I've enjoyed my all-star break without being sucked into the silliness, whether pro football's "flag football" game, or Sergei Ovechkin scoring on Igor Shesterkin. (Sergei is draft-eligible in 2036, for  dynasty league planning.) And today is the first day since January 28th with even seven games on the schedule – a light night for a Thursday.

For daily fantasy bets, as in real life, the prime matchup tonight is a replay of last season's Stanley Cup finalists, as Colorado visits Tampa Bay. The Avs are without Gabriel Landeskog, who's due back before the March 3 trade deadline, and the Bolts seem to have everyone on the ice. This should be fun to watch. (I'd take the Avalanche straight up.)

There are also teams desperate for every point this time of year – the Islanders are 9th in the East, and the Calgary Flames 9th in the West – but my best fantasy stack tonight will be from the Florida Panthers. I still see this team as the biggest threat to sneak into the Eastern Conference playoffs, and then put 40-45 shots each game on Linus Ullmark. 

The Cats at home (14-7-3) haven't scored fewer than two goals in any home game this season, averaging 3.92, and have a +22 home goal differential.  Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, and Carter Verhaeghe are scoring at will, and San Jose has given up even more road goals than Florida's scored at home. Add to this info, the Panthers have outscored the Sharks 32-17 in their last seven meetings. This time? 6-2 anticipated.   

My play (all numbers from DraftKings):

Centers: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ($6000), 14 points in his past 10 games, seven on PP1, playing in Philly. Alex Newhook ($2900), three goals in past five games, centers PP2 for the Avs.

Wings: Matthew Tkachuk ($8000). By Yahoo statistics he has 22 points in the last 30 days. By comparison, some guy named Connor McDavid has 16. Carter Verhaeghe ($6500), 14 points, 43 shots in past 10 games. Evander Kane ($6700), back from injury and three points in his past two, on Leon Draisaitl's wing.

Defensemen: Brandon Montour ($5800), as the Florida train rolls on here. Montour has been a point-per-game guy at home all year, and has 10 points and five PPP in his past 10. Rasmus Ristolainen ($3000) as I look for less expensive value – seven points, all even strength, in his past 10 games.

Goalie: Dan Vladar ($7900) against Detroit. Vladar is 10-0-3 since Thanksgiving weekend, and should absolutely be getting more time in net for the Flames. Jacob Markstrom is 1-4-2 since the calendar turned over to 2023.  

Utility: William Carrier! ($2500), new Vegas scoring machine with six points in five games. He's already set his career high with 13 goals this season. 

Avoid: Jack Eichel, one assist (no goals) in past nine games. J-G Pageau, two assists against Seattle Tuesday, but seven pointless before that – and his power-play spot has gone to Bo Horvat.

And yeah, I may restart my "What's Wrong" feature next week, but Boston, Toronto, Dallas…??   The pickings are getting tougher. Another focus seems smarter.  

Good luck to all tonight.  

@dokhockey