NHL Grind Down: Saturday, December 5th - Page Two
Montreal Canadiens at Carolina Hurricanes – 07:00 PM EST
| Montreal Canadiens | Carolina Hurricanes | ||||||||
 | Mike Condon |  | Cam Ward | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 8-13-4 | |||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.37 | 2.19 | 23.10% | 86.80% | Team Stats | 2.04 | 2.96 | 12.20% | 74.60% |
Montreal takes to the road after dropping two of three games at home to both New Jersey and Washington. Make no mistake, Carolina does not have the defense those two teams have and with Montreal playing at a 9-2-1 clip on the road, they should be fairly safe to play tonight. Montreal has scored nine power-play goals in their last nine games while Carolina has given up nine goals in their last 11 games when they find themselves a man down. The top line of Max Pacioretty, Dale Weise and David Desharnais should do the trick tonight as not only do they make up the Habs top power-play unit, they skate as the top line as well. Pacioretty should be the top choice here as he is the team leader in points and has scored two goals to go with three assists in the last five games. If it’s a choice between Andrei Markov or P.K. Subban on defense, this may be a good spot to pay up for Subban as he has 14 shots in the last three games compared to Markov’s seven shots in his last five games. You get what you pay for.
Going into last night’s action Carolina has the dubious distinction of scoring the second-fewest goals (51) and letting in the most (75) of the 16 teams in the Eastern Conference. It is hard to get any traction when your backup goalie is currently 1-5-1 and has a save percentage of .856 to go with his 3.54 goals against average, but that’s exactly what Eddie Lack has put up thus far this season. Although the Hurricanes would like to play Cam Ward every night, it’s just physically impossible. In the 18 games Ward has started, he is 7-8-3 with a save percentage of .898 and a goals against average of 2.53. Not really great numbers but they are certainly better than the alternative. Carolina did not practice yesterday, so give @ice_chip a follow as the Canes are rumored to calling up a possible three players to join the parent team. The Hurricanes have no cash value for your games tonight so it’s off to GPP land we go. We should probably stick with the top line here as that is not only where all the talent is, the Canes get last change and should be able to keep them away from Montreal’s best defensive line. Victor Rask has three goals in his last four games and Elias Lindholm saw his five-game point streak snap Thursday night in Carolina’s 5-1 at home to the Devils.
Elite Plays
Mon: Max Pacioretty
Car: None
Secondary Plays
Mon: P.K. Subban, Dale Weise, David Desharnais, Andrei Markov, Tomas Plekanec, Alex Galchenyuk
Car: Elias Lindholm, Victor Rask, Justin Faulk
Columbus Blue Jackets at Philadelphia Flyers – 07:30 PM EST
| Columbus Blue Jackets | Philadelphia Flyers | ||||||||
 | Sergei Bobrovsky |  | Steve Mason | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 10-16-0 | 10-10-5 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.35 | 3.00 | 17.60% | 80.80% | Team Stats | 1.92 | 2.64 | 15.60% | 81.20% |
Even though the Blue Jackets lost last night to Florida in a shootout, they were finally able to climb out of the basement in the Metropolitan Division. Scott Hartnell was a healthy scratch in last night’s game and head coach John Tortorella did everything in his power to piece the lines together. All but the fourth line stayed together throughout the game and that does us no good. Look for Ryan Johansen and Boone Jenner to figure in on any scoring the Jackets may be doing tonight. Jenner has been very cold of late and has not pointed in his last five games. He has however generated ten shots in his last two games. Normally the old adage is, when you shoot the puck, good things happen, just ask Matt Beleskey. Johansen, on the other hand, has pointed in five of his last seven games, gathering four goals along the way.
