NHL Grind Down: Friday, November 6th - Page Two
Columbus Blue Jackets at Anaheim Ducks – 10:00 PM EST
| Columbus Blue Jackets | Anaheim Ducks | ||||||||
 | Sergei Bobrovsky |  | Frederik Andersen | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 3-10 | 3-7 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.31 | 3.69 | 18.40% | 73.80% | Team Stats | 1.33 | 2.50 | 10.80% | 90.50% |
Glancing at the Ducks 3-7-2 record makes this look like a nice matchup for the Blue-Jackets, but you’ll definitely want to remember that this essentially unchanged Anaheim team was the #1 team in the Western Conference last season. The Blue Jackets have started off their west coast road trip with a pair of wins, but will once again be tested tonight as they make the short trip down to Anaheim for the second half of a back-to-back. The Blue Jackets forward lines have been in a constant state of fluctuation to start the season, but they’re finally finding some success now that they completely split up the Saad/Johansen/Foligno line that started off the season on fire. Brandon Dubinsky leads the team with ten points on the season and has now found himself centering a line with Brandon Saad and Boone Jenner. It’s been hard to get a good read on what John Tortorella is going to do with his other star forwards in Nick Foligno, Ryan Johansen and Scott Hartnell, but all three are talented enough to be acceptable options regardless. While targeting players on the power-play is a wise daily fantasy strategy, keep your expectation in check here as the Ducks 90.5 % penalty kill is #1 in the NHL so far this season. On the blue-line, Ryan Murray finally looks to be developing into the defenseman the Blue Jackets were hoping for when they drafted him second overall in the 2012 draft, as the 22 year-old has already picked up a pair of goals and added five assists in 14 games this season. He’s averaging over 20 minutes of ice-time per game and can still be rostered at a very reasonable price industry-wide.
Something has got to give here; the Blue Jackets head to the Southern California allowing the second most goals against in the league this season to do battle with an Anaheim team that has scored just 16 goals all season (1.33 goals/game). After a brutal start to the season, the Ducks finally look to be getting back on track as they’ve won each of their last two games and are very hopeful to have Ryan Getzlaf back in action tonight (he’s officially questionable). Either way, there’s reason for optimism that the Ducks offense will finally exploded. If Getzlaf does return, he’ll likely take over at the center of the top line alongside Corey Perry and Carl Hagelin, making all three players fine options against the defensively challenged Blue-Jackets. This would push Ryan Kesler down to the second line which would certainly hurt is fantasy outlook, but he’d still be in play with the talented Jakob Silfverberg (26 goals last season) on his wing. With all of that said, this is obviously a much better matchup for the Ducks if they get their Captain back. With the Blue Jackets owning an abysmal penalty kill both last season and to start this season, you’ll definitely want to target the Anaheim power-play. That makes blue-liners Sami Vatanen, Hampus Lindholm and Cam Fowler all strong (and reasonably priced) options.
Elite Plays
CBJ: Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Johansen
ANA: Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf (if healthy)
Secondary Plays
CBJ: Nick Foligno, Scott Hartnell, Brandon Saad, Boone Jenner, Ryan Murphy
ANA: Carl Hagelin, Ryan Kesler, Jakob Silfverberg, Sami Vatanen, Hampus Lindholm, Cam Fowler