NHL Grind Down: Saturday, October 29th - Page Two
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Dallas Stars at Minnesota Wild
| Dallas Stars | Minnesota Wild | ||||||||
 | Kari Lehtonen |  | Devan Dubnyk | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 2-2-1 | 3-2-1 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.57 | 3.14 | 15.80% | 78.90% | Team Stats | 3.50 | 2.38 | 9.10% | 94.40% |
The Dallas Stars are hanging in there despite the recent rash of injuries that has plagued the team. Tonight’s task would be tough with a full team, let alone one that is a bit decimated, as they travel to Minnesota to take on the Wild in this Central Division tilt. Lindy Ruff indicated the Jiri Hudler will probably play tonight, while Jason Spezza may be a few days away. Hudler will probably slip right into the top six, so it’s anyone’s guess as to where that piece fits into the puzzle. Tyler Seguin is flanked by Antoine Roussel and Lauri Korpikoski while Jamie Benn plays on the second line with Patrick Eaves and Radek Faksa. The only thing that is for sure is that Seguin, Benn, and defenseman John Klingberg will be on the team’s top power play unit that has struck for three goals over the last four games. Defensman Jordie Benn and forward Eaves were the other two parts of the top unit with the man advantage, but one will be replaced if Hudler returns tonight. My bet would be Jordie Benn, as he seems to be the weakest link here.
Minnesota has been red hot under the rejuvenated play of goaltender Devan Dubnyk. The Wild sit atop the Central Division with a 5-2-1 record, as Dubnyk has won four of his last five starts, including throwing a shut out in the last two. Head coach Bruce Boudreau is back at it again with working out the special teams units, as the Wild have given up just one goal while a man down. The power play needs to pick up the pace though, as they have only connected three times in the first eight games. Zach Parise has been reunited with Mikko Koivu on the team’s top line, as they are joined by Mikael Granlund. This isn’t a bad move, as Boudreau has let Eric Staal have some success before putting him as the centerpiece on the team’s second line as he centers Charlie Coyle and Nino Niederreiter. I’d stick with Parise and Koivu on home ice here, as they look to reignite the spark they had over the past few years. Defensemen Ryan Suter and Matthew Dumba get the points on the power play with Parise, Staal, and Niederreiter. Suter leads the team in points with nine, so he certainly has to be considered for cash game plays tonight.
Elite Plays
DAL: Tyler Seguin
MIN: Ryan Suter
Secondary Plays
DAL: Jamie Benn, John Klingberg, Patrick Eaves
MIN: Mikko Koivu, Eric Staal, Nino Niederreiter, Charlie Coyle
Los Angeles Kings at St. Louis Blues
| Los Angeles Kings | St. Louis Blues | ||||||||
 |  | ||||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 2-3-0 | 4-1-1 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.71 | 3.14 | 17.60% | 73.70% | Team Stats | 2.63 | 2.50 | 26.10% | 95.00% |
You have to go all the way back to April 11th of 2013 to find the last time that goaltender Peter Budaj won four or more games in a row in the NHL, but here we are. After injuries to Jonathan Quick and the 0-3 Jeff Zatkoff, Budaj has been peeled off of the scrap heap to win the last four games for the Los Angeles Kings. All games have either been won in overtime or via the NHL tiebreaker system, the shootout. Anze Kopitar, Tyler Toffoli and Dwight King make up the team’s top line while Jeff Carter centers Tanner Pearson and Devon Setoguchi skate on the second line. I like Carter as a one-off here, as he not only gets the top power play minutes with Kopitar and Toffoli, he should have some more room to skate with the Blues trying to shut down Kopitar and company. Both Kopitar and Toffoli have two goals and four assists, while Carter has five points through seven games. Pearson is a decent play as well, as he leads the team in goals with four, so pairing him with Carter make sense here. What doesn’t make sense is that defensemen Drew Doughty and Jake Muzzin receive the extra time with the man advantage but have single-handedly been outscored by Alec Martinez by a count of seven points to five. To Doughty’s defense, he does have four of the five points that he and Muzzin have chalked up.
