NHL Grind Down: Saturday, October 10th - Page Three
Dallas Stars at Colorado Avalanche – 09:00 PM EDT
| Dallas Stars | Colorado Avalanche | ||||||||
 | Kari Lehtonen |  | Semyon Varlamov | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 41-31 | 39-31 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.13 | 3.13 | 19.00% | 80.70% | Team Stats | 2.55 | 2.72 | 15.00% | 84.60% |
The Dallas Stars head to Colorado to take on the Avalanche tonight in a game that should feature a lot of scoring. While we all expected Dallas to score some goals against the Penguins on Thursday, I don’t think anyone expected an out-of-his-mind Antti Niemi to shutout the Penguins. I’m not buying any sort of new defensive prowess for the Stars, though. This team will score but they will get scored on. The Avalanche, however, may not be the team to do it. Colorado had some of the worst advanced metrics in the league last year and they aren’t going to get much better going forward. Target the Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin tandem with confidence. They will be high owned in such a good matchup, so if you want to fade the chalk I’d do it by playing Jason Spezza and Patrick Sharp who take up residence on the second line as well as the top power play unit.
The Colorado Avalanche is a young group with a high level of skill on the front end and some gaping holes on the back end. Matt Duchene, Jarome Iginla, Gabriel Landeskog, and Nathan Mackinnon can light the lamp, but this team is going to endure some growing pains and struggle to win games until they learn how to keep the puck out of their own net. Colorado held it together for two periods against Minnesota earlier this week only to give up four third-period goals and lose the game. I would not recommend targeting Colorado on a +/- site like FanDuel, but the top two lines are in play on DraftKings in a good matchup. Tyson Barrie, who hit the scoresheet multiple times against the Wild, makes a solid play on defense.
Elite Plays
DAL: Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, John Klingberg, Jason Spezza, Patrick Sharp
COL: Nathan Mackinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Tyson Barrie
Secondary Plays
DAL: Cody Eakin, Valeri Nichushkin, Ales Hemsky
COL: Matt Duchene, Jarome Iginla
Pittsburgh Penguins at Arizona Coyotes – 10:00 PM EDT
| Pittsburgh Penguins | Arizona Coyotes | ||||||||
 | Marc-Andre Fleury |  | Mike Smith | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 43-27 | 24-50 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.65 | 2.49 | 19.30% | 84.80% | Team Stats | 2.01 | 3.26 | 20.00% | 76.70% |
The Pittsburgh Penguins underwhelmed in their opener vs. Dallas but I wouldn’t be too concerned, they get a prime matchup to right the ship against Arizona. There are several new pieces on this Penguins team and it may take a game or two for things to gel, but expect them to bring the game to Arizona on the back-to-back. The Phil Kessel – Sidney Crosby – Chris Kunitz and Sergei Plotnikov – Evgeni Malkin – Patric Hornqvist lines are definitely in play and Kris Letang is arguably the top defenseman on the board tonight. Sidney Crosby is the best player in the NHL playing against a team that was one of the worst in the league last year. Unless you’re making a calculated fade for GPPs, it doesn’t get much easier than this. Plug and play.
Arizona opened the season with a 4-1 victory over Los Angeles last night and their young talent seemed to be on full display with Max Domi and Tobias Rieder each hitting the scoresheet twice. Arizona did, however, give up 41 shots in that game and I still plan to target against this Coyotes team nearly all season long. Arizona was a bottom of the barrel defensive team last year and have primarily altered their roster by injecting forward youth. I’ll stick to a mantra of “young teams struggle to defend” here. Arizona is only in play as a contrarian GPP option.
Elite Plays
PIT: Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel, Evgeni Malkin, Patric Hornqvist, Kris Letang
ARI: None.
Secondary Plays
PIT: Chris Kunitz, Sergei Plotnikov
ARI: Max Domi, Mikkel Boedker, Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Calgary Flames at Vancouver Canucks – 10:00 PM EDT
| Calgary Flames | Vancouver Canucks | ||||||||
 | Jonas Hiller |  | Ryan Miller | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 45-30 | 48-29 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.89 | 2.60 | 18.80% | 80.60% | Team Stats | 2.88 | 2.68 | 19.30% | 85.70% |
The Calgary Flames face the Canucks tonight in Vancouver hoping to get their first win of the season in another home-and-home matchup. Calgary is a team projected to score a lot of goals this year. They improved offensively on the back end with the addition of Dougie Hamilton and retained nearly all of their young talent. The question mark for me is whether they can defend. Calgary’s run-and-gun nature was on full display in their 5-1 loss on Wednesday to the Canucks. Vancouver no longer has Ryan Kesler to shut down opposing top lines, so I recommend going back to the well with the Jiri Hudler – Sean Monahan – Johnny Gaudreau line. These guys were extremely high owned opening night and hopefully will come at a less chalky percentage.
Vancouver dominated Calgary in their first game of the season on Wednesday and I expect them to get the win again tonight. The Sedins came to play in the opener, dominating nearly every single shift they were on the ice. Brandon Sutter looked comfortable on their wing and the second line (featuring Radim Vrbata and Bo Horvat) seemed to click as well. While many expect this team to trend backward, I’m optimistic that the Sedins have gotten their act together and are ready to bounce back to their pre-Tortorella form. The home ice advantage Calgary will possess in this game doesn’t seem to amount to much as the Flames lack the shutdown players necessary to contain the Sedins when they are at their best.
Elite Plays
CGY: Sean Monahan, Jiri Hudler, Johnny Gaudreau, Mark Giordano
VAN: Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin
Secondary Plays
CGY: Dougie Hamilton, Dennis Wideman
VAN: Brent Sutter, Radim Vrbata
Anaheim Ducks at San Jose Sharks – 10:30 PM EDT
| Anaheim Ducks | San Jose Sharks | ||||||||
 | Frederik Andersen |  | Martin Jones | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 51-24 | 40-33 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.78 | 2.70 | 15.70% | 81.00% | Team Stats | 2.73 | 2.76 | 21.60% | 78.50% |
The Anaheim Ducks open their season on the road tonight in San Jose. Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau appears to have some creative ideas when it comes to constructing his season-opening lineup as he has separated one of the best scoring tandems in the NHL and placed Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry on different lines. Getzlaf will center newcomers Carl Hagelin and Chris Stewart while Perry will play the wing with Rickard Rakell and Jiri Sekac. Ryan Kesler centers a third line. While a balanced lineup can be beneficial to a coach in causing a plethora of matchup issues for the opposing teams, it will be interesting to see how long this lasts and what sort of fantasy results it yields. Perry and Getzlaf will play the power play together, but I’m not sure that’s enough to roster the duo together.
San Jose started the season strong on Wednesday beating the Kings 5-1. While this win would seem more impressive had the Kings not lost 4-1 to the Coyotes as well, San Jose looked solid in their first game and the young core of this team, headlined by new captain Joe Pavelski, keeps improving. Anaheim isn’t a great matchup, but it isn’t a terrible one either. The Sharks load up on their first power play unit quarterbacked by Brent Burns, who is one of the NHL’s best offensive defensemen. I would recommend pairing Burns with either Joe Thornton and Pavelski, or Patrick Marleau and Logan Couture.
Elite Plays
ANA: Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry
SJS: Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture, Brent Burns
Secondary Plays
ANA: Sami Vatanen, Ryan Kesler, Chris Stewart
SJS: Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Joel Ward