NHL Grind Down: Saturday, December 10th - Page Two
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Colorado Avalanche at Montréal Canadiens
| Colorado Avalanche | Montréal Canadiens | ||||||||
 | Calvin Pickard |  | Carey Price | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 10-14-1 | 18-6-3 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.24 | 2.96 | 16.70% | 79.60% | Team Stats | 2.96 | 2.22 | 20.90% | 81.20% |
It took seven games but the Colorado Avalanche finally found themselves on the winning side of things with their 4-2 victory at Boston on Thursday night. Before we get all excited we still have to realize that they got outshot by a total of 31-22, which would seem to indicate that this was a bit of a fluke. The loss of Gabriel Landeskog has surely been hurting this team but I am not sure that even he can save this bunch now. When was the last time you saw a team have their first three goals go unassisted? That’s exactly what happened on Thursday night and pretty much exemplifies how bad this team is. Nathan MacKinnon leads the team in scoring with 18 points while Matt Duchene is right behind him with 17 points in the 21 games he has played in. Either can be used as one-offs here and I will tell you why. Blake Comeau and Rene Bourque are MacKinnon’s line mates John Mitchell and Mikko Rantanen skate alongside of Duchene. The jury is still out on Rantanen but those other three wingers couldn’t sniff the top six on most teams in the league. Yet here they are skating around collecting paychecks and playing lousy hockey. I know it’s not their fault but geez, is anyone really going to watch this game other than the players families? With the injury to Erik Johnson it would appear that Tyson Barrie would be your play on defense if you feel the need to burn your money in cash games. Tournament play however is a whole other animal but I still wouldn’t stray too far from the top four listed below.
Montreal has been hit hard with the injury bug as first it was Alex Galchenyuk and now David Desharnais will miss six to eight weeks with a knee injury. This will put the burden on the top line of Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec and Alexander Radulov which isn’t bad as they play in front of the home crowd tonight. The problem will arise when they go on the road as the second line of Phillip Danault, Sven Andrighetto and Brendan Gallagher will be looked upon to lead the team in secondary scoring. The only question is, can they? Radulov and Pacioretty will probably be best to play in your cash games as they lead the team in points as well as play on the top power play unit. Andrew Shaw will replace Plekanec when the team draws a penalty which makes him a candidate to be a one-off GPP play only. Anytime a player gets that kind of exposure to the top skill players on the team it is always a good thing, even if his last name is Shaw. Shea Weber and Andrei Markov are your choices on defense but both have been stone cold lately as Markov has the lone assist between these two over the last five games. Hopefully a little home cooking will get them back on track tonight.
Elite Plays
COL: None
MTL: Alexander Radulov
Secondary Plays
COL: Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Tyson Barrie, Mikko Rantanen
MTL: Max Pacioretty, Shea Weber, Andrei Markov, Brendan Gallagher
Vancouver Canucks at Florida Panthers
| Vancouver Canucks | Florida Panthers | ||||||||
 |  | ||||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 12-13-2 | 12-12-4 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.30 | 2.89 | 14.10% | 84.90% | Team Stats | 2.29 | 2.61 | 13.50% | 85.00% |
Vancouver continues their five-game road trip with a stop in Sunrise Florida tonight. We don’t normally think of the Canucks as being a scoring juggernaut but they have scored 15 goals in the last five games while posting a 3-2 record. Daniel Sedin, Brandon Sutter and Henrik Sedin make up the team’s top line and are usually the first ones to feel a tap on their shoulder when Vancouver draws a penalty. Daniel leads the team in goals, assists and scoring with a line of 8-10-18 while brother Henrik’s line is very comparable at 7-10-17. Loui Eriksson joins them on the top power play unit that has registered three goals over the last six games. Eriksson skates on the second line with Jason Megna and Markus Granlund while the line of Bo Horvat, Alexandre Burrows and Sven Baertschi may be the line to target for tournament plays tonight. They have only registered three goals and two assists over the last five games but could be one of the streakiest lines in the league. If anything Horvat makes a nice one-off play as he is third on the list in team scoring. Troy Stecher plays the pointy on the power play and has accumulated three assists in the last five games. Two of those assists have come on the power play and considering that he only has six points all season, this could be an indicator that he is adjusting to the league.
