This article is part of our FantasyDraft NHL series.
The Super Bowl is Sunday. You may have heard of it. Because of that, Sunday's three NHL games are all in the afternoon. The first game drops the puck at 12:30 p.m. ET, so get your daily fantasy lineups in early, preferably with these names.
GOALIE
Washington Capitals, WAS vs. VGK ($16,800): It's not a great day for goalies, but the Capitals are the best of a less-than-ideal bunch. Washington has a 2.30 team GAA at home, which is top-three in the NHL. The Golden Knights also aren't quite as good on the road as they are in Vegas. Their away record is 15-10-2, while the Caps are 19-7-1 at home.
CENTER
Tomas Hertl, SAN at CAR ($10,300): Hertl has been consistently producing recently, as he has a point in eight of his last nine games. He's also notched 12 power-play points while averaging 2:53 per game with the extra man. The Hurricanes have a 3.00 team GAA and a .898 save percentage. Carolina has the 25th-ranked penalty kill to boot.
Matt Duchene, OTT at MON ($9,900): It took Duchene a little while to get up to speed with the Senators, but he has 11 points in his last 12 contests. The Canadiens are on the second day of a back-to-back, and even though they saved Carey Price for this one, that's not as much of a deterrent as it would have been in years past. Price only has a 2.97 GAA and a .907 save percentage this season.
WING
Brendan Gallagher, MON vs. OTT ($10,200): Gallagher has only 11 assists but does boast 18 goals on 168 shots in 52 games. He's really been putting a ton of shots on net recently, with 46 in his last 12 tilts. The Senators will be on the road for the second game of a back-to-back, and Ottawa had a 3.35 team GAA heading into Saturday's contest. On top of that, Ottawa was particularly bad in January, owning a 3.64 team GAA and giving up a staggering 39.9 shots on net per game.
Alex Galchenyuk, MON vs. OTT ($9,400): This is a particularly good matchup for the Habs, so let's double down on it. Galchenyuk has started 61.3 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone, tops on Montreal. He's also averaged 2:39 per game on the power play, and he has 14 points with the extra man in 52 contests. The Senators, for their part, have the 28th-ranked penalty kill.
Tom Wilson, WAS vs. VGK ($7,300): Wilson has started 59.7 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone, the second most among Washington's forwards. More interestingly, he's been skating on the Capitals' first line recently, meaning he's playing alongside Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov. On the road, Vegas has a 3.04 team GAA and a .902 save percentage, so this is a better matchup than it might seem on the surface.
DEFENSEMEN
Marc-Edouard Vlasic, SAN at CAR ($10,700): Vlasic isn't necessarily known for his offense, but in his last 11 games, he has five goals and five assists. He's also put 103 shots on net this season. As previously mentioned, the Hurricanes have a 3.00 team GAA, but that number was up to 3.42 in January. Pickles has also blocked 106 shots in 50 games, potentially adding a little more fantasy value.
Justin Faulk, CAR vs. SAN ($9,300): Faulk's numbers aren't great, but a lot of that can be blamed on a 2.8 shooting percentage, well below his career average. He's put 145 shots on net in 52 games, solid for a defenseman. Additionally, he's averaged 3:09 on the power play and tallied 11 points with the extra man. The Sharks struggled defensively in the month of January, suffering a 3.29 team GAA in that month, the seventh worst in the NHL.
