NHL Grind Down: Saturday, January 7th - Page Two
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New York Rangers at Columbus Blue Jackets
| New York Rangers | Columbus Blue Jackets | ||||||||
 | Henrik Lundqvist |  | Sergei Bobrovsky | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 27-13-1 | 27-6-4 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.39 | 2.49 | 22.80% | 83.50% | Team Stats | 3.35 | 2.11 | 27.00% | 82.20% |
It will be interesting to see how the Blue Jackets respond after their 16 game winning streak was snapped on Thursday night by the Washington Capitals. There were reports that Rick Nash was working on the power play in practice but not with an actual line which leads one to believe that he may not play in tonight’s game. This would still make Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider and Mats Zuccarello the team’s top line on both the power play and at even strength. This has been the line the Rangers have been counting on to get the team going and for the most part, they have not disappointed. New York has scored 22 goals in the last five games with the top line being responsible for ten of those goals. Kreider has seven goals and nine points while Stepan has lit the lamp three times and has added five assists. Meanwhile Zuccarello has collected eight assists which gives him 30 points on the year. The second line of Kevin Hayes, Michael Grabner and Jimmy Vesey has also added six goals in the last five games which qualifies them as a deeper tournament play. Brandon Pirri makes a good punt play as long as he stays on the team’s top power play unit. Eight of his 14 points have come with the man advantage but I wouldn’t be too surprised if he gets pulled off that unit more sooner than later. Ryan McDonagh is the play on the back line as nine of his 25 points have come after the rangers draw a penalty. The Rangers lead the league with 141 goals and could find a crack here as this is certainly would qualify as a letdown game for Columbus.
Ok, now it’s time to see if the glass slipper fits or not as the Blue Jackets will now play their first game since losing their 16 game winning streak. The top line of Nick Foligno, Brandon Saad and Alexander Wennberg will be counted on heavily tonight to make sure that the team doesn’t go into a swan dive much like the Flyers have after they had their winning streak broken up. This line not only has accounted for 100 points so far this season as Wennberg has 34 of those points while the other two have 33 points each. On top of that they also have accumulated six goals and ten assists over the last five games which leads the team over that time period. Cam Atkinson makes for a great one-off each and every night as he leads the team in points with 18 goals and 20 assists. He basically does most of his work on the team’s top power play unit as 18 of those 38 points have come with the man advantage. Boone Jenner and Brandon Dubinsky are his line mates at even strength but unless you just inherited a ton of money, it’s probably best to stay away from these two, especially on home ice. Dubinsky has just 15 points while Jenner is even worse with six goals and five assists. Sam Gagner and defenseman Zachary Werenski fill out the team’s top power play unit that has scored seven goals in the last seven games. Gagner has been able to light the lamp 14 times and assist on 14 other goals so far this season while Werenski has tallied 15 of his 25 points with the man advantage. This should be one of the better games of the night which should see the Blue Jackets bouncing back in front of the home crowd tonight.
Elite Plays
NYR: None
CBJ: Cam Atkinson, Alexander Wennberg
Secondary Plays
NYR: Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, Ryan McDonagh, Mats Zuccarello, Michael Grabner
CBJ: Nick Foligno, Sam Gagner, Brandon Saad, Zachary Werenski
Washington Capitals at Ottawa Senators
| Washington Capitals | Ottawa Senators | ||||||||
 | Braden Holtby |  | Mike Condon | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 24-9-5 | 20-13-4 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.87 | 2.08 | 16.70% | 86.90% | Team Stats | 2.46 | 2.62 | 16.00% | 82.50% |
The Capitals broke up the Blue jackets 16 game winning streak with a resounding 5-0 win on home ice Thursday night. Washington looked like the team to beat that night as all lines had a hand in the scoring and defensive assignments. The top line of Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie will be the line that the Senators try to contain as they have been playing a bit better of late, especially on home ice. Backstrom leads the team with 22 assists and 31 points while Ovechkin leads the team in goals with 18 on a team leading 148 shots on goal. This line also doubles as the top power play line that’s sees the majority of the ice time when the Capitals have the man advantage. Justin Williams and Evgeny Kuznetsov have been on an absolute tear of late as they have combined for 17 points in the last five games. Marcus Johansson completes the second line but gets the luxury of playing with the top power play unit. Johansson has had a very consistent year so far this season as he has 14 of each goals and assists which gives him 28 points in 38 games. John Carlson is the play from the back line as he has registered five of his 22 points over the last five games. Look for the Capitals to come out and play a solid game but could have a letdown after Thursday night’s win.
