NHL Grind Down: Saturday, February 24th
The RotoGrinders NHL Grind Down article will give you an in-depth analysis into the NHL schedule. This article will break down the numbers for every single game and give you analysis on which trends you can exploit. While matchups are a major factor in daily fantasy hockey there are plenty of other factors to consider such as injuries, salaries, and more.
The analysis should point you in the right direction, but it is still up to you to decipher the information and make your own selections. Hockey is an extremely high variance sport. The best choice is not always the right choice but following the trends will win you money over time.
Remember, these writeups are done prior to lineups being released, so make sure to check our Starting Lineups page to ensure the recommended options are playing.
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Philadelphia Flyers at Ottawa Senators
| Philadelphia Flyers | Ottawa Senators | ||||||||
 | Petr Mrazek |  | Craig Anderson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 32-19-10 | 21-29-10 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.98 | 2.79 | 21.57 | 75.29 | Team Stats | 2.68 | 3.42 | 16.30 | 75.00 |
The Flyers have been one of the hottest teams in the league after they ended their 10 game losing streak back on December 4th of last year. Sure the team has lost a few games since then but the team is actually in the hunt for the Metropolitan Division crown with 74 points. Injuries to Wayne Simmonds and goaltenders Brian Elliott and Michal Neuvirth could hamper their chances however as the team went out and trade for Petr Mrazek to be their starting goalie. Because of the Simmonds injury the Flyers have elected to use Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier and Michael Raffl as the top line while Nolan Patrick centers Jakub Voracek and Jordan Weal on the team’s second line. Travis Konecny usually gets the prime spot on the top line but after coming out for warm-ups and skating gingerly on Thursday night the Flyers brass decided to scratch him and go with Raffl. Giroux and Voracek are the easy chalk plays here as both have registered over 67 points each while getting over 68% of the power play time. Couturier can be added to that group as well but pair him with Giroux as he skates with him on the 5×5 situations. Shatne Gostisbehere is the choice on the back line as he is one point shy of hitting the half-century mark. Ivan Provorov could be used for a little salary relief as his 28 points isn’t bad for a secondary defenseman. The Flyers should be able to handle the second worst team in the Eastern Conference this evening.
Ottawa comes into this one playing their third game in four nights as they lost for the fifth time in their last seven games Thursday night in Toronto. They have been scoring some goals however and the reason for this is quite simple. The Senators have finally been keeping their best six players skating on the top two lines as opposed to trying to make three mediocre scoring lines. This bodes well for Mike Hoffman as he now has Bobby Ryan and Matt Duchene as his line mates while Jean-Gabriel Pageau centers Mark Stone and Zack Smith on the team’s second line. The power play is starting to pick up as well as they have scored in two of the last three games with the man advantage. This means that Smith and Ryan are relegated to the second power play unit while the other four top six players are joined by Erik Karlsson when the team has the extra attacker. Stone leads the team with 19 goals and 52 points while Karlsson registered his team leading 37th assist the other night in Toronto. Ottawa has scored 26 goals in the past five games and should be in line for a few goals against a depleted Philadelphia team. Cody Ceci and Thomas Chabot are the other options on the back line and may have to be used here if you are playing the early two-game slate.
Top Plays
PHL: Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek
OTT: Mark Stone, Erik Karlsson
Secondary Plays
PHL: Sean Couturier, Shayne Gostisbehere, Nolan Patrick, Ivan Provorov
OTT: Matt Duchene, Bobby Ryan, Zack Smith
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