NHL DFS, Nov. 3, 2026: Stack Tampa Bay against Detroit's back-to-back
Detroit burned its better goalie last night, so Tampa likely gets John Gibson, the worst at stopping shots among 25 regular starters. Brayden Point, the cheapest piece of Tampa's top line at $5,200, makes the stack fit.
Detroit's likely starter has the league's lowest save rate
Jacob Fowler, MTL
Pyotr Kochetkov, CAR
Jake Oettinger, DAL
Jesper Wallstedt, MIN
Joel Hofer, STL
Juuse Saros, NSH
Joseph Woll, PHI
Logan Thompson, WSH
Sergei Bobrovsky, TOR
Andrei Vasilevskiy, TB
Lukas Dostal, ANA
John Gibson, DETDetroit Hockey Now's Kevin Allen has John Gibson as "the likely starter" in Tampa tonight (Detroit Hockey Now, Nov. 3), since Daniil Tarasov played last night. Good news for Tampa Bay: of the 25 goalies with eight or more starts, Gibson has stopped the lowest share of shots (86.1%, 223 shots in nine starts).
So stack Tampa's top line, starting with Brayden Point at $5,200, its best value per dollar. Lines as of 7:02 a.m. PT; goalie news before the 4:00 p.m. PT lock can change this.
Detroit used its better goalie last night
Tarasov beat Florida on Monday and has stopped 92.7% of his shots this season. Gibson is at 86.1%, and Tampa, rested for two days, gets him.
- The prop market agrees: Tampa's 4.1 implied goals lead all 22 teams playing, and Detroit's is 2.7.
- Detroit also kills just 68.9% of penalties, 5th worst in the league, and Tampa's first power-play unit is Point, Kucherov, Guentzel and Brandon Hagel.
- Tampa's own goalie isn't great either. The Lightning have "given up 20 goals in their past four games," Allen notes, and Vasilevskiy ranks 21st of 25, so a Detroit bring-back is worth a spot.
$5,200his DraftKings salary- He centers Jake Guentzel and Nikita Kucherov on Daily Faceoff's projected lines, and played 23:10 on Saturday, his most this season.
Stack Tampa's top line and Vancouver's power play
One goal can pay up to three linemates, which is why hockey stacks work. Point, Kucherov and Guentzel cost $19,600 together, leaving room elsewhere.
Tampa's top line and Vancouver's power play fit the $50,000 cap
Brayden PointTB vs DET$5,20010.712%
Charlie CoyleCBJ vs COL$4,0008.45%
Nikita KucherovTB vs DET$8,20014.823%
Jake GuentzelTB vs DET$6,20012.18%
Brock BoeserVAN vs ANA$4,6009.03%
Moritz SeiderDET @ TB$5,80010.34%
Filip HronekVAN vs ANA$4,9009.45%
Scott WedgewoodCOL @ CBJ$8,0009.5<1%
Jonathan LekkerimakiVAN vs ANA$3,1007.16%- Vancouver is the second stack: Daily Faceoff has Boeser, Lekkerimaki and Hronek on its top power-play unit, in the slate's highest-total game against Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal (23rd of 25 in save rate).
- Moritz Seider is the Detroit bring-back: top pair, first power play, and blocked shots, which DraftKings scores.
- Scott Wedgewood ($8,000) is confirmed against a Columbus team scoring 2.4 goals a game: a low-owned tournament goalie, not a safe one.
- RotoBaller's Doug Shain writes "we aren't forcing in big-name stacks" tonight (Nov. 3). Point's price makes Tampa's top line our exception.
- Kucherov (about 23% owned, by estimate) is the only chalky piece; all nine total 67%.
Kucherov's assist is the best pick'em play tonight
Every book we compared backs these five sides by enough to clear the break-even. One leg per player.
The books back all five of these pick'em sides
Nikita KucherovTB · AssistsPrizePicks·Underdog0.5Pick60.5Sleeper0.5Dabble0.5Market67% overOver 0.5
Dylan GuentherUTA · Shots on goalPrizePicks·Underdog3.5Pick63.5Sleeper3.5Dabble3.5Market57% underUnder 3.5
Auston MatthewsTOR · Shots on goalPrizePicks·Underdog2.5Pick62.5Sleeper2.5Dabble2.5Market57% overOver 2.5
Lucas RaymondDET · AssistsPrizePicks·Underdog0.5Pick60.5Sleeper0.5Dabble0.5Market56% underUnder 0.5Brayden PointTB · Shots on goalPrizePicks2.5Underdog2.5Pick62.5Sleeper2.5Dabble2.5Market52% underUnder 2.5- Kucherov over 0.5 assists is the strongest play: he has 14 assists in 13 games, and the books make an assist far likelier than four shots (61% under 3.5 shots at Pinnacle).
