NHL Grind Down - Sunday, December 20th

by Tom Woollam (elctrceye) Last Updated 2015-12-22 17:15:08

The RotoGrinders NHL Grind Down article will give you an in-depth analysis into the NHL schedule. This article will break down the numbers for every single game and give you analysis on which trends you can exploit. While matchups are a major factor in daily fantasy hockey there are plenty of other factors to consider such as injuries, salaries, and more.

The analysis should point you in the right direction, but it is still up to you to decipher the information and make your own selections. Hockey is an extremely high variance sport. The best choice is not always the right choice but following the trends will win you money over time.

Remember, these writeups are done prior to lineups being released, so make sure to check our Starting Lineups page to ensure the recommended options are playing.

Note: As always, if you want to try a new DFS site, be sure to click through a RotoGrinders link and use our DraftKings promo code and FanDuel promo code to receive the best perks in the industry.

Vancouver Canucks at Florida Panthers – 04:00 PM EST

Vancouver Canucks					Florida Panthers
			Ryan Miller					Roberto Luongo
			Record					Record
			12-14-8					17-12-4
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	2.44	2.82	17.60%	79.30%	Team Stats	2.58	2.27	18.30%	80.80%

After losing three straight games to start their current road trip, the Vancouver Canucks got back on track Friday night to beat the Detroit Red Wings by a score of 4-3. It took 14 shooters to find a winner in this one as Linden Vey found the back of the net against Jimmy Howard to give the Canucks their two points in the shootout victory. It looks like captain Henrik Sedin may be back for this one as missed the last game with a lower body injury but was skating earlier at the teams morning skate. Henrik and his brother Daniel are the plays here as they lead the team in points with the latter having 14 goals to go with 20 assists in 34 games. Radim Vrbata returned to form as he scored a goal and assisted on another in the three goals the Canucks scored the other night. Vrbata is well of the pace of his career year stats from a year ago as he has only pointed 17 times in the first 32 games. Compare that to the 31 goals and 32 assists accumulated last year in 79 games and you can see what happens to a marginal player when he doesn’t play on the top line. Florida has only given up six goals in their last five games which may make it a bit tough for the Canucks to score tonight. The only thing going for Vancouver is the fact that the Panthers are coming off a four game road trip. If you believe in the narrative that teams ‘slack off’ in their first game back from a road trip, then the Canucks are definitely in play for you tonight. With that said, I think they should still only be used in GPP’s.

As mentioned above the Panthers have been pretty solid defensively of late. A lot of that has been because of the stellar goaltending of Roberto Luongo and Al Montoya who are a combined 4-1 in the last five games with Luongo suffering the only defeat in Boston last Saturday. The top line of Jaromir Jagr, Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau should be in play today as they also stay together to form the top power play unit with Aaron Eklbad and Dmitry Kulikov manning the points. This line has scored four goals and six assists in their last four games and should be considered today as the Canucks have given up four goals in four games when they are a man short. Brandon Pirri saw his five game scoring streak snapped Friday night in a 2-0 win in Carolina. Pirri was held without a shot in that game but did have two goals and five assists in his five games prior to Friday night.

Elite Plays

VAN: Daniel Sedin
FLA: None

Secondary Plays

VAN: Henrik Sedin, Radim Vrbata, Jared McCann
FLA: Jaromir Jagr, Brandon Pirri, Jonathan Huberdeau, Aaron Ekblad, Aleksander Barkov

New Jersey Devils at Boston Bruins – 05:00 PM EST

New Jersey Devils					Boston Bruins
			Cory Schneider					Tuukka Rask
			Record					Record
			16-12-4					18-9-4
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	2.34	2.41	20.90%	82.70%	Team Stats	3.26	2.61	29.20%	80.90%

