NHL Grind Down: Sunday, April 9th - Page Two
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Carolina Hurricanes at Philadelphia Flyers
| Carolina Hurricanes | Philadelphia Flyers | ||||||||
 | Cam Ward |  | Anthony Stolarz | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 35-31-15 | 39-33-9 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.56 | 2.79 | 17.50% | 84.10% | Team Stats | 2.56 | 2.83 | 19.60% | 79.90% |
The Hurricanes have some talent but not enough to get them in the playoffs this season. Carolina has looked disinterested over the last five games as they lost a tough one last night in overtime against the St Louis Blues at home. This last road game should not end well as the team more than likely gave all they had last night in front of the home crowd. Jeff Skinner is the one-off here as he has lit the lamp seven times in the last eight games as he skates with Lee Stempniak and Elias Lindholm at even strength. He also leads the team with 37 goals and 63 points while Sebastian Aho is the closest to him with 47 points. Aho skates with Teuvo Teravainen and Jordan Staal and could be looked at here as a tournament stack by virtue of skating on the second line. The Flyers will probably want to keep Skinner off of the board which should leave this line some room to skate tonight. Defenseman Justin Faulk has collected five of his 36 points over the last two weeks which leads all Hurricane defensemen in both categories.
The Flyers beat a slumping Columbus team yesterday afternoon and on paper look like they should treat the home crowd to one more win this season. Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek and Travis Konecny skate on the top line while the second line of Valtteri Filppula, Jordan Weal and Wayne Simmonds should be in play here as well. Simmonds leads the team with 30 goals while Voracek’s 61 points is tops on the team. Brayden Schenn is your one-off here as he skates on the third line but leads the team with eight points over the last seven games. His value comes from skating on the Flyer’s top power play unit. Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has turned it on here at the end of the season as he has collected seven of his 38 points over the last seven games. The Ghost looks to have survived his sophomore slump and will look to improve on what he learned this season moving forward.
Elite Plays
CAR: Jeff Skinner
PHL: Wayne Simmonds
Secondary Plays
CAR: Sebastian Aho, Justin Faulk, Elias Lindholm, Jordan Staal
PHL: Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, Brayden Schenn, Shayne Gostisbehere
Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Rangers
| Pittsburgh Penguins | New York Rangers | ||||||||
 | Matt Murray |  | Henrik Lundqvist | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 50-20-11 | 47-28-6 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.41 | 2.76 | 23.10% | 80.10% | Team Stats | 3.11 | 2.64 | 19.80% | 79.80% |
It would surprise no one if the Penguins decided to rest some of their better players here tonight. I mean after all they had a season of injuries that would almost cripple any other team in the league. They will already be without defenseman Kris Letang for the playoffs while the team hopes to have Evgeni Malkin, Carl Hagelin and Chris Kunitz back in time for the start of round one later this week. Patric Hornqvist was a scratch yesterday so look for him to draw in today. Sidney Crosby, Conor Sheary and Jake Guentzel are the team’s top line while Phil Kessel was skatin with Matt Cullen and Tom Kuhnhackle. Crosby and company are the best bet here as Guentzel and ‘Sid the Kid’ have combined for seven goals and eight assists over the last 12 man games they have played in. Justin Schultz continues to be the play from the back line as he will fill in for the injured Letang for the remainder of the season. Schultz has enjoyed a decent season in his expanded role as his 51 points are good enough for fifth on the team.
The Rangers are another team that was resting guys this week in anticipation of starting the playoffs next week. New York will play Montreal in the first round so I doubt there will be any calling cards left tonight as both teams would love to get in and get out of this game unscathed tonight. Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello may not play in today’s game due to ‘minor ailments’ while the status of defenseman Ryan McDonagh is unclear. This may happen all throughout the day so it’s best to follow all of the team’s beat writers on twitter to catch all the news of the day as it unfolds. Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich look to be the team’s top line while Michael Grabner, J.T. Miller and Jimmy Hayes make up the team’s second line. Both lines should be in play here as I am pretty sure not much defense will be played in this one. Brendan Smith has been playing on the top power play unit on the blue line but with Brady Skjei back that will change as Skjei is the cash game play here by virtue of his five points over the last five games he has suited up for.
Elite Plays
PIT: Sidney Crosby
NYR: None
Secondary Plays
PIT: Justin Schultz, Phil Kessel, Jake Guentzel, Conor Sheary
NYR: Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Michael Grabner, J.T. Miller, Brady Skjei
Florida Panthers at Washington Capitals
| Florida Panthers | Washington Capitals | ||||||||
 | James Reimer |  | Braden Holtby | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 34-36-11 | 55-18-8 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.44 | 2.86 | 16.70% | 85.20% | Team Stats | 3.22 | 2.18 | 23.30% | 84.10% |
Aleksander Barkov, Jussi Jokinen and Aaron Ekblad are all unlikely to play in tonight’s contest due to injury. That doesn’t mean that the remaining players wouldn’t like to say that they beat the best team in the league before they hit the golf courses tomorrow. We love to joke about playing golf and all but the reality is that half these guys head right to the surgeon when the season is done and probably couldn’t swing a golf club if they wanted to. Vincent Trocheck, Jonathan Huberdeau and Jaromir Jagr skate on the top line while Thomas Vanek and Nick Bjugstad hold down the second line. Both Jagr and Huberdeau lead the team with five points apiece over the last two weeks while Trocheck’s 54 points remains atop the Panthers scoring chart. Jonathan Marchessault makes for a nice one-off here as his 30 goals leads the team. With Ekblad on the shelf defenseman Keith Yandle is the easy cash game play on the back line as he leads the team with 36 assists this season. I expect that this Florida group will come out and play hard against a Washington team that has nothing to play for.
