NHL Grind Down: Friday, December 16th
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The RotoGrinders NHL Grind Down article will give you an in-depth analysis into the NHL schedule. This article will break down the numbers for every single game and give you analysis on which trends you can exploit. While matchups are a major factor in daily fantasy hockey there are plenty of other factors to consider such as injuries, salaries, and more.
The analysis should point you in the right direction, but it is still up to you to decipher the information and make your own selections. Hockey is an extremely high variance sport. The best choice is not always the right choice but following the trends will win you money over time.
Remember, these writeups are done prior to lineups being released, so make sure to check our Starting Lineups page to ensure the recommended options are playing.
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Los Angeles Kings at Pittsburgh Penguins
| Los Angeles Kings | Pittsburgh Penguins | ||||||||
 | Peter Budaj |  | Matt Murray | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 15-12-2 | 20-7-3 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.66 | 2.59 | 15.90% | 82.10% | Team Stats | 3.53 | 2.87 | 21.30% | 77.60% |
After losing their first game of the current nine-game road trip to the Buffalo Sabres the Kings came back last night to beat the Red Wings 4-1. Tonight’s task will be a little tougher however as they visit western Pennsylvania to take on a Pittsburgh team that is sporting a 13-2-1 home record. The top line of Jeff Carter, Tyler Toffoli and Dwight King should probably be looked at for tournament play with Carter and Toffoli the stronger plays as they lead the team in scoring with 24 and 19 points so far this season. Anze Kopitar has seen two of his four points come on the team’s top power play unit which has tallied five goals over the last five games. Kopitar makes for a decent one-off play here because of his exposure to the extra minutes on the power play but I wouldn’t be opposed to pairing him with either Marian Gaborik or Trevor Lewis. Both players skate with him at even strength and should have some room to maneuver with the Penguins concentrating on shutting down carter and Toffoli. Lewis is the stronger play over the recently injured Gaborik as he has scored four of his 11 points over the last five games. On the strength of five points over the last five games defenseman Drew Doughty looks to be back on track as he has pulled even with fellow defenseman Alec Martinez for the team lead in scoring where the back line is concerned. Both players have 16 points on the season. If you are looking for a punt play Derek Forbort seems to be your guy. The 24 year old defenseman has registered four of his ten points over the last five games. The Kings should score a few goals here but keep in mind that Penguins goaltender Matt Murray has won his last five games.
The injury bug has hit the Penguins yet again as now it looks like defenseman Kris Letang will be out a few weeks with a lower body injury. This shouldn’t be too much of a problem especially with the way that Justin Schultz has been filling up the scoresheet of late. Schultz and his eight points in the last five games will be joined by fellow defenseman Trevor Daley on the back line of the Penguins top power play unit that has scored seven goals in the last three games. Both look to be cheap defensive options for both cash and tournament play tonight. Patric Hornqvist looks to return to the top line after Bryan Rust took his place next to Sidney Crosby and Connor Sheary for parts of the 4-3 win over Boston on Wednesday night. It’s easy to see why Rust was moved up as he has lit the lamp five times and has one assist over the last five games. It was more than likely just a wake-up call for Hornqvist but I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens again especially if the Penguins get down early. Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin get plenty of minutes on the Penguins top power play unit along with Crosby and have collected a combined five goals and ten assists over the last five games. All three should be in play tonight as they are all point-per-game players. Carl Hagelin skates with Malkin and Kessel at even strength and makes for a cheaper option much like Sheary does for the top line exposure. Pittsburgh is on a roll and should light the lamp a few times tonight.
Elite Plays
LAK: Jeff Carter
PIT: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin
Secondary Plays
LAK: Tyler Toffoli, Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty
PIT: Phil Kessel, Justin Schultz, Trevor Daley, Patric Hornqvist
New York Islanders at Buffalo Sabres
| New York Islanders | Buffalo Sabres | ||||||||
 | Jean-Francois Berube |  | Robin Lehner | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 11-13-5 | 11-11-6 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.62 | 3.03 | 12.30% | 79.00% | Team Stats | 2.18 | 2.57 | 22.60% | 74.20% |
As with any one-line team there will always be a lot of line shuffling to find the right combination to be the most competitive. This was the case last night as the Islanders retooled their lines a bit and for the most part they got the result they wanted by scoring four goals. The problem they ran into was their inability to stop Chicago’s power play unit as they scored on all three opportunities en route to a 5-4 win in New York last night. John Tavares, Anders Lee and Josh Bailey skated both at even strength and when the Islanders drew a penalty which gave them the opportunity to have more looks at the net. The Islanders use two lines evenly when they go on the power play so taking either Brock Nelson or Andrew Ladd as a one-off in tournament play would not be out of the question especially here on the road. Nelson has garnered four points in the last six games while centering Shane Prince and Ryan Strome. Meanwhile Ladd is still trying to find the scoring touch he was brought in to provide. Nick Leddy is the choice on the back line as five of his 13 points have come while quarterbacking the team’s top power play unit. Travis Hamonic could be used as a punt play here as he has tallied 33% of his nine points over the last six games.
