NHL Grind Down: Saturday, December 12th - Page Two

by Tom Woollam (elctrceye) Last Updated 2015-12-12 15:10:07

Colorado Avalanche at Nashville Predators – 08:00 PM EST

Colorado Avalanche					Nashville Predators
			Semyon Varlamov					Pekka Rinne
			Record					Record
			12-16-1					15-9-5
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	2.72	2.93	17.80%	80.70%	Team Stats	2.62	2.59	21.60%	75.30%

Colorado starts a three game road trip that starts in Nashville and takes them to St Louis tomorrow with it finally ending up in Chicago Tuesday night. Before we get into any analysis we must note that Gabriel Landeskog is listed as day to day as he experienced back spasms that were bad enough for him to sit out Thursday night’s game. As if Colorado weren’t a bad enough team, imagine them without their third best scorer. If their 4-2 loss to Pittsburgh is any indication of how this will go, Colorado could be in a world of hurt if the injury to Landeskog is serious. Mikhail Grigorenko started on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene but was quickly replaced with Alex Tanguay. If Landeskog remains out, this is where you will want to start for your GPP plays as it is not recommended to play any Avalanche in cash games with all this uncertainty. Duchene is the play here as he not only leads the team with 26 points, he also has three goals and an assist in his last five games. If you want to get a bit more daring, defenseman Tyson Barrie has scored twice and assisted on two goals in his last five games and wouldn’t be the worst defenseman you could take tonight.

Nashville bounced back on the second half of a home and home to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks by a score of 5-1 on home ice Thursday night. They could not however stop Patrick Kane from finding the scoresheet as he had Chicago’s lone goal extending his point streak to the last 24 games. Tonight we can pick on the top power play unit of Nashville as they have scored 12 goals with the man advantage in their last 15 games. Conversely, Colorado has given up 8 goals when a man short in their last 14 games. Defenseman Roman Josi leads the team in scoring thanks in part to his current streak of six games in which he has scored three goals and assisted on five others. Fellow defenseman Shea Weber finds himself third on the Predators scoring list as he too has contributed with three goals and three assists in his last five games. It’s worth mentioning that James Neal can run in streaks at times and he netted two goals his last game. Take it for what it’s worth.

Elite Plays

Col: None
Nash: Roman Josi

Secondary Plays

Col: Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Tyson Barrie, Alex Tanguay
Nash: Shea Weber, Filip Forsberg, Calle Jarnkrok, James Neal

Dallas Stars at St. Louis Blues – 08:00 PM EST

Dallas Stars					St. Louis Blues
			Kari Lehtonen
			Record					Record
			21-5-2					16-9-4
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	3.50	2.64	25.60%	80.70%	Team Stats	2.52	2.45	17.20%	87.00%

Dallas comes into this game fresh off a game last night against the upstart Philadelphia Flyers. Dallas is in control of the President’s Cup so far as they have 44 points, which is three more than second place Montreal. With Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and John Klingberg all found in the top ten in scoring, it’s no wonder that the Stars lead the league with 99 goals to their credit. Benn and Seguin both had a goal and three assists in Tuesday’s 6-5 win against Carolina, but those type of numbers are hard to sustain game in and game out. That is not to say they aren’t in play tonight as with any player scoring a point a game or better, they should almost always be in play. For your GPP pleasure, take a look at both Jason Spezza and Patrick Eaves as they both skate on the second line and for the time being, skate on the top power play as well.

The Blues have obviously hit a rough spot as they have dropped four of their last five games with the only win coming on home ice against Arizona by a score of 4-1 Tuesday night. Their four goals that night represent the only time the Blues were able to score three or more goals in regulation over the last 15 games. I expect tonight’s game to be a bit more wide open as this is the first time that have played against the Stars. Although he didn’t score the other night, Vladimir Tarasenko is always in play as ten of his 16 goals have come on home ice with an even amount of home and road games played. He clearly feels better at home as even last year he had more goals at home than on the road. Kevin Shattenkirk has 15 points in the 19 games he has played in which includes scoring two goals and assisting on two others in the last four games. With the Blues not scoring as much as we’d like it’s hard to consider anyone else as they just aren’t reliable, plain and simple.

Elite Plays

Dal: Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin
Stl: Vladimir Tarasenko

Secondary Plays

Dal: John Klingberg, Jason Spezza
Stl: Kevin Shattenkirk, Paul Stastny, David Backes

Carolina Hurricanes at Arizona Coyotes – 09:00 PM EST

Carolina Hurricanes					Arizona Coyotes
			Cam Ward					Mike Smith
			Record					Record
			10-14-4					13-14-1
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	2.29	3.07	15.10%	74.30%	Team Stats	2.68	3.18	14.80%	81.90%

When I tell you that going into last night’s contests there were only two teams that have given up 90 goals or more, would you believe me? Of course you would so it would be no surprise to know that both teams are right there with them with Arizona giving up 89 goals while Carolina is sitting at 87. With both teams as bad as they are it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that one of them may even be close to giving up 100 goals after playing last night. Arizona does get the benefit of being at home last night while Carolina takes the trip in from Anaheim. Both teams not only score on the power play, they both have a penchant for giving them up as well. Going into last night, Carolina has scored eight goals in their last 13 games on the power play while giving up 11 goals in 11 games when they are a man down. Arizona is a bit worse and better. Their power play has lit the lamp seven times in the past 13 games with the man advantage while giving up nine goals in their last 13 games while being short-handed.

