NHL Grind Down: Saturday, November 5th - Page Two
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Edmonton Oilers at New York Islanders
| Edmonton Oilers | New York Islanders | ||||||||
 | Cam Talbot |  | Jaroslav Halak | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 7-3-1 | 4-6-1 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.09 | 2.45 | 15.20% | 90.90% | Team Stats | 2.73 | 3.00 | 12.50% | 81.40% |
This is really simple: Connor McDavid needs to score if the Oilers have any chance of winning. Instead of having two decent lines to score, they decide to continuously play Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on a line with Zack Kassian and Benoit Pouliot. The Oilers are 7-3-1 and can you guess what their record is when McDavid does not find the scoresheet? They are 1-2-1. This is not a coincidence, as Edmonton is basically a one-line team. Luckily, goaltender Cam Talbot has been able to stand on his head until recently where he has given up 10 goals in the last three. Do you remember the nursery rhyme “Rock-a-Bye Baby”? Well the bough could be about to break. Edmonton doesn’t offer much on the back line as Darnell Nurse leads that motley crew with two goals and two assists in the first 11 games, hardly enough to be considered for GPP play, let alone cash games. Nugent-Hopkins, however, could be used as a one-off in GPP play as he has grabbed six points over the last five games.
Besides coming away with a victory at home on October 30th against the Toronto Maple Leafs the one-line Islanders have managed to drop their last four games. Considering the fact that the Oilers have not given up a goal while having a man in the penalty box in the last eight games, it’s probably best to stick with the regular lines for this one. John Tavares Is the top line center between Josh Bailey and Cal Clutterbuck which makes absolutely no sense to me since Shane Prince had done nothing wrong to lose the his spot on the top line. Tavares leads the team in points while Prince made the most of his top line opportunity by scoring all four of his points in the last three of the six games he’s played in. Brock Nelson is the one-off here as he skates on the third line with Anders Lee and Jason Chimera but gets extra minutes on the team’s top power play unit. I know we said we were going to stay away from that, but extra ice time is extra ice time. Defenseman Dennis Seidenberg has scored four of his six points over the last four games but I’d still look at either Nick Leddy or Johnny Boychuk if you are going to play it straight and go with Tavares.
Elite Plays
EDM: Connor McDavid
NYI: John Tavares
Secondary Plays
EDM: Milan Lucic, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
NYI: Brock Nelson, Johnny Boychuk
Buffalo Sabres at Ottawa Senators
| Buffalo Sabres | Ottawa Senators | ||||||||
 | Robin Lehner |  | Craig Anderson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 4-4-2 | 7-3-0 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.30 | 2.30 | 22.90% | 83.90% | Team Stats | 2.70 | 2.60 | 11.10% | 81.80% |
The transition the Buffalo Sabres have been trying to make has been hit by a few injuries so far this season, namely Jack Eichel and Evander Kane. Nonetheless, they remain to be a competitive team as their record of 4-4-2 can attest to as they continue to be in tight games on a nightly basis. Ottawa has been pretty tough while killing penalties so maybe staying away from the top line of Kyle Okposo, Matt Moulson and Ryan O’Reilly is the order of the day here. The Senators also seem to be playing better defense of late as historically they give up a lot of goals but in the last three games only one puck has found its way behind the Ottawa goaltender. Somehow 37 year old Brian Gionta has collected three goals and three assists so far this season and could probably be used with line mate Johan Larsson in deeper GPP play, but as for cash, I’d definitely stay away. Rasmus Ristolainen is your choice on defense as six of his seven points have come with the man advantage this season. Look for a low scoring game.
