NHL Grind Down: Thursday, December 31st
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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Washington Capitals at Carolina Hurricanes – 06:00 PM EST
| Washington Capitals | Carolina Hurricanes | ||||||||
 | Braden Holtby |  | Cam Ward | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 28-6-2 | 15-17-5 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.14 | 2.06 | 25.20% | 85.70% | Team Stats | 2.35 | 2.84 | 17.50% | 77.90% |
The Washington Capitals are already without defenseman John Carlson and now it looks as if there’s a possibility of Nicklas Backstrom not playing tonight as well as he left last night’s game against Buffalo with an injury. With The Carlson injury the play on defense is Matt Niskanen as he assumed all the top power play minutes last night and I’d look for Evgeny Kuznetsov to move to the top line if Backstrom can’t go. Alexander Ovechkin remains the play here as he has four goals and two assists in his last six games while T.J. Oshie has cooled off a bit tallying just two assists in his last four games. Marcus Johansson makes a decent play here as well as he has netted three goals and figured in on four others in his last five games.
Carolina looks to avenge a 2-1 loss played against this same team on the same ice from ten days ago. The problem is, as usual, the Hurricanes haven’t been scoring much. Ten goals in the last six games does not actually constitute a scoring deluge but let’s dive in and see what we can find. It looks like the top line of Eric Staal, Kris Versteeg and Elias Lindholm should be the play as they all have four points in their last four games with the exception of Lindholm, as he has just one assist in his last seven games. Justin Faulk is the choice on defense as he has two goals and an assist in his last three games to his credit. With the Capitals playing last night and getting hit by the injury bug, tonight may be a good night for Carolina to steal one tonight.
Elite Plays
WAS: Alexander Ovechkin
CAR: None
Secondary Plays
WAS: T.J. Oshie, Marcus Johansson, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Matt Niskanen
CAR: Eric Staal, Elias Lindholm, Kris Versteeg, Justin Faulk, Noah Hanifin
New York Islanders at Buffalo Sabres – 06:00 PM EST
| New York Islanders | Buffalo Sabres | ||||||||
 | Jaroslav Halak |  | Robin Lehner | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 20-12-5 | 15-18-4 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.70 | 2.32 | 17.50% | 87.70% | Team Stats | 2.32 | 2.59 | 19.10% | 78.00% |
The Islanders end the year with a trip up to Buffalo and while they are 5-4-1 in their last ten games they have found a way to lose four of their last six. In their two wins they have scored a total of 11 goals in the games against Anaheim and Toronto and just three goals in the four losses. As of last game John Tavares, Anders Lee and Josh Bailey have skated on the top line and have each scored a goal to go along with two assists in their last three games except for Tavares who had three assists. Buffalo comes home after a tough 5-2 loss in Washington and could be a little tired when the take the ice tonight. Although Kyle Okposo has gone four games without collecting a point, the Islanders second line may be in play as well tonight. Both Okposo and Frans Nielsen skate on the top power play line but it is Nikolay Kulemin who has the hot hand as he has netted a goal in each of his last two games. Nick Leddy is the only defenseman who gets the top power play minutes and has an assist in each of his last two games. Look for the Islanders to score a few in this one.
Buffalo has the same 2-4 record in their last six games and are only 1-3 when they play on back to back nights. Tonight they go up against an Islander team that has not given up a power play goal in their last fourteen games. With those kind of numbers it looks like the Sabres will have to score at even strength if they have any chance of coming home with the victory. Tyler Ennis left last night’s game with an upper body injury which left as second line of Jack Eichel, Zemgus Girgensons and Brian Gionta. Buffalo may have found something here by mistake as that line accounted for both goals in their 5-2 loss in Washington last night. In case anyone has noticed, Eichel seems like he has adjusted from his first NHL slump as he has tallied three goals to go along with five assists in his last five games. Ryan O’Reilly has added three goals of his own to go along with an assist in his last three games. With the Ennis injury and based on last night’s boxscore, it looks like Eichel received the golden ticket as he received top power play minutes. Rasmus Risotlainen is the play on defense and although he is scoreless in his last four games, he is still shooting the puck.