Defenseman Justin Faulk leads the Hurricanes in scoring as he has scored 11 goals while assisting on 12 others and would seem to play a decent play as he has three goals and two assists in the last three games. Victor Rask also has a goal and five assists in his last five games. Rask is interesting as he plays third line center, which isn’t bad on the road against Arizona, but also gets the top power play minutes as well. Eric Staal may be enjoying the fountain of youth as he has a goal and three assists in his last three games, which isn’t bad when you consider he has just 18 total points in 29 games. Jeff Skinner is red hot as well as he has scored six of his 11 goals in the past three games.

It’s tough to gauge a team that has only played ten home games all season, but this is indeed the task at hand. The Coyotes are 6-4 at home, which isn’t bad especially when you consider the fact that 30 of their 45 goals have come in the ten games played at Jobing.com Arena. Max Domi should lead the charge tonight as his ten goals are the most on the team in that category. Domi is currently in a two game scoring drought and it should be noted that he has never gone three games without a point in his young NHL: career. Oliver Ekman-Larsson had a nice four game point scoring streak going, but in the most recent four games he has just two goals to his credit. Look for some goals in this one.

Elite Plays

Car: None
Arz: None

Secondary Plays

Car: Justin Faulk, Victor Rask, Eric Staal, Elias Lindholm
Arz: Max Domi, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Mikkel Boedker

New York Rangers at Calgary Flames – 10:00 PM EST

New York Rangers					Calgary Flames
			Henrik Lundqvist					Jonas Hiller
			Record					Record
			18-8-3					12-14-2
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	2.76	2.00	21.10%	84.00%	Team Stats	2.57	3.50	12.00%	70.30%

The Rangers started out like a team on fire as they went 16-3-2 in their first 20 games, since then however, it has been a different story.Their record of 2-5-1 in the last eight games is not pretty, especially when you realize the Rangers have only scored 15 goals in those 8 games. Last night however was a different story as they exploded for five goals, the problem was that they gave up seven goals in a loss to Edmonton. We can either view this as an aberration or a step forward. I normally take the high road and say that it is an aberration as Edmonton is just not a good team. At first look Calgary isn’t a great team either, but what they are is a decent team at home as they have reeled off eight straight wins in front of the home town crowd. The Flames have not shut anyone out thus far so look for the New Yorkers to score a few goals, even if they are on a back to back. Rick Nash is the always worth a look as he has a goal and four assists in his last five games. While Nash is a good play you may want to take a peek at Derick Brassard as he has 4 goals in his last three games and while you are at it Mats Zuccarello is in play by virtue of his two goals and three assists over that same time period.

Calgary comes into this one winning the first four games of this five game home stand and now they get to face a Rangers team that has not only played last night, but have seen some trouble of late scoring goals against bad teams. The top line is in play here led by Johnny Gaudreau and his five goals and two assist in the last three games. This has helped him get back to being the point a game player that he is as he now sits at ten goals and 18 assists through 28 games. Sean Monahan must be considered as well as he has three goals and five assists in the last there games and that makes sense that his numbers correlate with Gaudreau’s as they are on the ice together most of the time. It’s risky business trying to pair one of those two with another forward as David Jones, Sam Bennett and Mikael Backlund all have spent time skating with them with the latter having the most success with just two assist over the last three games. So if the forwards aren’t figuring in on those goals it must be the defenseman, right? It is indeed the defensemen as both Mark Giordano and T.J. Brodie not only man the point on the power play they both have been contributing heavily during this nice four game winning streak. Giordano has netted a goal to go along with three assists in the past three games but it has been Brodie who has tallied at least one assist in each of his last six games.

Elite Plays

NYR: None
Calg: Johnny Gaudreau

Secondary Plays

NYR: Rick Nash, Derick Brassard, Mats Zuccarello
Calg: Sean Monahan, Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie

Minnesota Wild at San Jose Sharks – 10:30 PM EST

Minnesota Wild					San Jose Sharks
			Devan Dubnyk					Martin Jones
			Record					Record
			14-7-5					14-13-1
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	2.69	2.46	18.20%	75.80%	Team Stats	2.64	2.71	18.10%	81.30%

Going into last night’s contest in Arizona Zach Parise seems to be finally getting over his injury as not only is he starting to shoot the puck more, the points are starting to rack up as well. Parise has pointed in three of the last four games while shooting the puck on net 16 times in those games. Mikael Granlund has also added five assists in his last 5 games while Jason Pominville remains the streaky player that he is by scoring three goals and adding an assist in his last five games. It does bear mentioning however that the Wild are 0-4 in games where they have played the previous night.

San Jose has been nothing short of pitiful this season as their home record of 4-8 would seem to indicate. Futhermore, the Sharks come into this one riding a five game losing streak thanks to a total of nine goals being scored during that span. I know we like to take players from the late games to have the late hammer, but this may be one to avoid. The only positive here is the fact that the Wild have given up eight goals in their last 11 games while trying to kill a penalty while San Jose has scored 12 goals in their last 13 games with the man advantage. As you can imagine, with only nine goals scored in the last five games, not many have scoring streaks going so maybe it’s just best to stick to the Sharks top four players on the power play. The bad news for San Jose is that Logan Couture had to have emergency surgery on an arterial bleed in his leg and it is unknown how long he will be out for.

Elite Plays

Minn: None
SJ: None

Secondary Plays

Minn: Zach Parise, Ryan Suter, Mikael Granlund, Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville
SJ: Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Brent Burns

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