NHL Grind Down: Monday, December 21st - Page Two
Montreal Canadiens at Nashville Predators – 08:00 PM EST
| Montreal Canadiens | Nashville Predators | ||||||||
 | Carey Price |  | Pekka Rinne | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 16-11-6 | |||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.00 | 2.38 | 19.30% | 85.20% | Team Stats | 2.52 | 2.55 | 20.50% | 76.20% |
The Canadiens looked like the crème of the crop to start the 2015-16 season, but they’re dealing with some key injuries right now and are barely hanging on to their once large lead in the Atlantic Division. They were thoroughly outplayed by the Dallas Stars on Saturday and have now dropped three straight games and own just a 1-7-0 record over their last eight games. These kinds of struggles couldn’t come at a worse time for Montreal as they’ll head to Nashville tonight for just the second game of a brutal eight game road trip. With poor play, comes lineup changes and that’s what it appears we’ll see tonight as Tomas Plekanec looks to have lost his gig as the center alongside Max Pacioretty on the top line. All of the household names on this team (Pacioretty, Plekanec, Galchenyuk, Subban, Markov) have been ice-cold lately and this team has not scored more than three goals in any of the last 11 games. With Nashville owning just a 76.2% penalty kill on the season, my exposure to Montreal will be strictly limited to its top power-play unit.
After dropping three straight games, Nashville picked up a much needed victory against Minnesota on Saturday and will be hungry to beat Montreal at the Bridgestone Arena tonight to head into the mini Christmas break with some positive momentum. While the Canadiens may be gripping their sticks way too tight right now, they’re still a rock solid defnesive hockey club, and this does not look to be the most fantasy friendly game on the board. With that said, Nashville is hoping to have Mike Fisher back in action tonight and his presence would solidify Nashville’s desire for two very balanced scoring lines. While guys like Filip Forsberg and James Neal are extremely dangerous offensively, it’s actually been a pair of blue-liners that leads this Nashville team in scoring this season. Both Roman Josi and Shea Weber have combined for 17 goals and 29 assist with both players averaging nearly 25 minutes of ice-time per game. With Carey Price still out of action for Montreal, those are the two players I’ll be targeting the most heavily.
Elite Options
MON: None
NSH: Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, Shea Weber
Secondary Options
MON: Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec, P.K. Subban
NSH: James Neal, Mike Ribeiro, Colin Wilson, Ryan Ellis, Seth Jones
Toronto Maple Leafs at Colorado Avalanche – 09:00 PM EST
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Colorado Avalanche | ||||||||
 | Jonathan Bernier |  | Semyon Varlamov | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 11-13-7 | 17-16-1 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.39 | 2.65 | 18.10% | 78.80% | Team Stats | 2.79 | 2.65 | 17.40% | 81.50% |
Toronto surprised the Los Angeles Kings by shutting them out and cruising to an impressive 5-0 victory and they’ll open a three game road trip against the suddenly surging Colorado Avalanche. Toronto has averaged just 2.39 goals per game on the season, but they’ve turned things on lately with an average of four goals per game over their last five games. Mike Babcock has received offensive production from each of his top two forward lines, with Leo Komarov somewhat unexpectedly leading the team with 21 points (13 goals) in 31 games. He’s centered by the offensively aggressive Nazem Kadri and Michael Grabner on one line, with Tyler Bozak, James van Riemsdyk and P.A. Parenteau hooking up on the top line. On defense, both Dion Phaneuf and Morgan Rielly have each posted 16 points on the season and are the top options with Jake Gardiner now seeing some playing time on the point of the second power-play unit making him a fine “punt” play.
The Avalanche are suddenly one of the hottest teams in the league as they’ve won five straight games and are 8-2-0 over their last ten. They’ll host a struggling Toronto Maple Leafs team that embarrassed them in a 5-1 defeat last month with revenge on their minds. Breaking this team down is very simple; their top line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene are lethal and easily the three forward options that you should be focusing on. Alternatively, Carl Soderberg has come alive recently with points in six of the last seven games and makes for an intriguing GPP value play. With the Maple Leafs owning a subpar 78.8% penalty kill and stuck turning to Jonathan Bernier in net, both Tyson Barrie and Erik Johnson shoot up my rankings on the blue-line.
Elite Options
TOR: Tyler Bozak, James van Riemsdyk, Nazem Kadri, Dion Phaneuf
COL: Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Matt Duchene, Tyson Barrie
Secondary Options
TOR: Leo Komarov, Michael Grabner, Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner
COL: Carl Soderberg, Jarome Iginla, Erik Johnson
Winnipeg Jets at Edmonton Oilers – 09:00 PM EST
| Winnipeg Jets | Edmonton Oilers | ||||||||
 | Ondrej Pavelec |  | Ben Scrivens | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 15-15-2 | 14-18-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.81 | 3.00 | 14.70% | 76.80% | Team Stats | 2.53 | 3.09 | 17.90% | 80.40% |
The Jets enter tonight’s game with just a 15-15-2 record on the season and have a major uphill battle on their hands if they want to climb back into the playoff picture in the very competitive Central Division. With that said, they’re fresh off of a key victory against the New York Rangers on Friday night and they defeated this Edmonton team in all three meetings last season. The Oilers may be playing much better hockey lately, but they still have allowed an ugly 3.09 goals against per game on the season and won’t be bringing home any defensive awards this season. The Jets are fortunate enough to have two very capable lines, and while the Wheeler/Ladd/Little line gets most of the attention, it’s been Scheifele, Perreault and Stafford giving opposing coaches headaches lately. Mark Scheifele has been particularly hot with a pair of goals and three assists over the past four games. Dustin Byfuglien is one of the premier plays on the blue-line this evening and should be well worth his big-ticket asking price and worth a look in all game formats. Tyler Myers is a much less exciting play, but he’s picked up three points over the last two games, is locked into heavy minutes and sees a healthy dose of playing time on the point of the #2 power-play.
Just as Edmonton looked to be turning the corner (they owned a six game winning streak to open the month of December), they’ve now dropped three straight games while being outscored 13-3 in the process. However, with Connor McDavid getting closer and closer to a return and the Pacific Division being horrendous (apart from the Los Angeles Kings) this is a team that still has their sites set on making a playoff push this season. They’ll host a Winnipeg team that has allowed 3.00 goals per game this season and who happen to be the most penalized team in the league, so there’s plenty of merit behind targeting the Oilers power-play. With that in mind, the dangerous duo of Taylor Hall and Leon Draisaitl are locked in as solid options in all formats. Hall leads the team with 15 goals and 21 assists in 34 games and the talented (and still underpriced) Draisaitl has posted 28 points in just 24 games. Both players are joined on the #1 power-play by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Teddy Purcell and Justin Schultz. Also, Jordan Eberle has started to heat up offensively (5 goals and 3 assist in his last 8 games) and is the most dangerous offensive weapon on the second power-play unit.
Elite Options
WPG: Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele, Bryan Little, Dustin Byfuglien
EDM: Taylor Hall, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
Secondary Options
WPG: Mathieu Perreault, Drew Stafford, Andrew Ladd, Tyler Myers
EDM: Jordan Eberle, Teddy Purcell, Benoit Pouliot, Justin Schultz, Andrej Sekera