Backed by the 27 shots that goaltender Mike Condon stopped on Thursday night, the Senators were able to shut out the listless Vancouver Canucks on the strength of just one goal. The Ottawa power play has only struck for three goals so far this season so sticking with the even strength lines is more or less the way to go here. Mark Stone makes a decent one-off play here as he skates alongside of Derick Brassard and Bobby Ryan on the line that should be matched up against the weaker Buffalo line tonight. If Ryan Dzingel can keep up his scoring pace he can easily be a one-off here for GPP play as he has managed seven points in ten games and three over the last four. Defenseman Erik Karlsson is always an option on a nightly basis it’s just a matter of whether you can afford him or not as he has found the scoresheet nine points in ten games while seeing north of 26 minutes of ice time per game. The only other option you have is Mike Hoffman and Kyle Turris who skate on the other top line with the very cheap Tom Pyatt. Turris and Hoffman get the minutes on the team’s suspect power play unit but do have a combined 13 points in the first ten games. With the slate being this big, there are probably better places to look for your cash game options tonight.
Elite Plays
BUF: None
OTT: Erik Karlsson
Secondary Plays
BUF: Kyle Okposo, Ryan O’Reilly, Matt Moulson, Rasmus Ristolainen
OTT: Bobby Ryan, Derick Brassard, Mike Hoffman, Kyle Turris, Ryan Dzingel
Florida Panthers at Washington Capitals
| Florida Panthers | Washington Capitals | ||||||||
 | Roberto Luongo |  | Braden Holtby | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 5-5-1 | 7-2-1 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.73 | 2.45 | 16.30% | 77.40% | Team Stats | 2.90 | 2.10 | 16.10% | 82.80% |
The Panthers will try and change their road fortunes tonight as they come into the nation’s capital with a 1-3-1 record away from BB & T Center. Their only road win came on October 30th when they put up a five spot in Detroit which saw Colton Sceviour score three times in the win. Sceviour skates on the second line with Vincent Trocheck and has garnered eight points in 11 games. Trocheck is right behind him with seven points which makes this duo a nice GPP play for tonight’s contests. The top line of Jonatahn Marchessault, Jaromir Jagr and Aleksander Barkov should have their hands full as the Capitals will have their best defensive line against them for most of the night. Keith Yandle is the play on defense as he looks like he is starting to settle in as he has three of his five points in the last five games. It also helps that he quarterbacks the team’s top power play unit while logging close to 23 minutes of ice time per night.
Washington is a pretty cut and dried team where DFS players are concerned. On home ice it Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom that lead the way from the top line while second liner Marcus Johansson and third liner T.J. Oshie join defenseman John Carlson to form a very potent power play. On the surface it doesn’t look like much as they have only converted five times in 31 tries so far this season but here’s the rub, they have scored three of those five in the past four games. Florida hasn’t been that great in killing off penalties either as they have allowed opponents five power play goals over the last four games. Justin Willimas skates on the Ovechkin line if you decide to go the full line stack, which is really the only full line I’d take here. Johansson makes a great one-off play here as he leads the team in goals and points so far this season. Evgeny Kunznetsov would be the player to pair with him is you so desire as he centers the second line with Johansson on his wing.
Elite Plays
FLA: None
WSH: Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom
Secondary Plays
FLA: Jonathan Marchessault, Aleksander Barkov, Vincent Trocheck, Keith Yandle
WSH: John Carlson, T.J. Oshie, Marcus Johansson
Columbus Blue Jackets at St. Louis Blues
| Columbus Blue Jackets | St. Louis Blues | ||||||||
 | Sergei Bobrovsky |  | Carter Hutton | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 5-3-1 | 5-4-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.63 | 2.38 | 44.00% | 89.30% | Team Stats | 2.18 | 2.82 | 17.50% | 88.40% |
Either head coach John Tortorella has been reading my Grind Downs or he is getting a bit smarter. Columbus is one of the teams I keep screaming about because it appears that they never put their top six players on the top two lines. I understand what teams that do this are trying to do and that’s get equal scoring on all lines, but this line of thinking just doesn’t work if you want to win a championship. Last night Boone Jenner, Cam Atkinson and Brandon Dubinsky skated together on one line while Nick Foligno, Alexander Wennberg and Brandon Saad played on another line. Now you tell me, which one is better? It’s pretty close in my mind thus making it a bit tougher for opposing teams to match up against them. Anytime a team scores ten goals in a game the statistics are always inflated as that is an aberration so sticking with Wennberg and Foligno may not be a bad idea for GPP play as they get both time on the top power play unit while skating on the same line together. Zachary Werenski is the choice on the blue line and although I am not saying that the Jackets will score ten goals again, it will be interesting to see the confidence level when the game starts in St Louis tonight.