Elite Plays
NYI: John Tavares
BUF: None
Secondary Plays
NYI: Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo, Nick Leddy
BUF: Jack Eichel, Ryan O’Reilly, Rasmus Ristolainen
Pittsburgh Penguins at Detroit Red Wings – 06:00 PM EST
| Pittsburgh Penguins | Detroit Red Wings | ||||||||
 | Marc-Andre Fleury |  | Jimmy Howard | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 17-15-4 | 18-12-7 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.22 | 2.39 | 16.40% | 83.60% | Team Stats | 2.51 | 2.59 | 18.20% | 81.00% |
After two wins against Columbus and Minnesota it had looked the Pittsburgh Penguins were ready to turn the corner and then promptly went out and lost to Winnipeg and Toronto by scoring just two regulation goals in those games. The loss of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is mostly responsible for the current state of affairs as Jeff Zatkoff and Matt Murray are just not high caliber NHL goalies. While the Penguins have out shot their opponents in eight of the last games they only have three wins to show for it and look to improve upon that tonight. The power play is their only bright spot as they have connected for four goals in their last four games making that the place to start when rostering Penguins tonight. Sidney Crosby seems to be back on track as he has two goals and five assists in his last four games including having a hand in both goals in last night’s 3-2 shootout loss to Toronto. Evgeni Malkin leads the team in goals with 17 and has collected three of those in the past four games. The hot and cold Phil Kessel leads the team in shots and has netted two goals in his last four games. Speaking of shooting the puck, Patric Hornqvist has a goal and an assist in his last four games while ripping off 18 shots as he skates on the top power play as well. Kris Letang plays the point on the top power play unit and is always in play if you can afford him. With Pittsburgh being on the road you may want to target the line of Crosby, Chris Kunitz and Conor Sheary as it looks like Detroit head coach Jeff Blashill will want to shut down the top line of Malkin, Hornqvist and David Perron. This is all subjective of course as Blashill could easily try to shut down the Crosby line but I think the Malkin line has a bit more talent.
Jimmy Howard was pulled in his second consecutive game and that’s about all you need to know about how well the Red Wings have been playing lately. Their 3-4-3 record in the last ten games has them in fourth place in the Atlantic division with both Ottawa and Tampa Bay right on their heels. At the end of last game coach Blashill was mixing up the lines as well as the power play which saw Pavel Datsyuk connect with the man advantage early in the third period of a 4-1 loss at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets. Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall collected the assists, but still I’d stick with Datsyuk as he has been getting plenty of ice time lately to go along with his three goals and four assist in his last seven games. Dylan Larkin is scoreless in two games after missing the December 26th game against the Nashville Predators so you may want to wait on him until you see if he is back to 100%. Justin Abdelkader and Gustav Nyquist should round out the power play unit and both make decent plays considering the Wings have scored four power play goals in their last four games.
Elite Plays
PIT: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin
DET: Pavel Datsyuk
Secondary Plays
PIT: Kris Letang, Patric Hornqvist, Phil Kessel
DET: Niklas Kronwall, Gustav Nyquist, Justin Abdelkader, Mike Green
Minnesota Wild at St. Louis Blues – 08:00 PM EST
| Minnesota Wild | St. Louis Blues | ||||||||
 | Devan Dubnyk |  | |||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 19-10-6 | 23-12-4 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.71 | 2.40 | 20.20% | 77.60% | Team Stats | 2.49 | 2.36 | 20.40% | 86.40% |
If the Wild are going to pull this one out they are going to have to do it without Zach Parise as he has already been ruled out for this game. It’s tough to tell what line the Blues will try to shut down as Jason Zucker, Mikko Koivu and Charlie Coyle will skate on one line with Thomas Vanek, Mikael Granlund and Jason Pominville skating on the other. Without Parise out, Minnesota should be considered as a GPP play only and my guess would be to target the Koivu line although the Granlund line will probably be the top power play line with Koivu and defenseman Ryan Suter. Coyle has the hot hand however as he has 3 goals and an assist in his last four games.
