NHL Grind Down: Thursday, April 7th - Page Two
Tampa Bay Lightning at New Jersey Devils – 07:00 PM EDT
| Tampa Bay Lightning | New Jersey Devils | ||||||||
 | Ben Bishop |  | Keith Kinkaid | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 45-30-5 | 37-35-8 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.73 | 2.39 | 16.10% | 84.00% | Team Stats | 2.19 | 2.46 | 20.50% | 82.60% |
The Lightning continue to finish the season out on the road as they have dropped their last two games in the state of New York. Tonight the ravel across the river to take on the New Jersey Devils and without Steven Stamkos this looks like a whole different team. Ondrej Palat has been moved to the top line with Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov which sees Kucherov the only player in the top six with four points in the last four games. Brian Boyle and Nikita Nesterov complete the team’s top power play unit that has connected twice in the last 23 attempts. The second line of Alex Killorn, J.T. Brown and Valtteri Filppula would be the choice for your GPP’s tonight.
With the Devils being out of the playoffs it looks like the team has packed ii in early. New Jersey has just one win and seven goals to their credit over the last six games. With scoring like this it would seem that the top line of Tyler Kennedy, Adam Henrique and Devante Smith-Pelly should only be considered as a GPP play since the Devils are the home team. Travis Zajac and Kyle Palmieri make the wiser choices as they each have tallied three points over the last ten days. John Moore gets the minutes on the power play from the point but with such a big slate tonight, you could do better here.
Elite Plays
TB: Nikita Kucherov
NJ: None
Secondary Plays
TB: Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson, Nikita Nesterov
NJ: Kyle Palmieri, Travis Zajac
Florida Panthers at Ottawa Senators – 07:30 PM EDT
| Florida Panthers | Ottawa Senators | ||||||||
 | Roberto Luongo |  | Craig Anderson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 46-25-9 | 36-35-9 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.83 | 2.44 | 17.10% | 79.90% | Team Stats | 2.76 | 2.99 | 15.50% | 75.30% |
Florida has wrapped up the top spot in the Atlantic conference so as long as they don’t ‘surprise sit’ anyone, it should be all systems go against a defensively challenged team in the Ottawa Senators. Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau and Jaromir Jagr have been doing most of the scoring over the last ten days as they combined for ten goals and 11 assists over the last ten days. Barkov leads the bunch with five goals and three assists while Huberdeau has the same exact stats, minus a goal. Although the second line hasn’t been score much lately this is a perfect game to get them some extra ice time to get in sync for the playoffs. Jussi Jokinen, Nick Bjugstad and Reilly Smith comprise the second line and make a decent GPP play here. Aaron Ekblad is the choice on the back line and a good one at that as he has six assists over the last five games.
It’s unclear as to whether the Senators will have Mark Stone back tonight or not. Regardless the players on the team’s top power play unit are the ones to target here as they have been doing most of the scoring. Mike Hoffman and defenseman Erik Karlsson both lead the way with two goals and two assists apiece over the last ten days. Zack Smith, Bobby Ryan and Alex Chiasson finish out the five man unit with Jean-Gabriel makes a decent one-off play as he has tallied four points over the last four games.
Elite Plays
FLA: Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau
OTT: Erik Karlsson
Secondary Plays
FLA: Jaromir Jagr, Nick Bjugstad, Jussi Jokinen, Aaron Ekblad
OTT: Mike Hoffman, Bobby Ryan, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Mika Zibanejad, Zack Smith
Arizona Coyotes at Nashville Predators – 08:00 PM EDT
| Arizona Coyotes | Nashville Predators | ||||||||
 | Mike Smith |  | Pekka Rinne | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 35-38-7 | 40-26-14 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.58 | 3.00 | 18.00% | 77.10% | Team Stats | 2.74 | 2.60 | 19.60% | 81.20% |
This game could turn out to be a whole bunch of nothing as the Coyotes have been eliminated from the playoff race. Martin Hanzal will not play tonight which leaves the lines a bit jumbled up for the fourth straight game. Max Domi has tallied five assists while both Alex Tanguay and Anthony Duclair have registered four points over the last ten days. Domi is the one-off here as he skates on the team’s second line and should see a little more room on the ice than the top line. Shane Doan and Antoine Vermette hit the scoresheet every once in a while so if you are in a pinch and they are cheap, they could make for a nice fill-in player for tournament action tonight. Oliver Ekman-Larsson is the choice on the blue line as he gets all the power play time he can handle, especially with Michael Stone now out for the season.
