SLATE PREVIEW
The Golden Knights will attempt to complete a sweep of the best-of-seven Western Conference Finals on Thursday in Dallas. For single-game contests, you have a salary of $135 for five players with your Superstar receiving 1.5 times the salary. Here’s my recommended lineup for Game 4.
SUPERSTAR
Jake Oettinger, DAL vs. VGK ($31): Oettinger has a lot to prove. He had an outstanding regular season, going 37-11-11 with a 2.37 GAA and .919 save percentage. After a very good opening round versus Minnesota where he gave up only 13 goals on 183 shots, Oettinger has been awful. He had an .877 save percentage in the series win over Seattle and has been even worse versus Vegas in his three starts, giving up 10 goals on 66 shots. This is a chance to partially redeem himself as this could be the final game of the season in front of his home fans as the Stars trail the best-of-seven series 3-0. Overall, Oettinger is 8-8 with a 3.02 GAA and .895 save percentage in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.
FLEX
Jason Robertson, DAL vs. VGK ($35): Robertson is another Star who needs to pick it up. After scoring 46 goals in the regular season with 69 assists, Robertson has managed to find the back of the net only four times in 16 playoff games. The good news is that Robertson has a pair of goals in three games during this series — although he was held off the scoresheet, like every other Dallas Star, on Tuesday in a 4-0 loss. Robertson is the heart and soul of the Dallas offense and should be raring to go Thursday in Game 4.
Alex Pietrangelo, VGK at DAL ($21): Pietrangelo has a goal and two assists in his last four games, including a goal and an assist in three games against the Stars. He has a goal and nine points in 13 playoff games after a fine regular season, where he managed 11 goals and 54 points in 73 games.
Miro Heiskanen, DAL vs. VGK ($22): Heiskanen has been a stud on the Dallas blue line, scoring once and adding nine assists in 16 games during the playoffs. He had his best offensive season in his NHL career during regular-season action in 2022-23, tallying 11 times and adding 62 assists. Heiskanen has 43 career points in the playoffs, which is the top five in NHL history among defensemen who are under the age of 24, as he surpassed the great Bobby Orr on Sunday.
Max Domi, DAL vs. VGK ($10): I needed a player who was inexpensive to fill out the roster and Domi was the best of the bunch. Domi has gone pointless in the last four games but was outstanding before that, scoring three times and adding eight assists in eight games. Domi had 20 goals and 56 points in 80 games split between Dallas and Chicago in the regular season. Domi plays on the second line, between Tyler Seguin and Joel Kiviranta, while also seeing time on the top power play.