Despite not having a win in the last three games the Ottawa Senators have still been able to hold on to second place in the Atlantic Division with 44 points. Sure they are tied with the Boston Bruins and have Toronto and Tampa Bay right there with them which is why that makes this game so important. This is a good test to see if Ottawa has the mettle to go far in the playoffs or not as beating a team like the Capitals will go a long way in the confidence department. Ottawa has only scored 11 goals in the last five games so they will surely have to depend on good defense to pull this one out tonight. Mike Hoffman, Derick Brassard and Mark Stone should be the line to target here as they should be able to stay away from Washington’s top defensive line. Hoffman has registered 25 points while leading the team with 102 shots on goal while Stone is second on the team in scoring with 11 goals and 17 assists. Ryan Dzingel, Kyle Turris and Bobby Ryan skate on the team’s second line that has Turris moving up with Stone and Hoffman to form the team’s top power play unit. Turris and Dzingel seem to better of the three as Ryan has managed only 14 points so far this season. On defense Erik Karlsson leads the team in points with 32 points in 37 games as he mans the point when Ottawa draws a penalty. Dion Phaneuf makes for a cheaper alternative here as he also gets the extra power play time and has done fairly well with it as eight of his 15 points have come with the man advantage. This is a tough game for the Senators so it’s about time to see if they can sink or swim.
Elite Plays
WSH: Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Ovechkin
OTT: Erik Karlsson
Secondary Plays
WSH: T.J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Justin Williams, Marcus Johansson, John Carlson
OTT: Mike Hoffman, Mark Stone, Kyle Turris, Derick Brassard, Ryan Dzingel, Dion Phaneuf
Montréal Canadiens at Toronto Maple Leafs
| Montréal Canadiens | Toronto Maple Leafs | ||||||||
 | Carey Price |  | Antoine Bibeau | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 24-9-6 | 18-12-8 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.03 | 2.28 | 20.50% | 80.70% | Team Stats | 3.03 | 2.81 | 21.50% | 85.20% |
The injuries keep piling up for the Montreal Canadiens as now it’s Brendan Gallagher who will be out at least eight weeks with a fracture in his right hand. Alex Galchenyuk and Andrei Markov have both started skating but still look doubtful for tonight’s game. Injuries to David Desharnais and Andrew Shaw haven’t helped matters either but that hasn’t prevented Montreal from leading the Eastern Conference by ten points. What it has done however is made Max Pacioretty, Phillip Danault and Alexander Radulov the team’s top line. This makes sense for home games but leaving Tomas Plekanec, Sven Andrighetto and Artturi Lehkonen as your second line may be a bit risky for road games but we will see. Pacioretty and Radulov lead the team with six points each over the last five games and also lead the team in scoring over the first 39 games. Using these two as a GPP pairing is probably the best way to go here on a slate that has plenty of other cash game options. Paul Byron will join them on the top power play unit while defensemen Shea Weber and Nathan Beaulieu take the points on the back line. Weber is always a consideration but it is Beaulieu that is the more intriguing pick here as he has registered five of his 13 points over the last five games. Somehow Montreal keeps hanging tough but how much longer can they keep this up with the injuries is the question.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will have to take another hard test tonight as they host the Montreal Canadiens after winning by a score of 4-2 last night in New Jersey. The Maple Leafs have won six of their last seven games and have now pulled into a three-way tie for second place in the Atlantic Division with 44 points. As mentioned above Montreal is a little short staffed lately as they have been all year, but if they can keep the top line off the board that would dramatically increase their chances of winning back-to-back games for the second time in six tries. Auston Matthews continues to make Zach Hyman and Connor Brown better players as Matthews and Brown added another goal to their totals last night while Hyman grabbed his 18th point of the year. The line of James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Mitchell Marner continues to produce as well as evidence of their combined effort of four goals and eight assists over the last five games. Nazem Kadri makes a decent one-off from the third line as he leads the team with a whopping seven power play goals so far this season. It must be noted that when we talk about lines for Toronto it really is up to the home team to designate what line is really the first, second or third line as they get to choose what line they want to match up against. Right now head coach Mike Babcock has three lines that are capable of scoring on any shift especially if they get the right match up. Jake Gardiner is the play on the back line as he leads the defensemen in scoring with six goals and 15 assists. Again, this is a decent test for Toronto as we will see how far they have truly come as they take on one of the better teams in the league.
