This article is part of our Yahoo DFS Hockey series.
Let's end the work week right with some NHL DFS! There are seven games on the slate, which is a fun way to kick off the weekend. Here are some players to target, and to avoid, for your daily fantasy lineup.
GOALIE
Semyon Varlamov, NYI vs. DET ($32): Varlamov has lost his last three starts, but they were all road games. Returning home to face the Red Wings is a great way to get back in the win column. Detroit is the worst team in the NHL by a comfortable margin while only managing 2.02 goals per contest.
GOALIE TO AVOID
Petr Mrazek, CAR vs. NYR ($26): Mrazek has posted a 2.67 GAA, but that's paired with a subpar .905 save percentage. He's been helped significantly by the Hurricanes suppressing shots. The Rangers have scored 3.29 goals per game, so this might be a tougher matchup for the Czech netminder. If New York puts pucks on net, Mrazek doesn't have a track record of standing on his head.
CENTER
Brock Nelson, NYI vs. DET ($20): Mathew Barzal gets all the attention for the Isles, but Nelson has been no slouch this season with 22 goals and added 24 assists in 59 games. The Wings own the league's worst offense by far, but they also maintain the worst defense by a wide margin. This is shown in their 3.73 GAA, with the next-to-bottom club - the Devils - sitting at 3.41.
CENTER TO AVOID
Ryan O'Reilly, STL at DAL ($22): Only one team is playing the second leg of a back-to-back Friday, and that's the Blues. That'll put O'Reilly and crew behind the proverbial eight ball. To make matters worse, the Stars comes in with a 2.52 GAA and .921 save percentage as a team.
WING
Filip Forsberg, NAS at CHI ($20): Forsberg has started 61.4 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone, most on the Predators. That's helped him put 167 shots on goal over 53 games. He could be busy Friday, because the Blackhawks have allowed a league-high 35.3 shots on net per contest. Because of how many shots they've given up, Chicago has produced a 3.17 GAA despite some good goaltending.
Alex DeBrincat, CHI vs. NAS ($15): Strangely, DeBrincat - who scored 41 goals last season - only has 14 this year. The reason for this drop? DeBrincat has an 8.3 shooting percentage, an example of some incredibly bad puck luck. However, the 22-year-old has tallied nine goals on the power play, and the Predators have the league's worst penalty kill.
WINGS TO AVOID
Johnny Gaudreau, CGY vs. BOS ($22): Speaking of bad puck luck, Gaudreau only has a 7.7 shooting percentage. Unlike Alex DeBrincat, Johnny Hockey faces a tough matchup. The Bruins enter with a 2.30 GAA, the lowest mark in the NHL. Boston also owns the third-ranked penalty kill.
Zach Parise, MIN at EDM ($18): Parise has been rolling on the power play, but he's also been reliant on it for a lot of his production. The veteran has racked up 15 of his 36 points - and 11 of his 21 goals - with the extra man. That doesn't bode well for Parise here, as the Oilers possess the league's second-ranked penalty kill.
DEFENSE
Ryan Pulock, NYI vs. DET ($18): Why wouldn't you want to have more than one Islander in your lineup? The Red Wings have struggled even more on the road with a 4.09 GAA while allowing 33.6 shots on net per contest. Pulock has registered seven points in his last 11 games, giving him 30 on the season. I wouldn't be surprised to see him add to that total here.
Darnell Nurse, EDM vs. MIN ($17): Nurse has notched 26 points and 143 shots on goal during 60 games - and that's with basically no power-play time. With Oscar Klefbom sidelined, Nurse has stepped into a significant role with the extra man. In Klefbom's first game out, Nurse saw 8:56 of power-play time. Meanwhile, the Wild maintain a 3.64 road GAA and a bottom-five penalty kill.
DEFENSE TO AVOID
Alex Pietrangelo, STL at DAL ($25): Pietrangelo is having a Norris-caliber campaign, but it's hard for anybody to be on the road for the second game of a back-to-back. It's also tricky to try and live up to a price like this against a team like the Stars with their 2.17 home GAA and .928 save percentage.
Anthony DeAngelo, NYR at CAR ($18): While I am a little skeptical about Petr Mrazek because of his .905 save percentage, I'm not sure if DeAngelo is as likely to cause any problems. While he's scored 13 goals, the 24-year-old has only put 115 shots on net. His 11.3 shooting percentage is unusual for a defenseman. DeAngelo also has 14 of his points on the power play, and the Hurricanes come in with the eighth-ranked penalty kill.