Washington looks like they are going to play this one straight up which means that Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Ovechkin and T.J. Oshie are all in play here tonight. They serve as the team’s top power play line as well which has been most of the reason why they have combined for 89 goals and 122 assists in the 230 man games they have appeared in this season. The second line of Marcus Johansson, Justin Williams and Evgeny Kuznetsov is in play here as well as they have grabbed a combined 22 points over the last seven games. Defesneman Kevin Shattenkirk has become the glue on the back end that will hopefully take the Capitals deep into the playoffs this season. Look for this game to be fast paced as both teams really have nothing to play for but to come out of this game uninjured.
Elite Plays
FLA: None
WSH: Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Ovechkin
Secondary Plays
FLA: Jonathan Huberdeau, Vincent Trocheck, Jaromir Jagr, Jonathan Marchessault, Keith Yandle
WSH: Kevin Shattenkirk, T.J. Oshie, Marcus Johansson
Los Angeles Kings at Anaheim Ducks
| Los Angeles Kings | Anaheim Ducks | ||||||||
 | Ben Bishop |  | John Gibson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 39-35-7 | 45-23-13 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.44 | 2.43 | 19.00% | 84.60% | Team Stats | 2.65 | 2.43 | 18.70% | 84.80% |
Although the Kings are out of the playoffs they will certainly look forward to playing their Pacific Division leading rivals tonight. Los Angeles beat Chicago in overtime by a score of 3-2 last night in a game which saw both Jeff Carter and Anze Kopitar grab three assists each. That folks is tough to do especially since they skate on different lines. To be fair they do skate on the top power play unit, which accounted for one goal while the overtime goals saw them on the ice with defenseman Drew Doughty, who netted the game winner. Kopitar centers Marian Gaborik and Dustin Brown while the kings once again reunited ‘That 70’s Line’ yesterday as Carter centered Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson. If you like the Kings start with either Carter or Kopitar and use Doughty as your defenseman as he has grabbed 43 points this season, which is second only to Carter’s 66 and Kopitar’s 52 seasonal points.
With just one game left and the Pacific Division crown in their back pocket, it looks like the Ducks will use this game as a dress rehearsal for the playoffs which start next week. Ryan Getzlaf will center Patrick eaves and Nick Ritchie while Ryan Kesler will remain centering Andrew Cogliano and Jakob Silfverberg. This leaves Antoine Vermette to center the very talented Corey Perry and Rickard Rakell. Getzlaf leads the team with 70 points while Rakell’s 33 goals is tops on the team. Trading for Patrick Eaves was probably the best thing this team could have done as they now have three lines that can score at any time. This will be extremely helpful when Anaheim has to play against the tough teams on the road as there is no way they can shut all three lines down in one game. Kesler, Getzlaf and eaves will have defensemen Cam Fowler and Brandon Montour as their point men on the first power play unit. This is a bit different as well as we the Ducks now making a second formidable power play unit that consists of Perry, Rakell, Silfverberg, Vermette and defenseman Shea Theodore. There are two ways to go about this game tonight, stick with the even strength lines or mix and match either power play unit.
Elite Plays
LAK: Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter
ANA: Ryan Getzlaf, Rickard Rakell
Elite Plays
LAK: Drew Doughty, Tyler Toffoli, Tanner Pearson
ANA: Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler, Jakob Silfverberg, Patrick Eaves, Cam Fowler
Vancouver Canucks at Edmonton Oilers
| Vancouver Canucks | Edmonton Oilers | ||||||||
 | Ryan Miller |  | Cam Talbot | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 30-42-9 | 46-26-9 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.18 | 2.90 | 14.20% | 76.60% | Team Stats | 2.87 | 2.56 | 22.90% | 80.60% |
The Canucks will be glad when the last 60 minutes of their season expires sometime around 1130Pm EST tonight. The team tried to improve by bringing Loui Eriksson in but that and the degeneration of both Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin made it for an unpleasant season at best. Nikolay Goldobin will join the Sedin’s on the top line while the injury to Sven Baertschi has forced Reid Boucher to play on the second line with Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser. None of these players are cash game worthy with the exception of possibly using Horvat as a one-off punt play as he does lead the team with 20 goals and 51 points. Alexandre Edler is the best defenseman Vancouver has as his two points over the last seven games leads all Canuck defensemen in that category. I know, pass on him. In fact pass on the whole team tonight as they have only grabbed nine goals in their last seven games and the only way they win this game is if the Oilers decide to bring back their 1980 team and even then, that may be a good game.
Edmonton beat these guys last night and they will beat them tonight as well. Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Patrick Marron should have a field day tonight. The only thing that worries me is that maybe there could be a lack of focus against an inferior team. It will be up to McDavid to make sure that doesn’t happen and the Oilers end the season on the right foot heading into the playoffs. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Milan Lucic and Jordan Eberle are in play here as well as they skate on the team’s second line. Mark Letestu comes up from the third line to join Lucic, McDavid and Draisaitl on the team’s top power play unit which has netted five goals in the last four games. Defenseman Oscar Klefbom is the play here as he has snared seven of his 37 points over the last six games. Edmonton should have no problem breezing through this one tonight to end the season in front of the home crowd on a high note as they embark on their playoff journey later this week.
Elite Plays
VAN: None
EDM: Connor McDavid
Secondary Plays
VAN: Bo Horvat, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin
EDM: Patrick Maroon, Milan Lucic, Oscar Klefbom, Mark Letestu