The NHL has a shorter five game schedule tonight, with one massive favorite (Tampa Bay), and their players will be very highly owned in daily NHL fantasy lineups. There are some other good teams to target also, and enough diversity out there to build some unique tournament lineups. Let’s go through a lot of information and piece together the puzzle tonight for winning daily fantasy hockey on FanDuel. This article will include game analysis and split stats, top teams to target for daily fantasy, recommended plays at each position, and even some sample FanDuel lineups for cash games and tournaments.

Top Team to Target Tonight for Daily Fantasy Hockey

Tampa Bay Lightning – All signs point to a Tampa Bay blowout, especially when you consider: 1) Tampa Bay leads the league in goals scored, is top three in goal differential and are tied for second in overall points; 2) Buffalo is dead last in goals for and dead last in goals against; 3) Tampa Bay is dominant at home with a very high goal rate at 3.5 per game, and Buffalo is giving up a horrible 4.2 goals per game on the road; 4) Tampa Bay is a massive -400 favorite. Need any more reasons to like the Lightning? How about #5 - Buffalo got blown out last night in Carolina and then traveled to Tampa Bay. The Lightning will be hugely owned tonight in both cash game (head-to-head, 50/50) contests and GPP tournaments. The question is – how do you use them? For your cash game lineups, you’ll want at least two forwards and possibly a third forward or a defensemen (Victor Hedman or Anton Stralman). For tournament play, I recommend using multiple lineups with a Tampa Bay stack for at least one, and others without any Lightning players (since their percentage used will be so high).

TOP GOALTENDER PLAY

Antti Raanta ($8,500) – With Crawford playing last night, it is probable that Raanta will get the nod tonight, and he makes an excellent play. In limited duty this year, Raanta has won six of the eight games he has started, with a sparkling 1.73 GAA and .944 SvPct. Although Chicago on the road isn’t in as good a situation as Tampa Bay, Raanta is as good a goaltender option tonight considering his lower price in FanDuel.

TOP LEFT WINGER PLAY

Bryan Bickell ($3,400) – Bickell was moved up to the Hawks’ second line for last night’s game and the quality of his linemates improved hugely now that he is playing alongside Patrick Kane and Brad Richards. Bickell made the most of his new chance, scoring two goals last night. He is still near minimum price on FanDuel and he is definitely the VALUE play of the night.