The Blues have dropped four of the last five games, as they play the last game of their current three game home stand. The 4-1 loss to Calgary I almost get, but not being able to rebound against Detroit could be a sign of things to come. True, Jori Lehtera and Jaden Schwartz have recently returned to the lineup, and maybe the chemistry hasn’t kicked in just yet as they have been skating with Vladimir Tarasenko on the team’s top line. Alexander Steen and Paul Stastny skate on the second line, and each have racked up seven points while seeing a lot of ice time on the top power play unit. Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk joins Steen, Stastny, Tarasenko, and Schwartz and has five of his seven points with the man advantage making him a good play from the blue line tonight. Look for the Blues to rebound in a low-scoring game.
Elite Plays
LAK: None
STL: Vladimir Tarasenko
Secondary Plays
LAK: Jeff Carter, Alec Martinez, Anze Kopitar, Tyler Toffoli, Drew Doughty
STL: Jaden Schwartz, Alexander Steen, Paul Stastny, Kevin Shattenkirk
Colorado Avalanche at Arizona Coyotes
| Colorado Avalanche | Arizona Coyotes | ||||||||
 |  | ||||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 3-2-0 | 1-4-0 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.20 | 3.20 | 29.40% | 69.60% | Team Stats | 3.14 | 4.29 | 11.10% | 80.00% |
Like most teams that are trying to find a sense of consistency, the Colorado Avalanche seem to be throwing their players names in a hat and pulling out the lines for the night. Last game, Gabriel Landeskog was pulled of a line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen and was replaced by Mikhail Grigorenko while team leader Matt Duchene and Jarome Iginla skated with the talented Landeskog. This wasn’t a bad strategy, however, as they managed 37 shots on Winnipeg netminder Michael Hutchinson, who was up to the task on every one of them. Colorado lost by a score of 1-0. Outside of beating Tampa by a score of 4-0 last nine days ago, Colorado has mustered just two goals in the other three games they have played. Arizona does have a penchant for giving up some goals, 30 of them to be exact, so maybe taking MacKinnon and one of his line mates is not a bad play here as he has tallied five points in the team’s first six games. I am not sure why, but Rene Bourque saw the most power play time with MacKinnon and Rantanen, which also saw defenseman Patrick Wiercioch, who is tied for first on the team in points with five, also see top ice time minutes with the man advantage. This is what you get from a team that has scored the second-fewest goals in the conference, but to be fair, they have also played the least amount of games. Colorado should score a few tonight; just make sure you pair them up correctly.
Arizona got back in the win column in Philadelphia as they downed the Flyers by a score of 5-4 on just 25 shots. Both of these teams lead the league in goals against with 30 so it’s no wonder there were nine goals scored in 60 minutes of play. Brad Richardson leads the team in scoring from the third line with six points but upon further speculation, three of those points have come while a man down. The top line of Radim Vrbata, Martin Hanzal and Max Domi are the play here on home ice as both Vrbata and Domi have five points through the first seven games. Defensman Oliver Ekman-Larsson leads the team in goals with five as he logs the most ice time on the team. So what have we learned so far is that the team’s leading scorer plays better with less teammates on the ice and their leading goal scorer is a defenseman. This is the reason this team has only two wins.
Elite Plays
COL: None
ARZ: Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Secondary Plays
COL: Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog, Patrick Wiercioch
ARZ: Radim Vrbata, Martin Hanzal, Max Domi
Washington Capitals at Vancouver Canucks
| Washington Capitals | Vancouver Canucks | ||||||||
 |  | ||||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 3-1-1 | 4-1-1 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.33 | 2.17 | 12.50% | 71.40% | Team Stats | 2.00 | 2.29 | 13.00% | 82.30% |
After going 3-1 in the first four gamesm the Capitals have dropped their last two, and guess what? More line tinkering!!! Hoooray! I mean seriously, just let these lines gel a bit before hitting the panic button. Alexander Ovechkin is on the top line, as he is reunited with Nicklas Backstrom and winger Justin Williams, while the second line is centered by Evgeny Kuznetsov along with wingers Tom Wilson and Marcus Johansson. Okay, that is probably the third line, as T.J. Oshie finds himself with Andre Burakovsky and Lars Eller. Vancouver has given up eight goals in their last three games while only scoring two in that time frame, so trying to figure out who will score for the Capitals tonight may be a difficult task. With all of these line changes, the best advice I can give is keep the players together. Ovechkin with Backstrom, Johansson with Kuznetsov, although the latter hasn’t been on the team’s top power play, and then you can use Oshie as a one-off here, as he does get ice time with the top power play unit. Defenseman John Carlson is a shaky play at best, as he receives the top power play minutes but has just one assist to show for his 23-plus minutes of ice time every night. Once again, we can throw any of these combinations against the wall; it’s just a matter of what sticks.