You can’t get anymore mediocre than the Buffalo Sabres as evidence of their 11-11-6 record would indicate. They are an even 5-5-3 on the road while their home record stands at 6-6-3, which is where the play tonight against a New York Islander team that played on home ice last night. Buffalo won their last game over the Los Angeles Kings that saw some line swapping going on throughout the game. It seems that head coach Dan Bylsma has settled on moving Matt Moulson up to the top line with Jack Eichel and Kyle Okposo while Evander Kane has been dropped to the fourth line. Okposo and Eichel will get the call to join Ryan O’Reilly and Sam Reinhart when the Sabres draw a penalty. William Carrier is the odd man out from the second line but really hasn’t capitalized on the opportunities he’s been given so far as he has just two points in 18 games. Rasmus Ristolainen is the play on the point as his seven points over the last six games has jumped his point total to 19 is 28 games with 12 of them coming with the man advantage. Jack Eichel and company is the line to target for cash games tonight as Okposo leads the team with nine goals and 21 points while Eichel has five goals and three assists to go along with 42 shots in the seven games he’s played in since coming back from injury. Buffalo is getting better as a team and should be able to score a few on home ice tonight.
Elite Plays
NYI: John Tavares
BUF: Jack Eichel, Rasmus Ristolainen
Secondary Plays
NYI: Anders Lee, Josh Bailey, Nick Leddy, Brock Nelson
BUF: Kyle Okposo, Ryan O’Reilly, Sam Reinhart
San Jose Sharks at Montréal Canadiens
| San Jose Sharks | Montréal Canadiens | ||||||||
 | Martin Jones |  | Carey Price | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 18-11-1 | 19-6-4 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.43 | 2.20 | 16.70% | 81.00% | Team Stats | 3.14 | 2.17 | 20.40% | 81.90% |
The Sharks come into this one on a three-game winning streak while leading the Pacific Division with a 18-11-1 record. San Jose is a pretty cut and dried team when it comes to who to choose for our lineups on a nightly basis. Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau lead the team from the first line while send line center Logan Couture and defenseman Brent Burns join them on the team’s top power play unit. Burns and Pavelski are the easy studs here as they lead the team in scoring while each of them have over 100 on goal apiece. The only thing different is that Logan Couture, who always makes a great one-off play, was joined by Kevin Labanc and Mikkel Boedker for the game against Ottawa on Wednesday night. The Sharks have been waiting for Boedker to produce so maybe putting him with a guy like Couture might help him out a bit. San Jose is not your normal team as the top line basically has most of the points with the only secondary scoring coming from Couture on a consistent basis. I know that Montreal is very good at shutting down the top lines of teams but tonight they may have their hands full.
The Canadiens go for win number 15 on home ice as they host a San Jose Sharks team that will play their third game in four nights. The Sharks beat both Toronto and Ottawa in shootout fashion as they now set their sights on Montreal. The Canadiens have switched up their lines a bit as the top line of Max Pacioretty, Alexander Radulov and Tomas Plekanec is the only one left intact. Pacioretty has done well since being placed on the top line as his five goals and one assist over the last four games has catapulted him to the top of the Montreal scoring chart. Arturri Lehkonen is back on the second line with Phillip Danault and Ander Shaw while Brendan Gallagher gets the demotion to the third line to skate with Torrey Mitchell and Paul Byron. Hopefully this will rejuvenate the 24 year old from Edmonton Alberta as he has just five goals so far this season. Shea Weber has been a bit quiet on the back line as Andrei Markov has passed him in overall points with three assists in the last four games. Markov has 21 points on 43 shots while Weber has 18 points on 75 shots. It looks like we will see Jeff Petry resurface in some lineups as it looks like he is on the top power play unit with Weber, Pacioretty, Radulov and Shaw. It’s tough to win in this barn as Montreal should be on their game after losing in overtime to Boston on Monday night.
Elite Plays
SJ: Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski
MTL: Alexander Radulov, Max Pacioretty
Secondary Plays
SJ: Joe Thornton, Logan Couture, Patrick Marleau
MTL: Shea Weber, Tomas Plekanec, Andrew Shaw, Jeff Petry
Washington Capitals at Carolina Hurricanes
| Washington Capitals | Carolina Hurricanes | ||||||||
 | Braden Holtby |  | Cam Ward | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 18-7-3 | 12-11-6 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.71 | 2.11 | 18.70% | 83.70% | Team Stats | 2.62 | 2.72 | 22.40% | 92.30% |
It’s hard to believe but the Washington Capitals have scored a power play goal six times over the last five games. Okay, that’s not unbelievable but maybe the fact that six different players scored those goals is. Washington continues to use the line of T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom and Marcus Johansson as they top power play unit along with Alexander Ovechkin and defenseman John Carlson. Backstrom leads the team in points and assists while Ovechkin has 13 goals, which is the most on the team. Evgeny Kuznetsov and Justin Williams skate with Ovechkin at even strength and have tallied seven and five points respectively over the last five games. Either line seems playable here as the Hurricanes have given up 16 goals in the last four games. Conversely Carolina has not given up a goal in their seven games they have played in December. On defense Carlson gets most of the time on the top power play but Matt Niskanen is always there for some salary relief as he has registered three of his 12 points over the last four games. The Capitals have a lot of fire power and should be able to light the lamp a few times tonight.