The Panthers continue to miss team scoring leader Jonathan Marchessault as they have lost their last three games without him. Truth be told that the Panthers started having problems well before that as they have only scored 14 goals in the last nine games. Aleksander Barkov and Jaromir Jagr are responsible for seven of those goals as they not only skate together on both the even strength line and power play unit. This is as close to a cash game play as you can get where this game is concerned. In an effort to get more offense on the board Reilly Smith has been replaced on the top line by Seth Griffith. This means that Reilly Smith will rejoin Jussi Jokinen and Vincent Trocheck on the second line and could mnake for a sneaky GPP play tonight. Aaron Ekblad and Keith Yandle are the choices on defense with Ekblad having the slight advantage as he shoots the puck a bit more. Again, taking anyone from this game in cash games could be very close to asking for a death wish.
Elite Plays
VAN: None
FLA: Aleksander Barkov
Secondary Plays
VAN: Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Troy Stecher, Brandon Sutter
FLA: Jaromir Jagr, Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle
Nashville Predators at Arizona Coyotes
| Nashville Predators | Arizona Coyotes | ||||||||
 |  | ||||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 12-10-4 | 8-13-5 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.96 | 2.77 | 21.30% | 81.20% | Team Stats | 2.15 | 3.12 | 14.30% | 80.00% |
Nashville will soon or later have to start winning some games on the road if they want to move up in the standings as their 3-8-2 road record leaves a lot to be desired. The Predators are one of the most hot-and-cold teams in the league as one night they can come out and score five goals and then go ahead and give up five the next. Colin Wilson, Mike Fisher and James Neal should be the line that Arizona tries to shut down but that doesn’t mean that the line of Ryan Johansen, Viktor Arvidsson and Craig Smith won’t have the target on their backs. Somehow through all of this Mike Ribeiro and Kevin Fiala have piled up the points as they play on a line with Filip Forsberg. Ribeiro has six assists while Fiala has lit the lamp three times and assisted on another goal over the last five games. Fiala, Arvidsson and defenseman P.K. Subban have led the team with 18 shots apiece over the last five games. The odd thing here is that with all the Fiala and Ribeiro scoring going on Forsberg has not registered a point while getting 16 shots on net. Roman Josi and Subban are the choices on the back line and both are about even as their stat lines are almost identical. Both also get minutes on the power play so just choose one and move on.
Arizona has the dubious honor of being the worst team in the league as their 8-13-5 record has them tied with Colorado with 21 points in the league. They are one of three teams not to score 60 goals yet this season so you can see why it may be tough to go with the home team tonight. Tobias Rieder, Martin Hanzal and Anthony Duclair make up the team’s first line while Max Domi, Christain Dvorak and Shane Doan are on the second line. Domi got injured late in the Calgary game on Thursday night and is a game time decision. I would look for Radim Vbrata to move into the top six if Domi cannot go because to put it bluntly, he belongs there anyway. The Coyotes have only scored ten goals in their last eight games so if I had to choose someone from this team I would probably go with defenseman Michael Stone as he plays on the team’s top power play unit and has registered three assists in the last five games. Rieder and Hanzal have tallied two goals apiece over the last five games so maybe that is the duo you use for your GPP plays tonight.
Elite Plays
NSH: James Neal
ARZ: None
Secondary Plays
NSH: Ryan Johansen, Viktor Arvidsson, Mike Fisher, P.K. Subban, Roman Josi, Filip Forsberg
ARZ: Tobias Rieder, Martin Hanzal, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Michael Stone
Winnipeg Jets at Calgary Flames
| Winnipeg Jets | Calgary Flames | ||||||||
 |  | ||||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 13-14-3 | 15-13-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.57 | 2.87 | 15.00% | 78.90% | Team Stats | 2.43 | 2.77 | 14.00% | 78.90% |
The Winnipeg Jets will have to solve goaltender Chad Johnson if they are entertaining any thoughts of coming out of here with a win tonight. The Calgary goaltender has let up just seven goals as the Flames have won their last five games. The Jets have only scored 12 goals in the last five games with Patrik Laine scoring four goals and line mate Bryan Little lighting the lamp three times over that time frame. Just add Nikolaj Ehlers to the mix and you have a nice lttle GPP stack on your hands. The Flames will probably try to shut down the line of Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Drew Stafford as Scheifele leads the team in points with 14 goals and 13 assists. Wheeler has added five assist over the last five games and is fourth on the Jets scoring chart with 22 points through 30 games this season. Defenseman Dustin Byfuglien has caught fire as he has had a hand in six of the last 12 goals the Jets have scored. He also sees a lot of time on the power play while logging almost 28 minutes of ice time on a nightly basis. Chad Johnson would be the only reason not to play to many players from the Winnipeg side so tread lightly.