Philadelphia comes into this one as one of the hottest teams in the league. Head coach Dave Hakstol has found something as the Flyers have won four games in a row for the first time this year. You have to go back some 20 months ago to March 22nd, 2014 to find the last time the Flyers won five games in a row. They have a good chance of completing that task as a few players are starting to heat up. Claude Giroux has scored three goals and assisted on six others in his last six games while defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has netted three goals and got the helpers on two others in the last six games he has played. Wayne Simmonds could very well be the hottest player of the bunch as he has scored four goals to go with two assists in his last three games. Columbus continues to take penalties which would make Simmonds even more enticing as he hangs out in front of the net on a power-play unit that has scored ten goals in the past 14 games with the man advantage.
Elite Plays
CBJ: None
Phil: None
Secondary Plays
CBJ: Ryan Johansen, Boone Jenner
Phil: Claude Giroux, Shayne Gostisbehere, Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek, Michael Del Zotto
Colorado Avalanche at Minnesota Wild – 08:00 PM EST
| Colorado Avalanche | Minnesota Wild | ||||||||
 | Semyon Varlamov |  | Devan Dubnyk | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 11-14-1 | 13-7-4 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.88 | 2.96 | 19.10% | 78.80% | Team Stats | 2.75 | 2.58 | 19.50% | 75.00% |
Colorado finishes up their four-game road trip at Excel Center tonight and are coming off of two impressive road wins against New Jersey and the New York Rangers. The secret is out on the Avalanche as their prices continue to climb in light of their 75 goals scored this season, which ranks second in the conference. After a slow start Matt Duchene leads the team in goals with 14 and has a staggering 13 goals in the last 15 games. Nathan MacKinnon ties Duchene for the team lead in points with his 10 goals and 14 assists. Gabriel Landeskog makes up the third part of the top line with 21 points, good for third on the team. Blake Comeau has been getting some run on the second line as he netted goals in two of the last three games. Tyson Barrie is the choice back on defense as he has found the score sheet in the last two games and in three of the last five.
On the verge of his wife giving birth to their second child, goaltender Devan Dubnyk has put together two very strong games. The first one was a 2-1 win at Chicago on Tuesday and the second one came on Thursday as the Wild blanked the Maple Leafs by a score of 1-0. Dubnyk stopped a combined 58 of 59 shots over the 51 hour period and should be strongly considered tonight if he gets the call. Minnesota has scored on the power play eight times in the last 12 games. That should match up well against a Colorado team that has given up 77 goals this season as well as nine power-play goals in their last 14 games. It’s only a matter of time before Zach Parise puts together a good game but it’s tough to trust the winger until he shows us that he is fully over his knee injury that cost him three weeks of play time. Mikael Granlund has seen a boost of late as his nine shots in his last two games goes along with two assists. Granlund plays top line and top power play so he is an easy choice if you want a piece of Minnesota tonight. Ryan Suter mans the point on the power play and can be counted on to shoot the puck as well.
Elite Plays
Col: Matt Duchene
Minn: None
Secondary Plays
Col: Nathan MacKinnon, Tyson Barrie, Gabriel Landeskog
Minn: Zach Parise, Thomas Vanek, Mikko Koivu, Ryan Suter, Mikael Granlund
Boston Bruins at Vancouver Canucks – 10:00 PM EST
| Boston Bruins | Vancouver Canucks | ||||||||
 | Tuukka Rask |  | Ryan Miller | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 13-8-2 | 9-10-8 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.22 | 2.87 | 31.40% | 76.70% | Team Stats | 2.63 | 2.74 | 19.80% | 78.40% |
The Bruins seem to be having a bit of trouble on their three-game west coast road trip. After dropping a 3-2 shootout decision to the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night, Boston was back at it again as they lost in overtime to a hapless Calgary team by a score of 5-4 in overtime. This will be the third game in four nights for the Boston and based on the way the team is playing lately, the Sedins should have a field day tonight. As with any Boston team in recent memory, it is very hard to predict where the scoring will actually come from. If the Bruins were able to keep Joe Thornton, Phil Kessel and Tyler Seguin, we wouldn’t be in this dilemma. Loui Eriksson has a four-game point streak going by collecting an assist in every game except in last night’s game where he assisted on goals by Zdeno Chara and Matt Beleskey. Speaking of Chara, he has scored goals in the last two games to go with an assist and should be considered for your lineups tonight. David Krejci saw his modest three-game scoring streak snapped as he did not figure in any of the Boston goals last night.