Elite Plays
MTL: Max Pacioretty
TOR: Auston Matthews
Secondary Plays
MTL: Alexander Radulov, Shea Weber, Phillip Danault
TOR: Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk, Mitchell Marner, Jake Gardiner, Connor Brown, Zach Hyman
New York Islanders at Arizona Coyotes
| New York Islanders | Arizona Coyotes | ||||||||
 | Thomas Greiss |  | Louis Domingue | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 15-15-7 | 11-22-6 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.86 | 3.08 | 15.40% | 79.50% | Team Stats | 2.08 | 3.24 | 14.70% | 75.50% |
The Islanders finish up their current four game road trip with a stop in Arizona tonight to take on the second worst team in the league. They lost to the worst team in the league last night as the Colorado Avalanche found a way to score two goals and make it hold up as the New Yorkers were only able to manage a power play goal throughout the contest. The Islanders aren’t that great of a team either as they also occupy the last spot in the Metroplitan Division much like the two other teams do in their respective divisions. The top line of John Tavares, Anders Lee and Josh Bailey were able to get a total of eight shots on goal last night but were not able to find the score sheet. They still are worth a look tonight though as each of them lead one of the three scoring categories on the team so far this season. It’s like the old saying goes, if you are one line team and they don’t score, you probably don’t win the game. Actually, that’s not an old saying but it still rings true. Ryan Strome makes for a decent one-off play for tournament action as not only was he playing on the top power play unit he was promoted to the second line to skate with Brock Nelson and Shane Prince. Strome has an assist on the power play goal scored by Johnny Boychuk in last night’s game which now gives him 14 points on the season. Nick Leddy is the other option on the back line as eight of 16 points have come when the team has the man advantage. He turned the trick again last night as he had the secondary assist on the Islanders only goal. I think a mistake a lot of us make is targeting bad teams against other bad teams which usually results into a low scoring game, much like last night.
Arizona continued their losing ways last night as they lost in Anaheim by a score of 3-2. At least they played tough and matched every Duck goal until the last one in overtime finally sent them packing it up to fly back home for tonight’s game against the New York Islanders. The loss makes it nine in a row for the Coyotes and that makes it awfully difficult to improve on their league low 11 wins. The good news is that six of their wins have come in front of the home crowd so maybe they have a shot here tonight if they can do what the Avalanche did last night and keep the islanders top line off of the board. The Coyotes switched it up a bit as they inserted the slumping Anthony Duclair on the top line to skate alongside of Tobias Rieder and Martin Hanzal. This seemed to work, at least for the time being, as Duclair registered an assist on both goals last night which saw Hanzal score on one of them while Rieder had the other assist to complete the full line goal. Radim Vrbata was moved to the second line to skate alongside Peter Holland and rookie Brendan Perlini. Give Vrbata a look if you need to fill a slot in your deeper tournament plays tonight as he leads the team in both points and shots on goal with 25 and 116 respectively. Michael Stone was back on the top power play unit last night but the easy choice still remains Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The veteran defenseman racked up his fifth power play goal of the season which now gives him 11 of his 20 points being recorded while the Coyotes have the man advantage. There are plenty of other games to choose from for your cash game plays tonight so sprinkling in a few Coyotes as GPP plays may be the way to go.