After talking about keeping lines the together in the section above it looks like St Louis head coach Ken Hitchcock is furiously trying to save his job. I know it looks like the Blues are playing well and their record of 5-4-2 would support that but they can’t keep being outscored 32-24 and expect to keep winning. Hitchcock put Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz and Jori Lehtera back together a few games ago and should be owned in more than a few line ups as it looks like they are the chalk play tonight. Paul Stastny has been split up from Alexander Steen as he will now skate with Robby Fabbri and Dmitri Jaskin while Stastny will skate with David Perron and Patrik Berglund. The Blues are 2-4-2 in the last six games so I understand the sense of urgency but I’m not sure I would go as far as to split my most talented players up across three lines. Kevin Shattenkirk will quarterback the power play from the blue line while Tarasenko, Schwartz, Steen and Stastny should fill out the rest of the unit. With all of the shuffling around you have a few ways to go here, like pairing Stastny with Fabbri or Steen with Perron and that’s fine for GPP play. For cash games though I think I would stick with the five players who play on the power play with Tarasenko and Schwartz being the top pair.
Elite Plays
CBJ: None
STL: Vladimir Tarasenko
Secondary Plays
CBJ: Nick Foligno, Alexander Wennberg, Zachary Werenski, Cam Atkinson
STL: Jaden Schwartz, Kevin Shattenkirk, Paul Stastny, Alexander Steen
Carolina Hurricanes at Nashville Predators
| Carolina Hurricanes | Nashville Predators | ||||||||
 | Cam Ward |  | Pekka Rinne | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 2-4-3 | 3-5-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.78 | 3.56 | 23.30% | 86.20% | Team Stats | 2.60 | 3.10 | 30.00% | 73.50% |
This one has the makings to be one of the more boring games of the night. The NHL schedulers have not been kind to many teams and Carolina is one of them as they play their eighth road game in the first ten games. As you can imagine, the Hurricanes have only been able to muster two wins so far this season and it will take a lot of focus to bring that total to three tonight. The top line that features Victor Rask and Jeff Skinner are the ones to be trusted here the most as they have a combined 21 points over the first nine games. They also see the most time with the man advantage so taking them here in GPP play would be a decent option. Defensively Justin Faulk logs at least 24 minutes a game but it has been Jacciob Slavin who has found the scoresheet twice in the last four games. In fact, Noah Hanifin, Brad Pesce and Ron Hainsey have all snared two points over the same time frame, so it’s probably best to leave this mess alone. The second line of Jordan Staal, Joakim Nordstrom and Andrej Nestrasil has only scored three goals all season all by Staal, which would make him a one-off play in deeper GPP play at best. The mantra is, stay away from bad teams in cash games, so you should not encounter any of these guys tonight in that format.
The line of Ryan Johansen, Filip Forsberg and James Neal should have a field day tonight after being shut down by the Arizona Coyotes on the road Thursday night. This line had a great game against Colorado earlier this week as they accounted for three of the Predators five goals. You can use either Craig Smith or Mike Fisher as a one-off play here as the former has three goals in the last four games while the latter is joined by the top line along with defenseman Roman Josi to form the team’s top power play unit. P.K. Subban is the other choice on the back line as he has tallied two goals and four assists for his new team so far this season. Although both teams have bad records, Nashville should be in line for the win tonight.
Elite Plays
CAR: None
NSH: Filip Forsberg
Secondary Plays
CAR: Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask, Justin Faulk
NSH: James Neal, Ryan Johansen, Roman Josi, P.K. Subban