Vancouver has fallen on hard times as they have dropped their last four games in a row and have only managed two wins in their last ten. The saving grace is that the Bruins come in after playing at Calgary last night while the Canucks enjoy just their fourth game at home in their last 15 games. Look for Daniel Sedin to figure in on the Vancouver scoring as he has on many nights so far this season. Daniel has pointed in nine of his last ten games all the while being more than a point per game player so far this season. If you select Daniel Sedin, you may as well go right ahead and roster his twin brother as well. Henrik Sedin is second on the team in points with 8 goals and 18 assists, which is good for 26 points. Going into last night’s game, the Bruins have surrendered eight power-play goals in their last 12 games and with the Canucks scoring nine goals in the last 15 games with the man advantage, we may as well take a look at the rest of the cast of characters. Alexandre Burrows, Alexander Edler and Yannick Weber round out the top five on the power play.
Elite Plays
Bos: None
Van: Daniel Sedin
Secondary Plays
Bos: David Krejci, Torey Krug, Loui Eriksson, Matt Beleskey, Zdeno Chara
Van: Henrik Sedin
Tampa Bay Lightning at San Jose Sharks – 10:30 PM EST
| Tampa Bay Lightning | San Jose Sharks | ||||||||
 | Ben Bishop |  | Martin Jones | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 12-11-3 | 14-10-0 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.31 | 2.19 | 17.30% | 77.30% | Team Stats | 2.75 | 2.63 | 17.10% | 80.00% |
Tampa started their three-game west coast road trip with a tough fought 2-1 win in Anaheim on Wednesday night. By now the Lightning should be well rested, even though they changed time zones five days ago. San Jose comes into this one after playing in Anaheim last night, so the thought process here is, the Sharks should be a little tired. Tampa Bay has not done much on the power play of late as they have scored only five goals in their last 13 games with the man advantage. Conversely, San Jose has been solid in killing penalties as they have allowed only five goals in their last 13 games of that variety so we need to get a bit creative tonight. While Steven Stamkos is always in play, let’s take a look at the Tampa second line for GPPs tonight as they should not draw the Sharks top shut down line. The problem with this is Tyler Johnson and Cedric Paquette are dealing with upper body injuries and are listed as questionable for tonight’s contest. I would think that only Johnson would be able to draw into the top six and that’s if he even plays. He did not practice yesterday, but still we can’t assume anything. What we can assume is that Nikita Kucherov and Vladislav Namestnikov will stay firmly planted on the second line. Namestnikov has three assists in his last five games while Kucherov needs to find his scoring touch as he has only scored points in just one of his last eight games. There is no doubt that this line will be low owned. The only bright spot is Jonathan Drouin who scored a goal and an assist in his first game back from injury after missing six in a row.
Anaheim provided to be too much for San Jose last night as goaltender John Gibson stopped all 23 shots en route to a 1-0 Ducks win. The loss drops the Sharks road record to a very respectable 10-4. Unfortunately, the Sharks have not been playing too well at home this year as they have only been able to post four wins in 11 tries. Nonetheless, Tampa Bay has had trouble killing penalties recently as they have given up seven goals in the last 11 games while being at a man disadvantage. Brent Burns has cooled off from his four goals and two assists in four games string which was snapped two games ago and while he has not pointed in the last two games, he still continues to take the shots. He had four last night in Anaheim and he had a total of six Tuesday night against the Penguins. Joe Pavelski is a straight up point per game player as he has 12 goals and 12 assists in the 24 games he has played in this year. Patrick Marleau is putting together a nice little run as he has scored four goals and assisted on six others in his last six games. Look for the Sharks to bounce back tonight in back and forth battle on home ice tonight.
Elite Plays
TB: Steven Stamkos
SJ: Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns
Secondary Plays
TB: Alex Killorn, Valtteri Filppula, Anton Stralman, Victor Hedman
SJ: Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Joel Ward