This article is part of our DraftKings NHL series.
At 3:00 p.m. EDT, the Tampa Bay Lightning are hosting the New York Islanders. These are the teams that are ranked second and third in goals per game in the postseason, but both teams finished in the top six in GAA during the regular season. Since there is only one game, DraftKings is doing Showdown style contests. You choose six players, one of whom is your captain. The captain is worth 1.5 times the points, but also commands a higher salary. Here is a roster I have put together for Game 1 of this series.
CAPTAIN
Steven Stamkos, TAM vs. NYI ($12,600): Nikita Kucherov leads the postseason in points with 18. Second on the team, though, is Stamkos. He's tallied five goals and eight assists in 11 playoff games. This includes eight points with the extra man. The Islanders had the sixth-ranked penalty kill this year, but the Lightning were fourth, so advantage Lightning there.
FLEX
Nikita Kucherov, TAM vs. NYI ($11,000): I selected Stamkos as my captain over Kucherov because of the salary. In order to put together the best roster possible I thought having that extra salary on Kucherov would make things tricky. Again, though, the Russian leads the playoffs with 18 points. Nobody else has more than 15.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, NYI at TAM ($7,600): The leading scorer for the Islanders ? That would be Pageau, who has been quite the playmaker in this postseason. In addition to three goals he has 10 assists, and he's also on a three-game point streak. Pageau has also averaged 18:01 in ice time in the playoffs, in part because he's been used defensively against top lines, which has meant more opportunity.
Alex Killorn, TAM vs. NYI ($6,800): The Islanders had a 2.23 GAA during the regular season, but in the playoffs their GAA is up to 2.75. Is that about the competition? Perhaps to a degree, but it's also because the Islanders have allowed a whopping 37.7 shots on net per contest. Killorn is playing on Tampa's second line alongside Steven Stamkos, and he's on a four-game point streak as well.
Josh Bailey, NYI at TAM ($6,400): Bailey only had seven goals during the regular season, but he's already added five in the playoffs. However, he did have 27 assists in 54 games and finished second on the Islanders in points. He's second in playoff points as well with 11. Weirdly, all of Andrei Vasilevskiy's poor starts in the playoffs have been at home, and he has a 2.89 GAA and .911 save percentage in five home playoff starts.
Kyle Palmieri, NYI at TAM ($5,600): In the regular season, it seemed like the Islanders' trade for Palmieri wasn't going to pan out. Then, the playoffs rolled around and things changed. Palmieri is on a five-game point streak and has a goal in four of his last five contests. He's as hot as any player in this series, and at this salary it's worth seeing if that continues.
