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NHL Grind Down: Saturday, January 16th - Page Two

by Tom Woollam (elctrceye) Last Updated 2016-01-16 16:34:10

Washington Capitals at Buffalo Sabres – 07:00 PM EST

Washington Capitals Buffalo Sabres
Capitals Braden Holtby Sabres Robin Lehner
Record Record
33-7-3 17-22-4
Stats GF/GP GA/GP PP% PK% Stats GF/GP GA/GP PP% PK%
Team Stats 3.28 2.09 26.10% 85.00% Team Stats 2.30 2.65 20.00% 77.00%

The Washington Capitals continue to roll on as evidence of their 4-1 home win over a lackluster Vancouver team on Thursday night. That was their fifth win in a row and their eighth in their last ten. Tonight they travel to Buffalo to take on a Sabre team that is fresh off playing the Boston Bruins last night. The top line of Alexander Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom is always in play but it’s been the second line of Evgeny Kuznetsov, Andre Burakovsky and Justin Williams that have been racking up the points of late by virtue of collectively tallying four goals and six assists in their last three games. Kuznetsov is the one-off here with four goals and four assists in his last six games. Matt Niskanen has been admirably handling the top power play duties but watch for the return of John Carlson tonight as that could put a crimp in Nisky’s power play minutes.

Buffalo finished their recent three game road trip with wins in both Minnesota and Winnipeg before returning to home ice last night to face the Boston Bruins. Team leader Ryan O’Reilly took a four game point scoring streak into last night’s game with the Bruins while defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen has tallied four points in his last six games. Jack Eichel centers the second line and has scored 13 goals to go along with 14 assists in the 43 games he has played this year. This is the Sabres top three scorers and it’s probably not a good idea to play them against a Washington team that has given up the least goals in the league with 91. Add to the fact that Buffalo just played last night and this could be a recipe for disaster. There are too many other good games tonight to start messing around with a bad team that is tired.

Elite Plays

WSH: Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov
BUFF: None

Secondary Plays

WSH: Matt Niskanen, T.J. Oshie, Andre Burakovsky, John Carlson (if in line up)
BUFF: Jack Eichel, Ryan O’Rielly, Rasmus Ristolainen

Minnesota Wild at Nashville Predators – 08:00 PM EST

Minnesota Wild Nashville Predators
Wild Devan Dubnyk Predators Pekka Rinne
Record Record
22-13-8 19-17-8
Stats GF/GP GA/GP PP% PK% Stats GF/GP GA/GP PP% PK%
Team Stats 2.63 2.35 17.70% 79.60% Team Stats 2.52 2.77 20.00% 76.30%

In an attempt to jump start the Minnesota Wild, head coach Mike Yeo has switched up his lines a little bit going into last night’s game. The top line features Zach Parise, Jason Pominville and Mikael Granlund while the second line has Mikko Koivu with Charlie Coyle and Jason Zucker. Coyle moves to the head of the class here as he had eight points in eight games at the turn of the New Year but was never rewarded for his hard work. Now is his chance to show that he belongs on one of the top two lines. Parise had five goals in his last five games before last night and it would appear that he has fully recovered from his injury of six weeks ago. You can pair Parise with Granlund who has tallied four points in his last five games as opposed to the 33 year old Pominville who has visibly lost a step over the last two years. Ryan Suter is the play on defense and is second on the team in scoring while netting a goal and three assist in his last four games.

After four straight road losses the Predators could use a little bit of home cooking to cure what ails them. Their recent slump has put them into a tie with the San Jose Sharks for eighth place in the Western conference with 46 points. The only bright spot in the past four games is the fact that they have scored power play goals in three of them and maybe they can catch the Wild a bit tired as they are on the second end of a back-to-back. The problem here is that the top power play unit has guys like Craig Smith, Mike Fisher and Shea Weber who all have had no points in the last six games up until Weber tallied the lone assist in the last game against Winnipeg. The safer route may be the top line of Ryan Johansen, James Neal and newcomer Kevin Fiala. Johansen has two goals and three assists in his last four games while James Neal woke up a bit with his goal and assist in the last game. The 19 year old Fiala found the back of the net on his first NHL shift so it will be interesting to see what tonight may bring skating on the top line with two very talented players.

Elite Plays

MIN: Zach Parise
NSH: None

Secondary Plays

MIN: Mikael Granlund, Mikko Koivu, Charlie Coyle, Ryan Suter
NSH: Ryan Johansen, James Neal, Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, Mike Ribeiro

New Jersey Devils at Arizona Coyotes – 09:00 PM EST

New Jersey Devils Arizona Coyotes
Devils Cory Schneider Coyotes Mike Smith
Record Record
21-19-5 22-16-5
Stats GF/GP GA/GP PP% PK% Stats GF/GP GA/GP PP% PK%
Team Stats 2.16 2.36 17.90% 82.30% Team Stats 2.84 3.02 19.70% 77.00%

The New Jersey Devils finish up their four game road trip with a visit to Arizona to face a Coyote team that is currently in second place in the Pacific division. Arizona’s 12-6-3 record at home has been a big part of their success as they bid for their first playoff appearance since the 2012 season. The Devils couldn’t come into this one in any worse shape as their top scorer in Mike Cammalleri remains on the sidelines. The Devils have only scored ten goals in their last seven games and have managed to win two of them backed by the stellar goaltending of Cory Schneider. When things are going wrong coaches tend to switch up the lines, which is what the Devils did for tonight’s game making the second line of Travis Zajac, Kyle Palmieri and Tuomo Ruutu a GPP at the very best. As always with a team that isn’t scoring many goals, it is tough to recommend anyone for cash games.