The New Jersey Devils limp into this one after suffering two tough home losses over the last three days. Thursday night saw the Florida Panthers take them to the woodshed to the tune of a 5-1 loss in a game that saw the Devils only get 16 shots on net. It didn’t get much better last night as the visiting Anaheim Ducks only needed two goals to walk out of Newark with the easy win. The Ducks are the worst team in the league so there may not be much hope for the Devils today as they not only played last night, they travel to Boston today to play their third game in four days. It’s going to be tough to get back on track after two lackluster performances. I can’t recommend the Devils for cash game play but there are certainly a few that we can throw into some GPP’s today. Mike Cammalleri leads the team in scoring with 12 goals and 20 assists in 32 games but it has been Kyle Palmieri who has had the hot hand. Backed by four goals and three assist in his last eight games, Palmieri has taken over the team in goals with 13. He also skates on the second line so if you like narratives, he very well could be your one off today as the Bruins will most likely try to shut down the first line that features Cammallieri. If you want to pair up Palmieri with a line mate I’d select Travis Zajac over Jiri Tlusty. Zajac has two assists in his last four games while Tlusty has just one goal since October 29th.

Boston comes into this game staying afloat in second place in the Atlantic division thanks to their 6-1-3 record in their last 10 games. The power play has been starting to heat up as well as they have scored three goals of that variety in their last four games. The Bruins employ the three line strategy when making their power play lines. Patrice Bergeron centers the power play unit whole Ryan Spooner and Loui Eriksson play the wings with David Krejci and defenseman Torey Krug man the points. There are two ways to go here, stick with the power play or go top line. Either way starting with Patrice Bergeron is the way to go as he has three goals and five assists in his last eight games. Brad Marchand skates top line with Bergreon and surprise, he has eight points in his last eight games as well. To go the power play route I’d take a look at Ryan Spooner as he has tallied six assists to go along with two goals in his last five games. Torey Krug is the play on defense as he hasn’t scored negative points on plus/minus sites in his last nine games. Zdeno Chara has also put together a few good games by virtue of finding the scoresheet in six of his last eight games.

Elite Plays

NJ: none
BOS: None

Secondary Plays

NJ: Mike Cammalleri, Kyle Palmieri, Adam Henrique, Lee Stempniak
BOS: Patrice Bergeron, Ryan Spooner, Brad Marchand, Torey Krug, Zdeno Chara, Loui Eriksson, Matt Beleskey

Ottawa Senators at Tampa Bay Lightning – 05:00 PM EST

Ottawa Senators					Tampa Bay Lightning
			Craig Anderson					Ben Bishop
			Record					Record
			17-11-5					16-14-3
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	3.00	2.85	19.60%	78.20%	Team Stats	2.42	2.30	16.00%	76.00%

Over the last four games Ottawa has been in Montreal to back home against Los Angeles to Washington then back home again to face the San Jose Sharks. Not by coincidence they managed two wins at home while losing the two road games. They start a brief two game Florida road trip which starts tonight against a Tampa team that is playing their first home game since last Saturday. Ottawa has lost four of their last five road games including one by a score of 4-1 against the same team they face tonight. It’s pretty odd to visit Florida twice in 10 days but this is the schedule that is the NHL. Tampa has given up three power play goals in their last two games so maybe there is a good place to start. The second line of Zack Smith, Kyle Turris and Mark Stone make up the top power play unit for the Senators. This is good news for two reasons. The first one is obvious as they get most of the time on the power play. The second is the fact that Tampa will probably put their top shut down line against the Line of Bobby Ryan, Mike Hoffman and Mika Zibanejad giving the second line a bit more room to maneuver on the ice. Like most teams though Bobby Ryan and mike Hoffman lead the team not only in points but have five points each in their last five games. If you don’t want to dip down to the second line Bobby Ryan is the play here as he spends time at the point with Erik Karlsson manning the points on the team’s top power play unit. Karlsson seems to be back to his usual ways as he has two goals and one assist in the last two games.