This is really nothing more than a scrimmage game for the Predators as they are almost locked into fourth place in the Central division with 94 points. Ryan Johansen and James Neal have each scored a goal over the last five games to go along with five and four assists respectively. You could come up with a worse duo for tonight’s cash game plays. The trio of Mike Ribeiro, Craig Smith and Filip Forsberg make up the team’s first power play unit along with defensemen Roman Josi and Shea Weber. Forsberg has five points in the last five games while Smith has lit the lamp twice. Either defenseman is fine here as they get plenty of ice time and each gets their share of shots on goal. Both lines are in play tonight against the Coyotes who have given up 11 goals in the last two games.
Elite Plays
ARZ: Oliver Ekman-Larsson
NSH: Ryan Johansen, James Neal, Filip Forsberg
Secondary Plays
ARZ: Max Domi, Alex Tanguay, Anthony Duclair
NSH: Shea Weber, Roman Josi, Craig Smith
Colorado Avalanche at Dallas Stars – 08:30 PM EDT
| Colorado Avalanche | Dallas Stars | ||||||||
 | Semyon Varlamov |  | Kari Lehtonen | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 39-37-4 | 48-23-9 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.59 | 2.89 | 18.40% | 81.10% | Team Stats | 3.23 | 2.80 | 21.70% | 82.10% |
Colorado has played poor enough over the last ten games to put themselves right out of the playoffs so the question is, why go after this game? Sure the Avalanche will work on a few things and you may even see some experimentation where it comes to guys skating with each other but I wouldn’t look for any cohesion as Dallas should come out on all cylinders to be the heavy favorite tonight as they are deadlocked with the St Louis Blues for first place in the Central division. Mikkel Boedker, Matt Duchene Gabriel Landeskog and Carl Soderberg all play on the first power play unit and each have at least three points apiece o9ver the last ten days. Tyson Barrie is the lone defenseman on that unit but again, with Dallas going after this game look for Colorado to fold like an eight two off suit.
The Stars are embroiled in the battle for first place overall in the Western conference with the St Louis Blues. Jamie Benn and Patrick Sharp are the plays here as both play on the top line and get the majority of the minutes on the power play. Benn has lit the lamp five times over the last five games while Sharp has three goals to go along with two assists. Jason Spezza skates on the second line but grabs the top minutes with the man advantage with the aforementioned two players. In the last five games Spezza has a goal and four assists. John Klingberg is getting back on track from the point as the young defenseman has three assists in his last five games.
Elite Plays
COL: None
DAL: Jamie Benn
Secondary Plays
COL: Mikkel Boedker, Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog, Tyson Barrie
DAL: Patrick Sharp, Jason Spezza, John Klingberg, Patrick Eaves
St. Louis Blues at Chicago Blackhawks – 08:30 PM EDT
| St. Louis Blues | Chicago Blackhawks | ||||||||
 | Brian Elliott |  | Scott Darling | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 48-23-9 | 47-26-7 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.70 | 2.39 | 22.00% | 84.90% | Team Stats | 2.86 | 2.50 | 22.90% | 80.30% |
St Louis comes into this one tied with the Dallas Stars for home ice advantage throughout the Western conference playoffs. Each team has two games left so the Blues need this one as Dallas is at home tonight against Colorado. With the lines shuffled up a bit look for Troy Bouwer as the one-off here as he has three goals and three assists in the last five games while playing on the second line. Vladimir Tarasenko has been the team’s hottest player with three goals and seven points in the last five games with new line mate Alexander Steen grabbing four assists over that time frame. All three players get the top power play minutes along with defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk who has registered four points in the last five games the Blues have played. It’s going to be a bit tough for the Blues with the man advantage however as the Blackhawks have given up just one goal while killing a penalty over the last eight games.
Duncan Keith has three more games to sit out before he can get back into the action so look for Brent Seabrook to continue to pile up the points from the blue line. Seabrook has five points over the last four games but that is far from the team leader over the past ten days. Artemi Panarin has ten points over the last five games while Patrick Kane has nine which effectively makes these two very strong plays for cash games tonight. Jonathan Toews is the one-off here as he has two goals and five assists in the last five games. Andrew Ladd has three goals and four points while playing on the same line as Toews so pairing them up tonight wouldn’t be out of the question. This could be a playoff preview but I wouldn’t expect that kind of atmosphere tonight.
Elite Plays
STL: Vladimir Tarasenko
CHI: Patrick Kane, Artemi Panarin
Secondary Plays
STL: Paul Stastny, Kevin Shattenkirk, Jori Lehtera, Troy Brouwer, Alexander Steen
CHI: Brent Seabrook, Artem Anisimov, Jonathan Toews, Andrew Ladd