After winning four straight games the Arizona Coyotes dropped a close one to the Detroit Red Wings in overtime by a score of 3-2. The Coyotes play their fourth straight game at home and as luck would have it, we do have some favorable matchups to try to exploit. Arizona has scored eight power play goals in their last five games while the Devils have given up four goals while being a man short over their last five games. Arizona uses players over three lines to make up their five man power play unit which is led by Tobias Rieder who has scored two goals to go along with four assists in his last five games. Mikkel Boedker skates on the top line with Rieder and has tallied three assists in the last four games. Second liner Martin Hanzal joins Shane Doan as the last two forwards on the top power play unit and it seems that Doan may be in play tonight by virtue of the nine points he has tallied over his last eight games with all but one of those points being a goal. Oliver-Ekman-Larsson is tied for the team lead in points and makes for a very good play at the point tonight. Anthony Duclair took a maintenance day yesterday but should be ready to go for tonight’s game and makes a good one-off as he has pointed in three of his last four games.

Elite Plays

NJ: None
ARZ: None

Secondary Plays

NJ: Kyle Palmieri
ARZ: Shane Doan, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Martin Hanzal, Tobias Rieder, Mikkel Boedker, Max Domi

Calgary Flames at Edmonton Oilers – 10:00 PM EST

Calgary Flames Edmonton Oilers
Flames Jonas Hiller Oilers Ben Scrivens
Record Record
20-20-2 17-23-5
Stats GF/GP GA/GP PP% PK% Stats GF/GP GA/GP PP% PK%
Team Stats 2.71 3.05 14.40% 74.00% Team Stats 2.36 2.93 17.30% 79.40%

A funny thing happened when head coach Bob Hartley put Jiri Hudler, who was coming off of an injury, on the second line with Sam Bennett. Not only did the Flames dismantle the Florida Panthers on home ice by a score of 6-0, Bennett netted not one, not two, not three… but four goals! Now before we go proclaiming that the Flames have found a second line to put the biscuit in the basket, we must take this information with a grain of salt though as a small sample size does not a good second scoring line make. They do however make an intriguing play tonight as Edmonton will try to shut down the top line that features team scoring leader Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan. On defense you have a few choices in Mark Giordano and Dougie Hamilton who both skate on the top power play line. Giordano would be the better choice as he is third on the team in scoring and has tallied six assists over the last five games.

With all of these teams switching up their lines of late you really do need a program to keep track of them all. Edmonton has scored only eight goals in their last five games so they too are in search of the perfect combination. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has been moved up to the top line with Taylor Hall and even though Hall has just one goal in his last eight games, this is the line I like tonight against the Flames. The second line has been a bit more productive as Benoit Pouliot has five points in his last six games and Jordan Eberle has added two goals to go with eight assists in his last eight games. Nail Yakupov came back last game to man the point on the power play and could make a great one-off play tonight. Andrej Sekera takes the other point on the power play but it’s been Justin Schultz with the hot hand as he has scored four points in his last four games.

Elite Plays

CGY: Johnny Gaudreau
EDM: None

Secondary Plays

CGY: Sean Monahan, Jiri Hudler, Sam Bennett, Mark Giordano, Dougie Hamilton
EDM: Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle, Justin Schultz, Nail Yakupov

Dallas Stars at San Jose Sharks – 10:30 PM EST

Dallas Stars San Jose Sharks
Stars Kari Lehtonen Sharks Martin Jones
Record Record
29-11-4 22-18-2
Stats GF/GP GA/GP PP% PK% Stats GF/GP GA/GP PP% PK%
Team Stats 3.34 2.59 22.50% 81.30% Team Stats 2.81 2.71 20.40% 79.80%

The Stars come into this one fresh off playing in Anaheim last night. After a fast start Dallas has gone 4-4-2 over the last ten games and were tied with Chicago for the Central division lead going into last night’s action. The top line of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Patrick Sharp finds Sharp the most consistent of late as he comes in riding a 12 game point streak. Jason Spezza skates on the second line but gets the top power play minutes and makes for a good one-off pick tonight as he has nine points in his last seven games. Defenseman John Klingberg mans the point on the top power play unit and is tied for 18th in the league in scoring going into last night.

The Sharks have been on a roll of late by virtue of scoring 17 goals over their last four games. Logan Couture has been placed back on the top power play unit with Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. With the barrage of goals being scored of late almost all of them are in play tonight. Burns, Pavelski and Thornton are the strongest of the five as they all have tallied more than ten points in their last ten games. Tomas Hertl skates on the top line with Thornton and Pavelski which would make him a decent play tonight as long as you pair him with his line mates.

Elite Plays

DAL: Patrick Sharp, Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn
SJ: Joe Thronton, Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns

Secondary Plays

DAL: Jason Spezza, John Klingberg
SJ: Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl

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About the Author

elctrceye
Tom Woollam (elctrceye)

Tom Woollam is a freelance DFS writer and has been a member here at RotoGrinders.com since December 2011. He has played Fantasy Sports for the last 30 years and has been in the daily fantasy sports game for the last four. You can find him on twitter @elctrceye.