NHL Grind Down: Saturday, November 14th
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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New York Rangers at Ottawa Senators – 01:00 PM EST
| New York Rangers | Ottawa Senators | ||||||||
 | Henrik Lundqvist |  | Craig Anderson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 12-2-2 | 8-5-3 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.19 | 1.69 | 17.90% | 86.80% | Team Stats | 2.94 | 3.06 | 20.00% | 74.60% |
The Rangers travel to Ottawa for this matinee game fresh off their 6-3 win against the St Louis Blues on Thursday night. The Blueshirts have won their last seven games and lead the Metropolitan division with a record of 12-2-2. A lot of the Rangers success can be attributed to the play of goaltender Henrik Lundqvist as his save percentage of .946 has helped the team give up a league low 28 goals in 16 games. Not to be outdone, the offense has also contributed with 51 goals and has been on track for most of the season. The only thing that could possibly make the Rangers lose focus was the big win they had over St. Louis on Thursday.
Ottawa rebounded from a 7-5 loss in Nashville on Tuesday with a 3-2 win on home ice against a tough Vancouver team. The Senators problem has not been scoring goals this season but rather keeping the puck out of their own net. They are the only team to be in second place in their division with a minus goal differential as they have scored 50 goals but have given up 51. If Lundqvist and the Rangers keep up their current style of play, it may be a long day in Ottawa today.
Elite Plays
NYR: Derek Stepan
OTT: Erik Karlsson
Secondary Plays
NYR: Rick Nash, Ryan McDonagh, Mats Zuccarello
OTT: Mike Hoffman, Kyle Turris, Bobby Ryan
Detroit Red Wings at Boston Bruins – 07:00 PM EST
| Detroit Red Wings | Boston Bruins | ||||||||
 | Petr Mrazek |  | Tuukka Rask | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 8-7-1 | 7-7-1 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.25 | 2.44 | 17.00% | 83.60% | Team Stats | 3.27 | 3.20 | 34.00% | 71.90% |
The Red Wings hope the return of Pavel Datsyuk will provide some kind of a spark to a team that is just 8-6-1 in the Atlantic division. Detroit is holding on to fourth place by a thread so the return of anyone with the talent of Datsyuk can only be received with open arms. Henrik Zetterberg and Justin Abdelkader have been holding down the fort as the Wings look to beat a Boston team that is just 1-5-1 on home ice this season.
0-3, 6-1 and 1-4. This is the record of the Boston Bruins if you break it down into tiers, and as you can see, it is a bit streaky. They started off cold then got very hot and now seem to be back to cold again. This isn’t really a surprise to anyone when you consider the flurry of moves the Boston brass executed during the off season. It has however seemed to affect goaltender Tuukka Rask as his save percentage has dipped to .892, which is the lowest since his first year in the league in which he played in seven games back in the 2007-2008 season. Boston needs a win on home ice desperately and if they can keep Detroit’s top line in check, tonight could be the night.
Elite Plays
DET: None
BOS: None
Secondary Plays
DET: Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Justin Abdelkader
BOS: Loui Eriksson, Patrice Bergeron, Torey Krug
Pittsburgh Penguins at New Jersey Devils – 07:00 PM EST
| Pittsburgh Penguins | New Jersey Devils | ||||||||
 | Marc-Andre Fleury |  | Cory Schneider | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 10-6-0 | 9-6-1 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.19 | 2.06 | 13.00% | 86.50% | Team Stats | 2.38 | 2.44 | 21.80% | 81.10% |
This game is a bit of a renewal of an old rivalry from the old Atlantic division that was formed back in 1993. Since then both teams were moved to the Metropolitan division and have been battling it out ever since. The Penguins come in fresh off a home game against Columbus last night and although the distance to Newark, New Jersey is minimal, it should still have an effect on the team tonight. Pittsburgh has been red hot of late as they have won eight of their last ten games and have a 5-3 record on the road. Depending on the outcome of last night’s game, they have only lost to the Calgary Flames so far in the month of November.
Not to be outdone, the New Jersey Devils have also been playing some good hockey of late as their 7-3 record in their last ten games will attest to. The Devils are in fourth place with 19 points in the Metropolitan division and a win tonight could jump them over the visiting Penguins. The Devils seem to be scoring a few more goals this season as they have five players over double digits in total points. Conversely before last night Chicago and San Jose had 4 and Pittsburgh only two players reaching double digits. With the Penguins coming in after playing last night, this one could shape up to be a close one.
Elite Plays
PIT: Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang
NJ: Mike Cammalleri
Secondary Plays
PIT: Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Patric Hornqvist
NJ: Kyle Palmieri, Adam Henrique, Travis Zajac
Arizona Coyotes at Columbus Blue Jackets – 07:00 PM EST
| Arizona Coyotes | Columbus Blue Jackets | ||||||||
 | Mike Smith |  | Sergei Bobrovsky | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 9-6-1 | 5-12-0 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.88 | 2.75 | 12.50% | 83.30% | Team Stats | 2.35 | 3.53 | 21.00% | 77.60% |
This game could be one of the toughest to analyze on this huge 13-game slate. On the one hand you have the Arizona Coyotes who are out to a hot start surprising everyone with their 9-6-1 record. This is good enough to be tied with the Vancouver Canucks with 19 points and just one point away from the Pacific division leaders, the Los Angeles Kings. The Coyotes have put together two decent lines making it difficult for opposing teams to key on just 1 line like they have been able to in the past.
After a rough 0-8 start the Columbus Blue Jackets have turned into hockey’s version of Noah’s Ark. In the next eight games Columbus has played .500 hockey by virtue of winning two, losing two, winning two and losing two. This still only gives them four wins to go along with the dubious honor of being in last place in the Metropolitan division.
Elite Plays
ARI: None
CLB: None
Secondary Plays
ARI: Max Domi, Tobias Rieder, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Martin Hanzal
CLB: Scott Hartnell, Ryan Johansen
Colorado Avalanche at Montreal Canadiens – 07:00 PM EST
| Colorado Avalanche | Montreal Canadiens | ||||||||
 | Reto Berra |  | Mike Condon | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 6-9-1 | |||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.69 | 2.75 | 18.80% | 80.80% | Team Stats | ||||
Colorado comes into Montreal on a two-game winning streak by defeating both Philadelphia and Boston to start a seven-game road trip. Although the Avalanche have shown signs of life of late by upping their record to 6-9-1, they still are dead last in the Central division. It is a daunting task trying to beat the Canadiens on home ice as no team has done it thus far this season. I would say look to the Av’s power play to try to help the cause as Montreal is ranked eighth in taking minor penalties, but they are killing them at a league-best rate of 89.7%.
Montreal seems to have picked up right where they left off at the end of the regular season last year. The only difference is, it isn’t Carey Price leading the charge in net but rather his backup Mike Condon. Condon is 6-0-2 with a 1.73 goals against average to go with a very respectable .936 save percentage. Montreal leads the league with 28 points and is yet to lose a home game yet this season. With that said, I think Colorado will find it very hard to come out of Montreal with a win tonight.
Elite Plays
COL: None
MTL: Max Pacioretty, P.K. Subban
Secondary Plays
COL Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene
MTL: Tomas Plekanec, Brendan Gallagher, Andrei Markov