Elite Plays
NYI: None
ARZ: None
Secondary Plays
NYI: John Tavares, Anders Lee, Ryan Strome, Josh Bailey, Nick Leddy
ARZ: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Radim Vrbata, Martin Hanzal, Tobias Rieder, Anthony Duclair
Dallas Stars at St. Louis Blues
| Dallas Stars | St. Louis Blues | ||||||||
 | Kari Lehtonen |  | Jake Allen | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 16-15-8 | 20-14-5 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.56 | 3.00 | 17.00% | 76.20% | Team Stats | 2.79 | 2.92 | 20.80% | 86.10% |
Just when Dallas thought it was safe to start thinking about playing some healthy hockey again, Bam! Jamie Benn gets put on the injured reserve list with a foot injury. This resulted into using Patrick Sharp, Jason Spezza and Tyler Seguin as the top line in a 4-3 overtime to Montreal on Wednesday night. This is the line to play however if you want to get in on some Dallas action tonight as they really the only line that has a chance to score on a consistent basis. Seguin isn’t cheap and there’s a reason for that as he leads the team in both goals and assists with 14 and 25 respectively. It may be a good idea to just roster him and move on as the Blues have a record of 14-5-5 in front of the home crowd. Patrick Eaves could be considered as a one-off here as he plays on the top power play with the Seguin line and has registered ten of his 22 points while Dallas enjoys the man advantage. This could actually work out as the Blues have given up six power play goals in their last six games. Jiri Hudler and Cody Eakin skate with Eaves at even strength but should only be considered if you are making multiple GPP lineups. John Klingberg is the choice on the back line as he not only quarterbacks the team’s top power play unit. He has also scored two goals and assisted on two other goals in the last five games. This gives him 22 points on the season which is hopefully a sign that he will start to progress the way that the Dallas Stars expected him to at the beginning of the season. Dallas is just 5-9- 4 away from the home crowd, but that doesn’t mean they will get shut out.
The Blues look to improve on their 15-4-4 record in front of the home crowd as they will try to pick on a Dallas team that is a bit depleted. St Louis is in third place in the Central Division with 45 points and need to keep winning at home to stay in the playoff hunt. I have a sneaky suspicion that Vladimir Tarasenko will be in a lot of cash lineups tonight as he leads the Blues 19 goals and 25 assists. The next player that is even close to Tarasenko’s 42 points is the demoted Robby Fabbri who had accumulated most of his 26 points by either playing on the power play or at even strength with the team leader. Jaden Schwartz and Jori Lehtera skate with Tarasenko on both the power play and at even strength and although Lehtera is cheap his producton may not warrant a roster spot here tonight. He’s a mystery for sure as he has managed just 12 points in the 34 games he has appeared in. Alexander Steen, David Perron and Paul Stastny skate on the Blues second line but it is Steen who gets the nod to move up with the top line on the power play. His four points over the last five games on top of his 21 points in 33 games would seem to make him more of a one-off play here as opposed to trying to pair one his line mates with him. I guess you could pair him up with one of his power play partners and hope the Blues boat race the Stars, which very well could happen on a night like tonight. Kevin Shattenkirk is the play when selecting a defenseman as he has accumulated 14 of his 24 points while anchoring the team’s top power play unit. The Blues should be able to take care of business tonight so don’t be afraid to use a couple of St Louis players when making your cash game roster tonight.
Elite Plays
DAL: Tyler Seguin
STL: Vladimir Tarasenko
Secondary Plays
DAL: John Klingberg, Jason Spezza, Patrick Sharp, Patrick Eaves
STL: Jaden Schwartz, Kevin Shattenkirk, Alexander Steen