Between the Pipes: NHL goalie plays for DFS August 9

The NHL playoffs and DFS Hockey are back hot and heavy; with each set of games, Chris Meaney, Javi Prellezo or I will break down the day’s goalie slate for DFS.

While it’s obviously important for your DFS choice at goalie to get a win, it’s not what you should focus on while doing your analysis. It’s not always the best strategy to just pay up at the top for a goalie on a strong team expected to win. For cash go ahead and play the safest goalie you can, but if we’re talking tournaments we want to reach our extreme potential, so target goalies who will likely see a lot of shots and have a chance to win the game.

This is the final day of the Qualifying Round. We’ve got a couple confirmations already with Tuukka Rask (BOS), Braden Holtby (WAS) and Jake Allen (STL) slated to man the crease for their respective teams. It’s important to follow along closely and to keep checking Daily Faceoff for confirmation. Or better yet, reach out in our discord chat or to @chrismeaney, @jprellezodfs or @russ1prentice on Twitter.

Jake Allen, St. Louis Blues

($7.8 DK/$7.7 FD)

Jordan Binnington typically is the starter for St. Louis, but Allen had a better statistical season on paper, finishing fourth in 5v5 SV% and third in 5v5 GAA. Dallas did not provide much offense late in the regular season and has been shutout for five of the six periods during the round robin. Dallas is still getting shots on net — projected for 31 shots in this game — but they are converting at a poor 8.4% rate. With St. Louis getting the home team line matching, I think Allen has the best shot at a shutout of any of the six goalies on the slate Sunday.

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Frederik Andersen, Toronto Maple Leafs

($8.2 DK/$8.6 FD)

It has not seemed like it, but Andersen has played well in this series with a .941 SV% and a 1.79 GAA including a shutout. This is a high-pressure situation and things could come crashing down for the Maple Leafs if they get behind early, but on a short slate I think Andersen could be underweight from the field a bit and you could actually squeeze some value out of owning 25% or more shares of him.

Joonas Korpisalo/Elvis Merzlikins, Columbus Blue Jackets

($7.2 DK/$7.2 FD)/ ($7.2 DK/$7.2 FD)

Even though Merzlikins fell apart with four minutes to go in Game 4, the thought process was dead on and he still provided a huge save total to counterbalance those four goals allowed. Game 4 proved that Toronto is best when they are aggressive and I think they are going to come out shooting in Game 5; whichever goalie starts for Columbus will be a risky proposition, but one that could pay off with another big save total. If Columbus pulls the upset, Korpisalo or Merzlikins will likely be the best goalie of the day.