There have been plenty of rumors over the past week saying that the Lightning’s star player, Steven Stamkos, may be traded in the coming weeks. Stamkos stands firm and has indicated that he wants to stay in Tampa but can the Lightning afford to pay him the money he wants? For this game though there is no real reason to shy away from the top line of Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Vladislav Namestnikov as they all pull double duty making up 60% of Tampa’s top power play line. Kucherov has been red hot of late as he has four goals to go along with two assist in his last five games. If you want to go off the beaten path Jonathan Marchessault makes a decent play as he skates third line with Alex Killorn but is on the top power play unit and seems to be heating up by virtue of his two goals and three points in the last two games. Anton Stralman is the choice on defense as he completes the power play unit and has added a goal and two assists in his last five games.

Elite Plays

Ott: Erik Karlsson
TB: Steven Stamkos

Secondary Plays

OTT: Bobby Ryan, Mark Stone, Kyle Turris, Mike Hoffman
TB: Nikita Kucherov, Vladislav Namestnikov, Anton Stralman, Jonathan Marchessault

San Jose Sharks at Chicago Blackhawks – 07:00 PM EST

San Jose Sharks					Chicago Blackhawks
			Martin Jones					Corey Crawford
			Record					Record
			16-15-1					18-11-4
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	2.63	2.72	19.40%	83.00%	Team Stats	2.70	2.36	21.90%	82.40%

San Jose continues to try to stay afloat in the Pacific division despite being 3-6-1 in their last ten games. Their 33 points are good for second place in the division but that’s not really saying much as they would be no higher than tied for fifth in any other division. Half the problem is that San Jose has become a one line team without winger Logan Couture as he has only appeared in the lineup just five times so far this season. It looks like journeyman Dainus Zubrus will get a chance to skate on the top line with Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski. While this looks like a decent punt play I would still stick with the top popwer play unit of the Sharks. Pavelski leads the charge as he has three goals and four assists in his last five games with Patrick Marleau not far behind with three goals and two assist in his last five games. Marleau may be the better play today as he skates second line and should see more room on the ice as Chicago will surely try to shut down the top line. Brent Burns is the choice for the defense position as his two goals and three assists over the last two games would indicate he is a tad hot. Joe Thornton has been a bit quiet of late as he has only three assist in the last five games.

Patrick Kane has picked up right where he left off after his string of scoring in 26 games came to a grinding halt back on December 15th against Colorado. Kane has picked up points in his last two games making it 28 out of 29 games he has done so and is the closest thing to automatic as any player in the league. The Sharks have killed off 16 penalties in their last 17 tries so maybe we want to stick with the straight lines in this one. If you take Kane you probably want to pair him with Artemi Panarin as he has two goals and three assists in his last eight games while Artem Anisimov has gone eight games without a point. We saw some life out of the Jonathan Toews, Teuvo Teravainen, Marian Hossa line on Thursday as they accounted for three of the four Chicago goals but have been all but silent in the other three games in that time frame. Duncan Keith would be the play at the point although he only has a goal and an assist in his last four games he has not had a negative score on the plus/minus sites in his last 14 games.

Elite Plays

SJ: Joe Pavelski
CHI: Patrick Kane

Secondary Plays

SJ: Brent Burns, Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton
CHI: Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, Teuvo Teravainen, Artemi Panarin, Duncan Keith

Washington Capitals at New York Rangers – 07:00 PM EST

Washington Capitals					New York Rangers
			Braden Holtby					Henrik Lundqvist
			Record					Record
			23-6-2					19-11-4
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	3.03	2.16	25.00%	84.10%	Team Stats	2.85	2.41	21.70%	83.00%

The Washington Capitals are at it again and by again I mean putting a string of four or more wins together for the third time this year. The Caps record of 23-6-2 is good for first place in the Eastern Conference and falls just two points shy of being the best team in the league. The top line of Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie should be in play here even if they are on the road. Ovechkin is the easy play as he has scored four goals and added two assists in his last five games but it would behoove us not to look at his line mates as well. Nicklas Backstrom has been Mr. Consistent as he has found the score sheet in nine of the last ten games but it is T.J. Oshie that has the hot hand by virtue of scoring four goals to go with three assists in the last two games. John Carlson is the selection on the point as he has a goal and six assist in the last seven games he has played. With those guys doing most of the scoring it’s tough to even look at the Washington second line as Evgeny Kuznetsov and Justin Williams have accumulated just three goals and one assist in the last eight games. You could however try Marcus Johansson as he is on that second line but skates with Ovie on the top power play unit.

