There are just three days left in the NHL season and the races to the playoffs and playoff positioning are in full gear. There are 11 games in the NHL tonight and many of them have major playoff implications. For daily fantasy hockey tonight, and deciding which teams will win and score, we can throw away a lot of the season-long stats and past results at this point, as everything comes down to - “who wants it more?”

In today’s DFS hockey article we’ll analyze all the games and break down the teams and players to target in your cash game (50/50, head-to-head) and GPP tournament lineups. Included in the article are top plays, value plays and sample FanDuel lineups for cash games and GPP tournaments.

Top Team to Target Tonight for Daily Fantasy Hockey

Tampa Bay Lightning – The Lightning are the league’s top scoring team this year and they’re big favorites tonight in a home game against New Jersey. A win for Tampa Bay is a near-lock, and they should score several goals in this game as well. Although New Jersey is an above average team defensively this season, they’ve been much weaker on the road. The Lightning have two great scoring lines (Steven Stamkos - Ryan Callahan - Jonathan Drouin and Tyler Johnson - Ondrej Palat - Nikita Kucherov) and both could be stacked in separate tournament lineups. The edge goes to the second line as they’ve had many big games this season that have led people to GPP wins. For cash game lineups, grabbing a forward from each line is a good strategy. On defense, both Anton Stralman and Nikita Nesterov are good plays as well.

Recommended Players for FanDuel

TOP GOALTENDER PLAYS

Ben Bishop ($9,800) – Bishop has been outstanding at home all season, with a 25-6-1 record, a 2.13 goals against average and a .925 save percentage. The Lightning have a big home game against the Devils, who have nothing to play for as their season concludes. New Jersey has averaged only two goals per game in the second half of the season, and have just five goals scored in their past three games. Bishop is the top play tonight in goal, and the best choice for cash game lineups.

Ondrej Pavelec ($8,100) – The Jets have been on an incredible run over the past month to get to the playoffs, and Pavelec has been a major reason why. Pavelec has won nine of his past 11 starts, allowing only 18 goals in that period. Pavelec’s salary has risen, but it is still at a low level and he’s a great VALUE play in goal. He’s a great goaltender for GPP tournaments this evening, and could even be considered for cash games also.

TOP CENTER PLAYS

Tyler Johnson ($7,100) – There are several Lightning players that are great choices for daily fantasy lineups tonight, and Johnson is at the top of that list. Johnson has had another excellent season with 27 goals, 69 points, a +33 rating and 194 shots, in 75 games. He was out for a couple games last week, but returned with a big multi-point game on Saturday.

Chris Tierney ($3,000) – The Sharks are a good GPP tournament team tonight as anything could happen in their game against Edmonton. The Oilers are next to last in the league in goals against and have been blown out several times this year. The Sharks had a bad game on Tuesday night, and tonight’s game could either be a repeat of that, or could be the exact opposite with a blowout win. One Sharks player that has been very consistent lately is Tierney with nine points in his past eight games. Despite that big streak, his price remains at the very minimum and he is a tremendous VALUE player tonight.

TOP RIGHT WINGER PLAYS

Jakub Voracek ($7,500) – The Flyers are not going to the playoffs, but one goal on their minds could be to get Voracek the Art Ross trophy for most points in the league. He is two points behind the co-leaders (Crosby and Tavares), but a big game on Thursday could help him to get there. Voracek (along with his linemate Claude Giroux) has been on a tear, with 12 points in his past eight games, including several big fantasy nights. He is the top player you want in your cash games tonight, and also part of a Philadelphia tournament stack.