Daily Fantasy Hockey: Power-Play Report (01/15/20)
When building a Daily Fantasy Hockey lineup, it’s important to consider the special teams matchups. When a team or line goes off offensively, more often than not it’s because of the power-play. Below I’ve gone over the special teams matchups for tonight’s two-game slate to help you identify the best power-plays to target. All totals are per 60 minutes of 5v4 ice-time. Each team’s league-wide rank in a given category is noted in brackets. Good luck!
Chicago Blackhawks @ Montreal Canadiens [7:30 PM EST]
| Blackhawks PP | Canadiens PK | |
| PP%/PK% | 15.3% (27th) | 78.3% (23rd) |
| PP/PK per Gm | 3.1 (15th) | 2.9 (t-11th) |
| SH%/SV% | 11.06 SH% (25th) | .869 SV% (16th) |
| Shots | 48.31 (24th) | 59.45 (28th) |
| Scoring Chances | 47.34 (16th) | 48.81 (19th) |
| xGoals For/Against | 5.95 (23rd) | 6.95 (25th) |
Analysis:
The Canadiens surrender the fifth-most shots while short-handed in the entire league. That should help pad Chicago’s shot totals tonight, but the disparity between Montreal’s shots and scoring chances against suggests they do a good job of limiting shots to the outside. All in all, Chicago’s inability to generate quality chances limits the upside of a power-play stack. Of course, it doesn’t help that they’re on the tail-end of a back-to-back, either.
| Canadiens PP | Blackhawks PK | |
| PP%/PK% | 20.9% (11th) | 82.6% (8th) |
| PP/PK per Gm | 2.7 (t-28th) | 2.9 (t-11th) |
| SH%/SV% | 13.20 SH% (18th) | .890 SV% (4th) |
| Shots | 54.48 (12th) | 56.75 (24th) |
| Scoring Chances | 47.29 (17th) | 51.81 (23rd) |
| xGoals For/Against | 5.97 (21st) | 6.33 (18th) |
Analysis:
There’s plenty of reason to like a Canadiens power-play stack tonight. They do a good job of creating shots with the man advantage, and the potential fatigue of playing their second game in as many nights doesn’t make the job of Chicago’s penalty-killers any easier. As you can see, Chicago is surrendering a lot of shots and quality chances on the penalty-kill, but their struggles are being masked by elite goaltending. @Robin Lehner played last night in Ottawa, so @Corey Crawford will have to be Chicago’s best penalty-killer tonight. As you might expect, Crawford has been demonstrably worse than Lehner while short-handed. His short-handed SV% sits at .788, paling in comparison to Lehner’s mark of .925.
Philadelphia Flyers @ St. Louis Blues [8:00 PM EST]
| Flyers PP | Blues PK | |
| PP%/PK% | 18.9% (21st) | 81.6% (13th) |
| PP/PK per Gm | 3.33 (6th) | 2.89 (t-9th) |
| SH%/SV% | 13.49 SH% (15th) | .886 SV% (6th) |
| Shots | 49.76 (22nd) | 52.86 (15th) |
| Scoring Chances | 34.25 (31st) | 47.07 (16th) |
| xGoals For/Against | 5.17 (30th) | 6.49 (21st) |
Analysis:
I don’t love the idea of targeting Philly’s power-play tonight. They’re having a very hard time generating shots and quality chances on the power-play, but have been bailed out by above-average shooting. It’s hard to imagine that being a recipe for success tonight sonsidering @Jordan Binnington’s track record on the PK. There are better options available tonight.
| Blues PP | Flyers PK | |
| PP%/PK% | 25.7% (4th) | 81.9% (10th) |
| PP/PK per Gm | 2.89 (23rd) | 3.00 (15th) |
| SH%/SV% | 18.56 SH% (2nd) | .833 SV% (28th) |
| Shots | 52.64 (17th) | 38.51 (1st) |
| Scoring Chances | 53.72 (9th) | 40.31 (1st) |
| xGoals For/Against | 6.52 (16th) | 6.28 (15th) |
Analysis:
The Blues are an effective team with the man advantage, but their fourth-ranked PP% is a little misleading. St. Louis does an above average job of creating shots and scoring chances, but their success has been inflated by an out of this world shooting percentage. That’s likely going to regress as the season plays out, and considering Philly’s ability to limit shots and scoring chances against on the PK, I’d be wary of stacking the Blues power-play tonight.