NHL Grind Down: Saturday, April 8th - Page Three
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Colorado Avalanche at Dallas Stars
| Colorado Avalanche | Dallas Stars | ||||||||
 | Calvin Pickard |  | Kari Lehtonen | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 22-55-3 | 33-37-11 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 1.96 | 3.37 | 12.30% | 76.60% | Team Stats | 2.71 | 3.05 | 17.60% | 74.20% |
You will basically need to pull up the current Avalanche roster to keep track of all the line changes as the worst team in the league tries to get a glimpse of what they may have going into next year. Sven Andrighetto and Nathan MacKinnon will anchor the top line as they seem to be the ones who have the hot hand of late. Andrighetto actually leads the team with seven points over the last games while MacKinnon’s 51 points leads Matt Duchene by 10 points for the team lead. Duchene skates with Matt Nieto and T.J. Compher while Gabriel Landeskog enjoys the return of Rocco Grimaldi back to the NHL!! Rocco has registered seven points in the 30 NHL games he has played in over the last three years. Yeah, this is where this team is. Erik Johnson and Tyson Barrie are the plays on the back line but I am sure you could come up with some safer plays than these on the back line. Colorado ends the season with two road games this weekend which almost assures us of them looking forward to golfing next week than scoring goals tonight.
Dallas is another team that has to be thinking what the heck happened as the season comes to a close. They are in sixth place in the Central Division which will see them play their last game tonight. Jamie Benn, Jason Spezza and Tyler Seguin were skating together in the last game and should stay together tonight to try to end the season on a high note in front of the home crowd. John Klingberg is the play on the back line as his 47 points is good enough for fourth place on the team’s scoring chart behind the aforementioned three. You could try to get cute here and go off the board and select players like Remi Elie or Devin Shore as they could pay dividends against a bad team like Colorado. All in all though sticking with the top four players on the team is the way to go tonight for your cash game endeavors. Spezza has grabbed eight of his 50 points over the last eight games while Seguin and Benn lead the team in points with 70 and 68 respectively.
Elite Plays
COL: None
DAL: Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn
Secondary Plays
COL: Sven Andrighetto, Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Tyson Barrie
DAL: Jason Spezza, John Klingberg
Minnesota Wild at Arizona Coyotes
| Minnesota Wild | Arizona Coyotes | ||||||||
 | Devan Dubnyk |  | Mike Smith | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 48-25-8 | 30-41-10 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.22 | 2.51 | 20.30% | 82.90% | Team Stats | 2.33 | 3.16 | 16.20% | 77.90% |
The Wild look to be the second best team in the Western Conference if they can win tonight and Anaheim loses tomorrow. Either way the team has had a very good season and look to go deep into this year’s playoffs. It appears that they have been able to right the ship by winning their last three games which could very well help with gaining momentum at the right time. Zach Parise, Eric Staal and Nino Niederreiter have been skating on the top line that has seen them combine for 10 goals and 12 assists over the last eight games. Jason Zucker returned to the lineup and was put on a line with Charlie Coyle and Martin Hanzal. Whether he will stay there or not remains to be seen as there was probably a change coming anyway as Zucker had collected just four points in the last 13 games he has played in. Mikael Granlund still leads the team with 69 points as he skates with Jordan Schroeder and Erik Haula. Look for Mikko Koivu draw back in here and take Schroeder’s spot. The Wild have had five defensemen score three points or more over the last eight games which makes it awfully tough to pinpoint which one will do the scoring on any given night. Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon and Mathew Dumba all have found the scoresheet at least 33 times so far this season with Suter leading the way with 39 points.
Arizona is another team that is trying out a few new things as they also have their gaze set to next year’s season. The Coyotes have been able to win three of their last four games and look to finish the season on a high note tonight in front of the home crowd. Radim Vrbata added to his team highs last game as he now has 20 goals and 35 assists as he skates with Jamie McGinn and Josh Jooris. Christian Dvorak skates with Shane Doan and Brendan Perlini while Max Domi and Anthony Duclair skate with Alex Burmistrov . This leaves Tobias Rieder on the fourth line and as you can tell the Arizona roster is littered with ‘potential’ talent. The problem is they haven’t been able to come together as a group for a majority of the season. Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson will not play in this game which leaves Alex Goligoski as the safest play here. Goligoski has snagged five of his 35 points over the last eight games. Look for Arizona to put up a fight and finally succumb to the better team in the second half of the game.
