: good enough to be competitive, but not really doing anything particularly well. It’s a very tough draw going back to Madison Square Garden needing to win. As for the Blues-Wild, it’s been a great punch-counter series as Sean noted the other day.

Storylines down, let’s get to the numbers and find some players to target in our DFS lineups tonight as we build a winner.

DFS Hockey Analysis – PIT @ NYR

Playoff Series Notes:

- Just when it looked like the Penguins had found their winning game strategy (Game 2), the Penguins reverted to a top-heavy, depleted team. Injuries on the backend have hurt, especially to elite puck mover Kris Letang, and the stout Ranger defense has completely neutralized Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

- While Crosby did play well in that Game 2, Malkin has been a bust – he has one shot-on-goal in his last two games, and five in the series. Unbelievable, and for Pittsburgh, unacceptable. The Rangers have utilized their strong defensive pairings to wipe him out of the gameplan, and he doesn’t have the strongest linemates to pick him up. Two months ago, David Perron playing next to Malkin would have made for a great stack. Now, the line is inept and being seriously overplayed.

- As I said earlier, the Penguins haven’t been completely outplayed: Corsi events are near even between the two teams this series (except, strangely enough, Game 2 which the Rangers held the advantage in, but lost). What the Rangers are doing are collapsing to suffocate Crosby/Malkin, and letting their superior depth players outplay Pittburgh’s depth players.

- The Rangers power play looked terrible in Game 4, so look for the Rangers to work on this area of their game. The Penguins are lucky the Ranger power play hasn’t been great, as Pittsburgh has taken a high number of bad penalties.

- Marc-Andre Fleury is playing well right now, but lack of offensive support makes him risky in cash games, but interesting GPP’s. We’ve seen Fleury win games before (and many more times, lose them), but the Penguin offense looks so bad it’s a gamble. If Derrick Pouliot returns at full speed (ie, not rushed back), Fleury becomes more interesting.