In a surprise move, one that I don't recall DraftKings doing in previous years, DraftKings has actually been able to continue offering two game slates with the classic format. To pull this off they use for example the Colorado vs Edmonton game on Thursday as the first game on the slate, and then the Tampa Bay vs New York game on Friday as the second game of the slate. This allows you to play the traditional nine man roster format or if you prefer you can still do the single game showdown with the captain spot if you want to stick to one game slates.

Two-Game Slate (Thursday-Friday)

If you're going this route, I like the idea of loading up on the Thursday game of Colorado and Edmonton. As we saw on Tuesday this series figures to be a slugfest of scoring and that could be amplified with the questions surrounding the goalies. An important thing to remember is that with this format your Thursday players will lock into your lineup at puck drop Thursday, however anybody you have from the Friday game can be adjusted all the way up until lock on Friday. I suggest keeping your flex spot a Friday player if possible so you have the ability to make any swap you may want to make.

For a stack to target, I'm going to go with a bit of an unconventional one. One of the hottest players in the playoffs right now is J.T. Compher ($2,700) who's scored four goals in the last two games and is still just above the minimum price. I'll stack him with Nazem Kadri ($6,300), Mikko Rantanen ($6,000) and Cale Makar ($7,200). No Nathan MacKinnon here with is obviously a risky fade but that trio above combined for sixteen shots in Game 1 and I think Rantanen could be in for a big game after finally scoring a non-empty net goal on Tuesday.

Sticking with that game I like looking at Darnell Nurse ($4,100) whose price has plummeted compared to where it was much of the season.

Passing on MacKinnon also helps free up some salary to go after some options on Friday. We know the Lightning's track record after a loss in the playoffs, so to round out my lineup I like the thought of plugging in Andrei Vasilevskiy ($8,500) with the likes of Nikita Kucherov ($6,600), Steven Stamkos ($5,900), and Ross Colton ($2,600).

Single Game Showdown:

For Thursday's showdown I'm going to pass on my usual strategy of targeting a goalie at Captain or even in my lineup in general. Instead I'm going to focus on the top line in Colorado, you could call it a bit of a hedge on my two game slate lineup. I'll go with MacKinnon as my captain followed up with Gabriel Landeskog, Makar, and back to Compher in flex. From there I have enough to fit Leon Draisaitl and Cody Ceci to round out the lineup.

A potential interesting showdown strategy if you have the guts would be to focus on the goalies. Most people will avoid them with last game fresh in everyone's mind but if one of them can get locked in and make 40-or-so saves, they will put up a Captain score that won't be touched.

Be sure to double check your lineups before lock for any last-minute scratches or goalie changes. If you follow me on Twitter @SteveDotzel you can subscribe to my "DFS-NHL" list which is comprised of several team beat writers tweeting the most recent news in real-time. You can also reach out to me personally and I'll do my best to answer any questions I can. Hope to see you on top of the leaderboards!