Thanks to the great play of most of the Metropolitan Division the Carolina Hurricanes find themselves nine points out of the last wild card spot if the play offs were to start today. Before their eight goal outburst against Vancouver the Hurricanes were able to score 11 goals in the previous three games, which still isn’t bad. The top line of Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask and Derek Ryan would have to be considered the stronger plays here as they have amassed a total of 18 points over the last four games. They also are counted on to get the majority of the ice time when Carolina draws a penalty in which the hurricanes have scored five goals with the man advantage in the last four games. The second line of Sebastian Aho, Lee Stempniak and Teuvo Teravainen could be considered for tournament play as the have also enjoyed a little bit of success in the past four games. They each have lit the lamp two times over the past four games and have a combined five assists to boot. This is not earth shattering numbers but it could indicate that this line is starting to gel and could be productive tonight. Defensemen Noah Hanifin and Brett Pesce saw the most minutes with the Skinner line when the Hurricanes had the man advantage last game but I think I’d only use them in tournaments or possibly a cheap cash punt play. Justin Faulk seems to be bouncing back a little as evidence of his five points over the last five games. He only was able to find the scoresheet just seven times before this little run. The only thing to be wary of here is the fact that the capitals have only given up 61 goals so far this season, which is second next to Minnesota.
Elite Plays
WSH: Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom
CAR: Victor Rask, Jeff Skinner
Secondary Plays
WSH: T.J. Oshie, John Carlson, Marcus Johansson, Evgeny Kuznetsov
CAR: Derek Ryan, Sebastian Aho, Justin Faulk
Columbus Blue Jackets at Calgary Flames
| Columbus Blue Jackets | Calgary Flames | ||||||||
 | Sergei Bobrovsky |  | Chad Johnson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 18-5-4 | 16-14-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.30 | 2.07 | 25.60% | 82.40% | Team Stats | 2.56 | 2.84 | 16.80% | 78.80% |
As we all know the Metropolitan Division currently boasts four teams that have winning streaks of five games or more and the Columbus Blue Jackets are one of them. I heard a few talking heads on the television say that these teams are winning but not gaining any ground. My question is ground on what? By winning they are successfully cementing themselves in the play offs by moving further ahead of their competition for those last wild card spots. Brandon Saad, Alexander Wennberg and Nick Foligno skate on the team’s top line with each of them having 22 points or more on the season. Wennberg and Foligno get the extra time on the team’s top power play unit that has scored five times in the last four games. Cam Atkinson is always a decent one-off on the road as he joins Wennberg and Foligno while playing on the second line with Brandon Dubinsky and Boone Jenner. Atkinson leads the team in points with 28 points with 13 of them coming when the Blue Jackets have the man advantage. You can try a second line stack but the only problem with that is that Jenner hasn’t played up to his expectations as four goals and four assists just isn’t cutting the mustard. Sam Gagner is still pretty cheap as he skates on the team’s fourth line but has registered nine of his 21 points while playing on the top power play unit. Gagner and Atkinson are the hottest players on the team right now as they have combined for seven goals and eight assists over the last four games. The last piece to the power play puzzle is defenseman Zachary Werenski who has fund the scoresheet 18 times so far this season with nine of those points coming after the Blue Jackets draw a penalty. Seth Jones seems to be finding his form of late and could make a nice low owned play on the blue line tonight. Jones has tallied three of his 11 points in the last four games. The only thing stopping Columbus tonight would be a hot goaltender in the opposing net.
The Calgary Flames saw their six-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday night as they were beaten by a vert depleted Tampa bay Lightning team by a score of 6-3. Even though the team has played 32 games it only took Johnny Gaudreau 22 games to take over the team lead in points as he has seven goals and 13 assists on the season. He skates with Sam Bennett and Alex Chiasson on the team’s top line which should be the line to target on home ice tonight. You could stack Gaudreau with his power play line mates in Sean Monahan and Troy Brouwer as they skate with Kris Versteeg at even strength. This may actually be a good idea since the Calgary power play has accumulated at least one power play goal in each of the last six games. Monahan has five points on the power play while Gaudreau and Brouwer have four over the last six games. Mikael Backlund and Matthew Tkachuk have registered five points apiece in the last six games while playing on the team’s third line. As you can see the Flames get scoring from all angles but sticking with the power play boys while they are hot is the way to go here. Mark Giordano and T.J. Brodie man the points on the power play but I wouldn’t be opposed to taking Dougie Hamilton either as four of his 17 points have come in the last four games. Columbus will be a formidable opponent tonight so it will be interesting to see how the Flames rebound from giving up six goals the other night.
Elite Plays
CBJ: Cam Atkinson
CGY: Johnny Gaudreau
Secondary Plays
CBJ: Alexander Wennberg, Nick Foligno, Brandon Saad, Zachary Werenski, Sam Gagner
CGY: Sean Monahan, T.J. Brodie, Troy Brouwer, Mark Giordano, Dougie Hamilton