- The first four are on DraftKings Pick6. All four clear a 3-pick power play on PrizePicks' standard table (Pick6 sets its own payouts); only Kucherov clears a 2-pick power play (57.7% needed) at every book.
- Point under 2.5 shots is a Dabble play: Dabble's price (about 2.18) needs about 46%, and DraftKings and FanDuel make it 51% to 53%. His salary cap case is price and linemates, not shots.
What to check before 4:00 p.m. PT
- Goalies. Daily Faceoff had only two of 22 starters confirmed this morning, Wedgewood and Toronto's Bobrovsky. A Tarasov start would undercut the Tampa stack. Vancouver projects Kevin Lankinen (81.2% saves in six starts), not Leevi Merilainen, whom Shain calls "awful in his own right."
- Injuries. Montreal's Nick Suzuki is out and Kirby Dach (illness) is day-to-day; check ESPN's injury list and the NHL schedule.
- More: our Red Wings at Lightning and Ducks at Canucks game pages for live scores, our NHL predictions, our hot and cold starts piece on luck versus form, and NHL.com's save rates.
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Questions people ask
Who should I stack in NHL DFS on Nov. 3, 2026?
Tampa Bay's top line: Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov and Jake Guentzel. Detroit is on a back-to-back and expected to start John Gibson, last in save rate among 25 regular starters, and Point costs just $5,200 on DraftKings.
Who is starting in goal for the Red Wings against the Lightning tonight?
John Gibson is expected, but Daily Faceoff hadn't confirmed him Tuesday morning. Daniil Tarasov started Monday's game against Florida.
What are the best NHL pick'em plays for Tuesday, Nov. 3?
As of 7:02 a.m. PT, the prop market backed Nikita Kucherov over 0.5 assists, Dylan Guenther under 3.5 shots, Auston Matthews over 2.5 shots and Lucas Raymond under 0.5 assists on Pick6, and Brayden Point under 2.5 shots on Dabble.
What time does the NHL DFS slate lock on Nov. 3?
The 11-game DraftKings main slate locks at 4:00 p.m. PT (7:00 p.m. ET). The last game, Anaheim at Vancouver, starts at 6:00 p.m. PT.
How we did this
DFS salary cap: DraftKings NHL classic main slate, draft group 155856 (11 games, $50,000 cap, first puck 4:00 p.m. PT). Projections are Snapp's blend of no-vig prop lines (DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars, Pinnacle and others) and pick'em lines, rescored to DraftKings scoring, read at 7:00 a.m. PT on Nov. 3. Most goalies had no saves line yet; Wedgewood's projection is prop-based, and we set Kochetkov (11.3) and Fowler (11.25) from team win chance, opponent shots a game and opponent implied goals. The lineup comes from Snapp's optimizer in tournament mode (each player's 85th-percentile outcome minus an ownership penalty, leverage 0.3, seed 1103) with Point, Kucherov and Guentzel locked and one Detroit bring-back required, and was checked against DraftKings' rules (valid, $50,000). Ownership is the tool's hand-set estimate (no site publishes it before lock), not a measured number. Pick'em: Snapp's pick'em board for the named players (PrizePicks, Underdog, Pick6, Sleeper, Dabble) with Pinnacle, DraftKings and FanDuel as comparison books, read 7:02 a.m. PT. A play is a side every compared book favors by enough to clear a slip's per-leg break-even (PrizePicks' standard payout table as the reference; Pick6 sets its own payouts) or, on a priced site such as Dabble, a side with positive expected value against every compared book. Pinnacle had no Guenther, Matthews or Point shots line, so those use DraftKings and FanDuel. PrizePicks cells are blank where the feed's line was inferred or a bonus line. Goalie numbers: Snapp's NHL warehouse, regular-season games through Nov. 2, 2026; save rate is saves divided by shots against, among goalies with 8 or more starts (25), league average 89.0%. Team implied totals come from the books' moneyline and game total. Starting goalies and lines: Daily Faceoff, read 7:00 a.m. PT and rechecked 7:10 a.m. PT (Gibson still unconfirmed); pick'em lines and fair prices rechecked at 7:10 a.m. PT, unchanged.