NHL Grind Down: Saturday, October 15th - Page Three
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Dallas Stars at Colorado Avalanche
| Dallas Stars | Colorado Avalanche | ||||||||
 | Antti Niemi |  | Semyon Varlamov | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 50-23-9 | 39-39-4 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.23 | 2.00 | 22.10% | 82.30% | Team Stats | 18.00% | 80.20% | ||
The Stars did what they had to do to get past the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night as they walked away with a 4-2 home victory. Tonight they take to the road to face the Colorado Avalanche. While Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin are always in play, look for the second line of Patrick Sharp, Jason Spezza and Jiri Hudler to get a little more breathing room tonight. Ales Hemsky has been skating and could easily slip onto the second line but head coach Lindy Ruff has deemed that he is not quite ready to play yet. If you feel the need to grab benn and/or Seguin, you can select Patrick Eaves as he is fairly cheap while skating next to them on the team’s top line. Eaves also plays the point with defenseman John Klinberg on the team’s top power play unit.
It looks as though the ‘Patrick Roy Experiment’ has finally run its course as the Colorado Avalanche have appointed Jared Bednar their new head coach. The top line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Jarome Iginla looks to be in play against the sometimes defensively challenged Dallas Stars. They will be joined by Matt Duchene and defenseman Tyson Barrie on the team’s top power play unit. Duchene is on the second line with Mikhail Grigorenko and Carl Soderberg but I think I’d stick with the top line here at home. If you are in the mood to chase blocked shots look no further than defenseman Francis Beachemin as he was third in the league with 256 of them last season.
Elite Plays
DAL: Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn
COL: None
Secondary Plays
DAL: Jason Spezza, Patrick Eaves, John Klingberg, Jiri Hudler
COL: Nathan MacKinnon, Jarome Iginla, Gabriel Landeskog, Tyson Barrie, Matt Duchene
Philadelphia Flyers at Arizona Coyotes
| Philadelphia Flyers | Arizona Coyotes | ||||||||
 | Steve Mason |  | Mike Smith | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 41-27-14 | 35-39-8 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 18.90% | 80.50% | Team Stats | 17.70% | 77.30% | ||||
The Flyers went into Los Angeles last night and came away with a 4-2 victory backed by the second line play of Sean Couturier, Jakub Voracek and rookie Travis Konecny. They accounted for half of the goals and should very well be in play again tonight as they travel to Arizona to take on the Coyotes. I wouldn’t worry too much about playing on back to back nights this early in the season especially since they Flyers should find even more room on the ice tonight as the Arizona defense isn’t even close to how the Kings play defensively. Voracek makes a decent one-off play here as well along with Nick Cousins as they both play on the team’s top power play line. Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds need to get things going but much like last night, may be wrapped up a bit here on the road. Shayne Gostisbehere and Ivan Provorov are decent selections on the back line as they both are offensive minded and get top power play minutes.
Arizona will take the ice for the first time this season against the Philadelphia Flyers. The top line of Max Domi, Martin Hanzal and Radim Vrbata are all in play as they should be the first line to hit the ice when the Coyotes have the man advantage. You can use second liner Anthony Duclair as a one-off as he jumps up on the power play along with defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson or pair him with line mate Tobias Rieder. Either way, Ekman-Larsson is always in play at home as every year he’s close to leading the team in scoring. Arizona was one of those teams on the outside looking in last year and look to follow suit again this year. With so many games on tonight’s slate there really isn’t anyone else worth mentioning here.
Elite Plays
PHL: None
ARZ: Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Secondary Plays
PHL: Wayne Simmonds, Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, Travis Konecny, Shayne Gostisbehere
ARZ: Max Domi, Martin Hanzal, Radim Vrbata, Anthony Duclair
Calgary Flames at Vancouver Canucks
| Calgary Flames | Vancouver Canucks | ||||||||
 | Brian Elliott |  | Ryan Miller | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 35-40-7 | 31-38-13 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.79 | 7.00 | 17.00% | 75.50% | Team Stats | 15.80% | 81.10% | ||
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As evidence of the first two games against the Edmonton Oilers we find that the Calgary Flames look like the same old Calgary Flames. Sure Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau are great to play at home but tonight the Flames travel to Vancouver to play their third game in four nights. I mentioned above in the Flyers section that back-to-back nights don’t scare me much early in the season, but when bad team’s play their third game in four nights and it happens to be on the road, I would tend to stay away. There are too many games to choose from to start messing around with that. This is not to say that the streaky Michael Frolik or Sam Bennett can’t light the lamp but there are indeed better plays in the same price range for cash games tonight. Mark Giordano and Dougie Hamilton man the points on the power play so if you are risky enough to use Flames players in your cash line up tonight, make sure you have one of them in there.
Vancouver is another team that gets to start their season a few days later and on home ice. This will be Calgary’s third game in four nights and although it’s early in the season, they are still the Flames. Unfortunately they are still a one line team as Daniel Sedin, Loui Eriksson and Henrik Sedin look to be in play here as they should be joined by defensemen Ben Hutton and Alexander Edler on the team’s top power play unit. Sure Brandon Sutter and Jannik Hansen are on the second line and you can still find Alexander Burrows, Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi on the bottom two lines, but these are not really guys you want on your roster. Stick with the top line here.
Elite Plays
CGY: None
VAN: Daniel Sedin
Secondary Plays
CGY: Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Mark Giordano
VAN: Henrik Sedin, Loui Eriksson, Ben Hutton