The New York Rangers are in the midst of their worst slump of the year. I know I sound like a broken record but ever since the injury to Derek Stepan this team has been a mess. Look for things to improve though as Stepan has returned to the lineup last game and like all skill players, it should take him a game or two to get back into the flow of things. The other bright spot for the ‘Blueshirts’ is that a lot of their recent troubles have been on the road as they are actually 3-1 in their last four home games. I agree that Edmonton, Carolina and Ottawa are not the best teams in the league but nonetheless they are the teams they have beat in those three wins. When looking at the Rangers today we can start with the top line of Derick Brassard, Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello as they also get the lion’s share on the power play as well. Start with Brassard as he seems to be the most consistent in the past eight games as he has tallied four goals and four assists over that time frame. Nash and Zuccarello have not found the score sheet in the last two games but each have five points in the other three games leading up to the two game drought. Defensively Dan Boyle has responded since being inserted on the power play with three goals and two assist in the last six games while Ryan McDonagh could be back on track as he has a goal and assist in the last two games.

Elite Plays

WSH: Alexander Ovechkin
NYR: None

Secondary Plays

WSH: T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson, Marcus Johansson
NYR: Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello, Derick Brassard, Derek Stepan, Ryan McDonagh, Dan Boyle

Calgary Flames at Detroit Red Wings – 07:00 PM EST

Calgary Flames					Detroit Red Wings
			Jonas Hiller					Jimmy Howard
			Record					Record
			15-14-2					16-9-7
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	2.65	3.35	10.80%	72.60%	Team Stats	2.53	2.53	17.60%	82.10%

After reeling off seven straight wins it was about time for Calgary Flames to come up on the losing end for a change. That is just what happened despite outshooting the St Louis Blues 38-22 in their 3-2 last night. It will be interesting to see how the Flames rebound after a tough loss and playing last night as they head to the Joe Louis Arena for their 7pm meeting with the Detroit Red Wings. The amazing part of the Flames run is that the power play has been dormant for the last nine games and has only been able to tally one goal in 32 tries during that period. The Flames have always been a backwards kind of team and this streak exemplifies that fact. It’s hard to ignore top liners Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan as they have totaled 12 goals and ten assists in their last nine games with Gaudreau having the point edge by a slim 9-8 margin. As far as the defensemen go, maybe it’s time to hop off the T.J. Brodie train and start using someone else. Brodie had a hot streak of finding the score sheet in seven straight games before being held off of it the last two so maybe we switch it up a bit. Dougie Hamilton has two goals and four assists in his last six games while Mark Giordano may be finding his groove as he tallied a goal and assist in the Flames last game. Either way the play here is probably GPP’s only as the Flames should be a bit tired going into their third game in four nights.

The Red Wings find themselves riding a three game losing streak with losses to Vancouver, Buffalo and New Jersey. As you can see these teams aren’t even close to being the best in the league so it’s hard to imagine that they can come off the deck on their own. The Calgary Flames have given up four power play goals in their last six games so this means that Henrik Zetterberg is in play as he skates top line and gets the top power play minutes. Zetterberg has scored two goals to go with three assists and should find the score sheet again today. Dylan Larkin and Justin Abdelkader have been a bit quiet of late as they have only been able to snare just one goal and one assist total in their last four games. Pavel Datsyuk gained some momentum as he has scored a goal to go with three assists in his last four games. The problem with this is the fact that he skates on two totally different units than team scoring leader Henrik Zetterberg. Taking both however is not a bad strategy today against a tired Calgary team that could give up three goals or more as they lead the league in that department by giving up 108 goals in 32 games.

Elite Plays

CAL: Johnny Gaudreau
DET: Henrik Zetterberg

Secondary Plays

CAL: Sean Monahan, Dougie Hamilton, Mark Giordano
DET: Pavel Datsyuk, Niklas Kronwall, Gustav Nyquist, Dylan Larkin, Justin Abdelkader