And out of nowhere the Calgary Flames were tied for first place in the Pacific division with the Edmonton oilers going into action last night. Although the goaltending has been superb of late they have given up 84 goals so far this season which is fourth most in the league. Johnny Gaudreau makes for a decent one-off play here as he has lit the lamp twice while assisting on four other goals since his return three games ago. Sam Bennett is the logical choice to go along with Gaudreau as they play on the same line reagardless of if the Flames have the man advantage or not. Sean Monahan and Troy Brouwer join them on the top power play unit and make for a decent GPP play here as Monahan has the same exact stats as Gaudreauover the last four games. Matthew Tkachuk, Mikael Backlund and Michael Frolik make up the team’s third line and should only be used as a deepr GPP play. T.J. Brodie could be the popular choice on the back line but Mark Giordano and Dougie Hamilton deserve a look here as well. Hamilton leads the team in shots with 85 while Giordano has seen his last two points come via the power play.
Elite Plays
WIN: Patrik Laine, Mark Scheifele
CGY: Johnny Gaudreau
Secondary Plays
WIN: Nikolaj Ehlers, Blake Wheeler, Dustin Byfuglien, Bryan Little
CGY: Sean Monahan, Sam Bennett, Troy Brouwer, Dougie Hamilton
Carolina Hurricanes at San Jose Sharks
| Carolina Hurricanes | San Jose Sharks | ||||||||
 |  | ||||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 11-10-6 | 15-11-1 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.41 | 2.56 | 18.80% | 92.00% | Team Stats | 2.38 | 2.12 | 18.30% | 83.80% |
After a slight bump in the road, Cam Ward came back after as 6-5 loss to Anaheim to post a 3-1 victory in the second game of this three-game road trip against the Los Angeles Kings. Tonight they play at San Jose where the Sharks are fresh off playing in Anaheim last night. Jeff Skinner and Victor Rask lead the team in points from the top line as they have combined for 18 goals and 22 assists in 26 games so far this season. Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen can be used as a GPP play here as it is more than likely that the Sharks will try to shut down Skinner and Rask than they will these guys. They have each notched two points over the last five games with Teravainen finding the net twice which gives him 12 points on the season. Derek Ryan and Brock McGinn are the hot duo here as they have three goals and five assists over the last three games while skating on the third line. As you can see the Hurricanes offense is all over the place and they don’t really score enough to trust any of them in cash game play. Justin Faulk is the usual play on the back line but Jaccob Slavin is starting to give him a run for his money as he has tallied three assists over the last five games which ties him with Faulk on the Carolina scoring chart with nine points.
The Sharks are the easiest team in all of NHL DFS to predict as they really only have five guys that score on a consistent basis, and even that may be a reach. Joe Pavelski and defenseman Brent Burns are the most consistent of the bunch which is why they lead the team in scoring with 25 and 24 points respectively. Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau join Pavelski on both the top unit at even strength and on the power play. Marleau is the one to leave out here as he just isn’t performing like he has in past years as his six goals and eight points in 27 games is nowhere near good enough if you are playing cash games tonight. Logan Couture is always used as a one-off play as his line mates just don’t have the points we look for from second line players. Melker Karlsson has just been moved to the second line a few games ago so at least he has an excuse but for Joel Ward to only have seven points while getting exposure to Couture is downright pitiful. For cash games it’s best to stick with Pavelski, Burns, Couture and Thornton as they all skate on the team’s top power play line and are the only ones that have scored more than ten points all season.
Elite Plays
CAR: Jeff Skinner
SJ: Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns
Secondary Plays
CAR: Victor Rask, Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen
SJ: Joe Thornton, Logan Couture