NHL Daily Plays: Wednesday, November 26th
With Thanksgiving tomorrow, the NHL delivers a somewhat rare busy schedule this Wednesday. With 18 teams hitting the ice, there are plenty of match-ups to exploit. Before turning your attention to a wonderful weekend of football, make sure to get in on the NHL action tonight.
Goalies
Ondrej Pavelec – Winnipeg Jets – Now this isn’t so much a recommendation for Pavelec as much as it’s a recommendation against the Buffalo Sabres. Sure they’ve somehow managed to string together a three game winning streak, but they’re still easily the worst team in the league by Fenwick/Corsi standards and have scored just 36 goals over their first 21 games (1.71 goals/game). Pavelec has been tasked with a very tough schedule thus far in November, but still owns a very respectable 2.30 GAA and .917 SV%. He’s been terrific thus far on the road, where he owns a 4-3-1 record with a 1.97 GAA and .932 SV%. He’s very reasonably priced and the match-up doesn’t get much better.
Others To Target: Jimmy Howard, Roberto Luongo, Antti Niemi, Darcy Kuemper
Forwards
Valtteri Filppula – Tampa Bay Lightning – Filppula has had a bit of a roller-coaster type season thus far but he always seems to be a nice play when the Lightning are home at the Amalie Arena. After sporting some of the game’s most dramatic home vs road splits last season ( 12 goals and 25 assists in 39 road games, or 64% of his production), he’s once again thriving this year as he’s posted three goals and added nine assists in eleven home games. Since the beginning of last season he’s tallied one goal and added five assists against the New York Rangers in just four meetings. He has the luxury of centering the Lightning’s very lethal #1 power-play unit and finds himself very reasonably priced on several sites.
Joe Pavelski – San Jose Sharks – The Sharks may be struggling, but it has very little to do with the play of Joe Pavelski. He’s already amassed nine goals and ten assists in 23 games this season and, since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, has tallied 35 goals, 33 assists and a +29 in 72 games at the Shark Tank. The Calgary Flames had absolutely no answer for him last season as he lit them up for four goals and three assists in five meetings. He routinely logs over 20 minutes of ice-time per game and is a weapon on the wing of San Jose’s #1 power-play unit.
Martin St. Louis – New York Rangers – In what is the biggest story-lines of the night, Martin St. Louis will finally make his return to Tampa Bay to battle the team he spent nearly thirteen years with. While I love using players with any incentive to have extra motivation, his recent production would make him a nice option regardless. He enters the game riding a four game point streak and has netted seven goals and added four assists over the last ten games.
Tomas Tatar – Detroit Red Wings – Much like his teammate Gustav Nyquist did last season, the 23-year old Tomas Tatar is showing the Red Wings that he’s ready to be a top-6 forward right now. He’ll bring a five game point streak into tonight’s game against Philly that has seen him rack up five goals and three assists and he now owns 11 points in 11 games this month. He’s developed a nice rapport with Riley Sheahan and Johan Franzen and Mike Babcock has rewarded his stellar play with some run on the wing of the team’s second power-play unit. He led the Grand Rapids Griffins to the AHL Championship last season, scoring 16 goals and adding five assists in 24 playoff games which earning him playoff MVP honors. He’s very quick and creative with the puck, making him one of the better value options on the board against this Philadelphia team who owns the league’s worst penalty kill.
Others To Target: Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos, Henrik Zetterberg, John Tavares, Alexander Ovechkin, Patrick Marleau, Patrick Kane
Values To Target: Tom Wilson, Mathieu Perreault, Brock Nelson, Alex Killorn, Aleksander Barkov, Nikita Kucherov, Nick Spaling, Riley Sheahan
Defensemen
Brent Burns – San Jose Sharks – For some reason it still feels like cheating when you’re able to slide Burns into one your “D” spots. He’s already racked up seven goals and twelve assists thus far this season and his 71 shots on goal rank him 4th among all defensemen. Burns is one of the few players in the league that can give Filppula’s home vs road splits a run for their money as he was an absolute beast at the Shark Tank last season, posting 18 goals and 15 assists (and a +23) in 38 home games. The Sharks have dropped three straight very winnable games and should be very motivated to get things turned around against Calgary tonight.
Tyson Barrie – Colorado Avalanche – I usually don’t advise picking too heavily on the Blackhawks, but Colorado has given them fits the last few years and the Avalanche look like they may finally be awaking. Over the last eight games, Barrie has picked up one goal, added six assists and is skating at a +5. He’s routinely logging over twenty minutes of ice-time per game and sees a healthy dose of those minutes on the point of Colorado’s #1 power-play unit. He brutalized the Blackhawks last season, posting three goals, four assists and a +6 in their five meetings.
Others To Target: Duncan Keith, Kris Letang, Niklas Kronwall, Matt Niskanen, Nick Leddy, John Carlson
Values To Target: Jacob Trouba, Brian Campbell, Olli Maatta
Best of luck tonight and happy Turkey Day tomorrow!
JMBWngFn (@JBritt2 on Twitter)