NHL Grind Down: Saturday, January 20th
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.
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New Jersey Devils at Philadelphia Flyers
| New Jersey Devils | Philadelphia Flyers | ||||||||
 | Keith Kinkaid |  | Michal Neuvirth | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 24-12-8 | 21-16-8 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.14 | 2.95 | 21.58 | 83.01 | Team Stats | 2.93 | 2.87 | 21.15 | 74.82 |
The Devils are coming off an emotional 4-3 overtime win against the division leading Washington Capitals on Thursday night which has to make them believe that they can go far when playoff time rolls around. The win put New Jersey just four points behind the Capitals with 56 points and now look to pick off the up and coming Philadelphia Flyers. Taylor Hall is the easy one-off here as he not only has grabbed 11 points over the last six games he also leads the team with 17 goals and 30 assists. Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt skate wih Hall on the 5×5 situations which would make them a decent secondary line to look at on today’s big slate. Bratt is second on the team with 29 points while Hischier is right behind him with eight goals and 20 assists. Travis Zajac, Marcus Johansson and Drew Stafford skate on the team’s second line which leaves Kyle Palmieri and Pavel Zacha to fend for themselves on the third line. Will Butcher was hot early from the back end but Sami Vatanen has become the choice on the New Jersey blue line as he has taken most of the power play time away from the aforementioned Butcher. Vatanen has grabbed six of his 10 points over the last six games.
The Flyers are trying desperately to climb back into the Eastern Conference playoff race and as of now they remain just three points away from attaining that feat. Their 3-2 overtime win on Thursday helped things along but will need more than just an errant goal by Nolan Patrick or Jordan Weal to keep moving up in the standings. Claude Giroux, Travis Konecny and Sean Couturier is the line to target here if you want a full line stack as Giroux leads the team with 54 points while Couturier’s 26 goals is tops on the team. Jakub Voracek makes for a decent one-off play here as he skates with Valtteri Filppula and Michael Raffl while leading the team with 45 assists in 45 games. Voracek joins Giroux, Couturier and third liner Wayne Simmonds to form the team’s top power play unit that sees the ice more than 67% of the time when the Flyers have the extra attacker. Although defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere leads the Flyers defensemen with 32 points it’s been Ivan Provorov who has been making most of the noise lately. Even though he’s not on the top power play unit Provorov has been able to register seven of his 22 points over the last seven games. Three of those seven points have come with the minimal time he has received when the flyers have had the man advantage. Maybe it’s time to put both defenders on the power play blue line.
Top Plays
NJ: Taylor Hall
PHL: Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek
Secondary Plays
NJ: Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Sami Vatanen, Kyle Palmieri, Marcus Johansson
PHL: Sean Couturier, Wayne Simmonds, Shayne Gostisbehere, Ivan Provorov
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