NHL Grind Down: Saturday, March 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.
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Vegas Golden Knights at Colorado Avalanche
Vegas Golden Knights | Colorado Avalanche | ||||||||
Marc-Andre Fleury | Semyon Varlamov | ||||||||
Record | Record | ||||||||
47-21-6 | 40-26-8 | ||||||||
Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team Stats | 3.31 | 2.70 | 21.43 | 81.22 | Team Stats | 3.19 | 2.92 | 20.96 | 83.86 |
The NHL has given us a huge 12 game slate this evening and the good thing is that only two games start before 7pm EST, including this one. Vegas has been the surprise team of the year and despite dropping a 2-1 overtime loss to San Jose on Thursday night they are still seven points above the Sharks for the Pacific Division crown. The Golden Knights roll out two scoring lines with William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and Tomas Tatar being the top line while David Perron, James Neal and Erik Haula serve as the second scoring line. Karlsson’s 39 goals paces the team while Marchessault and his 68 points is tops on the team. Perron leads with 50 assists while the good thing here being is that both lines get almost an even amount of ice time when the Golden Knights draw a penalty. Alex Tuch and defenseman Shea Theodore join the Karlsson line while Nate Schmidt and Colin Miller, who are both defenseman, join Haula and Company to form the second power play unit. Vegas has scored seven power play goals over the last 11 games which bodes well for Miller as he has seen 16 of his 39 points come with the extra attacker. Schmidt is second in defensive scoring with 36 points while Theodore has grabbed three assists over the last seven games. Look for Vegas to put up a fight here as they try to improve on their 21-12-4 record away from home.
Colorado has to get back on the horse tonight after they were boat-races in their own building by a score of 7-1 at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night. They were tied with Anaheim for the only two wild card spots in the Western Conference going into last night’s action so all they really have to do is keep then hounds at bay as their 88 points is three points better than the St Louis Blues who are in ninth place in the conference. Nathan MacKinnon is the one-off here as he has amassed 38 goals and 54 assists in just 66 games this season while he skates with Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog. This line is joined by Tyson Jost and defenseman Tyson Barrie to form the team’s top power play unit that ha slit the lamp 10 times since the beginning of the month. Barrie’s 52 points in the 60 games he has suited up for is also impressive which makes one wonder where this team would be had they had MacKinnon and Barrie healthy all season. Jost skates with J.T. Compher and Sven Andrighetto on the second line while Samuel Girard is really the only other defenseman that even deserves a look here. Stick with the top power play unit in this one this afternoon.
Top Plays
VGS: William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault
COL: Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen
Secondary Plays
VGS: David Perron, Erik Haula, Coilin Miller, James Neal
COL: Tyson Barrie, Gabriel Landeskog, Tyson Jost
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About the Author
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.