This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
Saturday's NHL slate consists of the one-game contest for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Stars and Lightning at 8:00 p.m. EDT. Below, you'll find suggested options for crafting an effective lineup.
SLATE PREVIEW
The Lightning won Game 4 by a 5-4 score in overtime to take a 3-1 series lead, and now these teams meet for the second time in as many nights. Since dropping the series opener 4-1, Tampa Bay holds a 13-8 edge in goals. The Lightning also return to being the nominal home team, giving them the ability to dictate matchups with last change.
GOALIES
N/A
VALUE PLAYS/ONE-OFFS
Joe Pavelski ($8,500) has been Dallas' best forward in this series, as his line in the Stanley Cup Finals is up to 3-1-4 after a two-goal performance in Game 4. The 36-year-old center knows this is one of his last opportunities to capture an elusive championship, and he's playing like it. Pavelski's 12 goals this postseason have him one shy of Brayden Point's lead among all players.
The Lightning have scored 14 goals in this series. Seven were potted by the top line and three were scored by defensemen. Yanni Gourde ($9,000) has two of the remaining four, while the other two were scored by Steven Stamkos ($13,000) — who is likely to miss this game with an undisclosed injury — and Alex Killorn ($8,000). Gourde has been Tampa Bay's top source of offense outside the top line and the blue line all playoffs, as his seven goals are tied with Nikita Kucherov for fourth on the team. Four of those seven goals have come in the 10 games since the start of the conference finals.
Tyler Seguin ($10,000) picked an awful time for a 13-game goal drought, but the six-time 70-point scorer showed some signs of stirring with two helpers in Game 4. With at least three shots in seven of his last 10 games, it feels like Seguin is due for some puck luck. Then again, his underperformance is eerily reminiscent of what we saw from Rick Nash in the Rangers' 2014 run to the Stanley Cup Finals, which New York lost in five games when superb goaltending stopped being enough to carry a team whose supposed offensive star just wasn't producing.
FORWARD LINE STACKS
Lightning vs. Stars
Brayden Point (C - $14,500), Nikita Kucherov (W - $15,000), Ondrej Palat (W - $10,500)
Tampa Bay's top line has led the charge all postseason, and the same has been true in the Stanley Cup Finals. Point has a 4-1-5 line in his last three games and 13-17-30 line overall. Kucherov has been more of a distributor with a 1-5-6 line in the last three games and 7-25-32 line overall, putting him two points above Point for the points lead among all players these playoffs (say that three times fast). Palat has more than made up for a slow start to the playoffs with a 10-5-15 line over his last 15 games.
Stars at Lightning
Jason Dickinson (C - $7,500), Andrew Cogliano (W - $6,000), Nick Caamano (W - $6,000)
Given Dallas' lack of offense from its top forwards, the against-the-grain move of locking in the team's fourth line could give you strong value while leaving plenty of cap space to spend big on Tampa Bay's expensive and productive stars. Dickinson is the only Dallas player besides Pavelski with multiple goals in this series, and he has multiple shots in every game against the Lightning, while Cogliano chipped in a helper in Game 3. The Stars already caught lightning in a bottle once when Joel Kiviranta went from healthy scratch to hero against the Avalanche in the conference semifinals, and they're hoping for a similar spark from the 22-year-old Caamano, who had a 9-14-23 line in just 36 games at the AHL level this season.
DEFENSEMEN
Victor Hedman ($12,500) is tied with Palat for second on the Lightning with 10 goals, and his 21 points are third on the team behind Point and Kucherov. Stacking the Lightning's top players has been an effective strategy throughout the playoffs, and Hedman's a key part of that equation.
John Klingberg ($9,500) has a 1-3-4 line in this series and seven points in his past six games. The Swedish defenseman is a more reliable source of offense than the Stars' top forwards, and Klingberg's ceiling would get even higher if the rest of Dallas' offense wakes up.
Kevin Shattenkirk ($9,500) potted the power-play overtime winner in Game 4, giving him a 2-2-4 line and 11 shots in this series. If you believe in riding the hot hand, keep rolling Shattenkirk out there.