Elite Plays
MIN: Eric Staal
ARZ: None
Secondary Plays
MIN: Zach Parise, Charlie Coyle, Mikael Granlund, Mikko Koivu
ARZ: Radim Vrbata, Max Domi, Christian Dvorak, Alex Goligoski
Edmonton Oilers at Vancouver Canucks
| Edmonton Oilers | Vancouver Canucks | ||||||||
 | Cam Talbot |  | Ryan Miller | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 45-26-9 | 30-41-9 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.87 | 2.56 | 22.70% | 80.80% | Team Stats | 2.18 | 2.90 | 13.90% | 76.80% |
The Oilers look to hold on to second place in the Pacific Division with a win here tonight in Vancouver. They have gone 8-2 over the last 10 games which has helped them pass the slumping San Jose Sharks who just have three wins over that same time frame. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are almost math up proof and should be in play here against a Vancouver team that had given up at least three goals in four of their last five games. Patrick Maroon is their line mate at even strength and should be looked at as a full line stack in both cash and tournament plays. McDavid and Draisaitl both have 75 or more points to their credit and should find the score sheet tonight. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Milan Lucic and Jordan Eberle are worth a look here as well. Although they don’t have the gaudy stats as the top line they are still decent players who have each hit the 40 point mark this season. They should see a few scoring chances come their way as the top line will more than likely be the one that the Canucks ‘try’ to shut down. Defenseman Oscar Klefbom had a monster game last time out and still remains the team’s safest defensive option as he soaks up the extra ice time when the team has the extra attacker.
Vancouver has become a team in transition as both Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin looks to have seen better days. There was a time at the turn of the decade where each of them lead the league in scoring but those seven years seem light year away from the 90 points they have combined for this season. Nikolay Goldobin has been inserted as the winger that will skate on the top line with the aging siblings. Bo Horvat skates on the second line and leads the team with 20 goals and 51 points while Sven Baertschi and Brock Boeser complete the line. Baertschi isn’t a bad play here as he has shown flashes of being a good player at times but the 12 game he has missed because of injury has impeded not only his statistical output but his growth as a NHL hockey player as well. The Canucks have only scored seven goals in the last six games which is an indication that this team has checked out and will probably mail in their last two games this weekend. Defenseman Alexandre Edler gets the extra power play time but with a team not scoring much I am not sure if there is any value here.
Elite Plays
EDM: Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl
VAN: None
Secondary Plays
EDM: Patrick Maroon, Oscar Klefbom, Milan Lucic, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
VAN: Bo Horvat, Sven Baertschi, Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin
Calgary Flames at San Jose Sharks
| Calgary Flames | San Jose Sharks | ||||||||
 | Brian Elliott |  | Martin Jones | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 45-32-4 | 45-29-7 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.71 | 2.69 | 20.50% | 81.80% | Team Stats | 2.65 | 2.47 | 16.40% | 80.40% |
The Flames have played some solid hockey this season and have grabbed fourth place in the Pacific Division and a playoff berth for their efforts. Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan have been the spark plugs as they both lead the team in points while skating together ay both even strength and on the power play. Gaudreau’s 61 points is tops on the team while Monahan’s 27 goals leads the team. Michael Ferland skates on the top line with them and could provide some much needed salary relief tonight. Mikael Backlund, Michael Frolik and Matthew Tkachuk are worth a look for tournament play here as they skate as the team’s second line that shouldn’t have to much problem finding some good looks at the net tonight. Dougie Hamilton is the safest choice on the defensive side of things but that doesn’t mean that T.J. Brodie or Mark Giordano couldn’t provide some salary relief tonight. Hamilton is one point shy of the 50 mark which is why he is one of the safer picks of the night.
Of the eight playoff teams that will come out of the Western Conference it looks like that San Jose is the one that is worse for wear. Both Joe Thornton and Logan Couture are hoping that they can return from their injuries next week for the start of the playoffs but to be honest, they were in this slide well before they got hurt last week. As you can imagine the lines have looked quite different over the last few games with Joe Pavelski leading the charge along with Melker Karlsson and Kevin Labanc on the top line. Pavelski’s 68 points is second on the team only to defenseman Brent Burns and his team leading 29 goals and 49 assists. Burns has cooled off over the past month as he has found the score sheet just nine times in the 19 games he has played in. Patrick Marleau anchors the second line along with Joel Ward and Joonas Donskoi while Tomas Hertl has been heating up on the third line. Hertl has grabbed four points over the last seven games while line mate Jannik Hansen leads the team with five points over that same time frame. San Jose will need to pull together as a team when the playoffs start especially if they don’t have two of the best players on the team.
Elite Plays
CGY: Johnny Gaudreau
SJ: Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns
Secondary Plays
CGY: Sean Monahan, Dougie Hamilton, Mikael Backlund, Matthew Tkachuk
SJ: Patrick Marleau, Tomas Hertl