Vancouver has lost their last four games but still manage to be relevant in the Pacific Division, as they sit in third place in the standings with nine points. As stated above, the Canucks have scored just two goals in the last three games including getting shut out for the second time in a row last night against the upstart Edmonton Oilers. Washington has given up a power play goal in in five of their first six games, which makes the Vancouver power play the only option for them tonight. Henrik Sedin leads the teams in points with five while twin brother Daniel Sedin skates on the top line alongside of him. Loui Eriksson completes the top line but gets shunned a bit when the team has the man advantage. Brandon Sutter makes a great one-off play here, leading the team in points with Henrik Sedin while getting the majority of the ice time with the man advantage from the team’s second line. Vancouver has gone back to playing two defensemen at the points on the power play, and the play here is Philip Larsen, as he has grabbed all three of his points in the last four games. This is no easy feat, considering the team has scored only five goals in those four games.
Elite Plays
WSH: Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom
VAN: None
Secondary Plays
WSH: Marcus Johansson, T.J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, John Carlson
VAN: Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Brandon Sutter, Philip Larsen
Nashville Predators at San Jose Sharks
| Nashville Predators | San Jose Sharks | ||||||||
 |  | ||||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 2-3-0 | 3-3-0 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.57 | 3.43 | 47.40% | 77.80% | Team Stats | 2.38 | 2.50 | 15.00% | 78.90% |
Nashville continues their five-game road swing with a visit to the “Shark Tank” to take on the San Jose Sharks. If we went by statistics alone, we’d find that the Predators are in quite a bit of trouble. Now I am not one to be so naïve to think that things can’t change, but the case against Nashville tonight is pretty strong. Let’s start with their 0-3-1 road record in which they have given up 19 goals in those four games while only giving up five goals in three home games. Another thing that goes against them tonight is the fact that the Sharks are 3-0 at home and have given up just one goal in each of those three games. Viktor Arvidsson has emerged as the team’s scoring leader, as he now skates on the team’s top line alongside of Ryan Johansen and James Neal. This line could be blanketed tonight, which would make second-liner Filip Forsberg as a decent one-off play here as he has collected five assists so far this season while getting a lot of ice time, while the team has the man advantage. Mike Ribeiro and Kevin Fiala skate with Forsberg on the second line, but with the way things have been going lately, Forsberg may not only be your best as well as your only bet for the Predators tonight. P.K. Subban is the choice on defense as four of his five points have come on the power play.
San Jose is probably the easiest team to predict in all of hockey. They keep first liners Joe Pavelski and joe Thornton on the team’s top power play unit while second and third liners in Logan Couture and Patrick Marleau join them on a unit that has snagged three power play goals in the last two games. Meanwhile, Nashville has struggled killing penalties as they have given up four goals while short-handed in the first two games of their current five-game road trip. Brent Burns leads the team in points, with Pavelski with nine and is very much in play here, if you can afford him. Tomas Hertl skates on the top line with “The Joes,” which makes this line a decent stack tonight, considering Hertl has four goals and five points in the team’s first eight games. Your best bet, however, is to stick with the power play five, and if you need to take just four of them, drop off Marleau, as he is struggling a bit so far this season compared to the rest of the top power play unit.
Elite Plays
NSH: None
SJ: Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Logan Couture
Secondary Plays
NSH: P.K. Subban, Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson
SJ: Patrick Marleau, Tomas Hertl