NHL Grind Down: Sunday, November 19th


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.

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New York Islanders at Carolina Hurricanes

New York Islanders Carolina Hurricanes
Article Image Jaroslav Halak Article Image Cam Ward
Record Record
11-6-2 8-6-4
Stats GF/GP GA/GP PP% PK% Stats GF/GP GA/GP PP% PK%
Team Stats 3.61 3.22 20.00 81.67 Team Stats 2.88 2.82 14.29 78.95

The New York Islanders helped themselves to an early Thanksgiving feast last night as they went into Florida and beat the best team in the league by a score of 5-3. The win pulls the New Yorkers to within one point of the jam-packed Metropolitan Division lead. John Tavares, Anders Lee and Josh Bailey are now getting the support they need from the secondary lines to compete in a division that has undoubtedly become the toughest in the league. Bailey surprisingly leads the team with 23 points while Tavares seems to make anyone that plays with him better as he has racked up a team leading 14 goals in just 19 games. All three log more than 70% of the ice time when the Islanders have the extra attacker so targeting them as a cash game play may be a good idea on such a short slate that the NHL has presented us with today. Mathew Barzal and his 10 points in the last six games is only one of the reasons why the Islanders have been able to go 6-3-1 in their last 10 games. Those stats alone make him an easy one-off target here but his line mates in Jordan Eberle and Andrew Ladd have been pulling their weight as well as Eberle has lit the lamp five times in the last six games. Barzal is the stronger play by default as he gets bumped up with the top line on the team’s top power play unit. Brock Nelson and Josh Ho-Sang anchor the third line and could be used in deeper GPP plays as they are not as consistent as the top six but can get a goal here or there if you are looking for a punt play. Defenseman Nick Leddy gets to anchor the top power play unit that has struck for 11 goals in their last 29 attempts. Leddy has garnered 14 points this season with Johnny Boychuk and his six points being a distant second where defensive output is concerned. Carolina played in Buffalo yesterday afternoon so there really isn’t much of an advantage there in terms of teams being tired or not so which makes the Islanders a safer play in today’s contests.

By virtue of winning the ‘battle of the last place teams’ yesterday the Carolina Hurricanes were able to pull into a three-way tie for the fifth spot in the Metropolitan Division. The 3-1 win over Buffalo also has them just five points away from first place so a win here could go a long way. Jordan Staal centers Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen while Victor Rask, Jeff Skinner and Elias Lindholm handle the second line chores. The Hurricanes have stuck with trying to make three scoring lines and it looks like their patience is starting to pay off in that respect as Justin Williams, Derek Ryan and Brock McGinn have also been contributing so far this season. Only Rask is the one left out of the festivities when Carolina draws a penalty as the Hurricanes go with the two line power play strategy that sees both lines play almost an equal amount when they have the man advantage. Teravainen has come on with nine points over the last six games to take the team lead in points while Staal’s six goals and nine assists leaves him one point shy of the team leader. Because of the slump that defenseman Justin Faulk has got himself into Carolina is now looking to Jaccob Slavin and Noah Hanifin to help fill the void on the back line. Both players have chipped in three points each over the last six games while Hanifin’s eight points leads all Carolina defensemen in that category. Look for a good game out of these two teams today as the Hurricanes try to improve on their 3-2-3 record in front of the home crowd.

Top Plays

NYI: Josh Bailey, John Tavares
CAR: Teuvo Teravainen, Eric Staal

Secondary Plays

NYI: Anders Lee, Mathew Barzal, Nick Leddy, Jordan Eberle
Car; Sebastian Aho, Jeff Skinner, Justin Williams, Derek Ryan, Noah Hanifin

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About the Author

elctrceye
Tom Woollam (elctrceye)

Tom Woollam is a freelance DFS writer and has been a member here at RotoGrinders.com since December 2011. He has played Fantasy Sports for the last 30 years and has been in the daily fantasy sports game for the last four. You can find him on twitter @elctrceye.