The third line of Robby Fabbri, Jori Lehtera and Dmitri Jaskin accounted for two goals and three assists in the Blues 4-3 overtime win against the Nashville Predators Tuesday night. Now I wouldn’t suggest using the whole line tonight but Fabbri does have four goals I his last five games and makes a great one off if you aren’t interested in St Louis tonight. Vladimir Taresenko saw his eight game point streak snap two games ago and should be the top player in the game tonight as the Wild have given up 3 power play goals in their last five games. Tarasenko and Paul Stastny make a deadly pair tonight as the both skate top line and top power play unit for the Blues. If they are too expensive you can easily drop down to the second line and grab David Backes and Alexander Steen who also skate top power play. Steen is second on the team in points and has two goals in his last three games. Kevin Shattenkirk is the defenseman you want as he quarterbacks the power play and has 23 points in the 29 games he has played so far this season.
Elite Plays
MIN: None
STL: Vladimir Tarasenko, Alexander Steen
Secondary Plays
MIN: Mikko Koivu, Jason Pominville, Mikael Granlund, Thomas Vanek, Charlie Coyle
STL: Paul Stastny, David Backes, Kevin Shattenkirk, Robby Fabbri
Chicago Blackhawks at Colorado Avalanche – 08:00 PM EST
| Chicago Blackhawks | Colorado Avalanche | ||||||||
 | Corey Crawford |  | Semyon Varlamov | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 21-13-4 | 18-17-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.71 | 2.47 | 23.30% | 81.50% | Team Stats | 2.86 | 2.76 | 20.30% | 80.30% |
The Blackhawks wrap up their brief two game road trip with a trip to Colorado to take on the Avalanche. If you remember back on December 15th the Avalanche shut out the Blackhawks by a score of 3-0 and thus ending the 26 game scoring streak of Patrick Kane. Since the streak ended Kane has scored two goals to go with two assists in his last three road games, but I don’t have to tell you to play a guy who has 22 goals and 31 assists in the team’s first 38 games. Jonathan Toews and Andrew Shaw make intriguing plays tonight as their salaries are much less across the industry and should see a bit more room on the ice tonight against the Avalanche. Both players have tallied a goal and two assists in their last four games and skate on the second line. This is like the Pittsburgh dilemma in terms of when a team plays on the road as it is tough to figure out what line the home team will try to shut down. With the production of Kane so far this season I think Colorado will take the chance of letting the Toews line beat them and try to shut down Kane, Artemi Panarin and Artem Ansimov. Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are the choices on defense as both play the point on the top power play unit and are ranked 3rd and 5th on the team in scoring with 24 and 21 points respectively. The edge goes to Keith here however as he has played in only 28 games compared to Seabrook’s 38 games.
Colorado has been a tough team to figure out over the past few years and this season is certainly no different. They are 18-17-2 which lands them in sixth place in the Central division with 38 points which would have them in second place if they were in the Pacific division. Over the last ten games they have beat Nashville, Chicago and St Louis all on the road while dropping home games to Arizona and Toronto. Although they are 7-2-1 in their last ten games this is a perfect example of why they are hovering at the .500 mark. In an effort to get more consistency, Patrick Roy continues to shuffle his lines as Nathan MacKinnon is now centering Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla. This seems to have awoken the team but especially the aging Iginla as he has pointed in his last four games whereas he only had one goal to show for his efforts in the previous 14 games. Coming off a big game of a goal and two assists against the San Jose Sharks Carl Soderberg looked a bit more comfortable skating with Gabriel Landeskog and Blake Comeau. Matt Duchene skates with John Mitchell and on the surface most would take Duchene given the choice but it has been Mitchell who has been on a tear of late as he has a modest four game scoring streak going into tonight’s game. What all this means is that it is tougher to predict where the goals will come from with all the more talented players spread out over three lines. You could do worse than Erik Johnson or Tyson Barrie at the defense position as both play the point on the top power play unit as well as have a goal and three assists each in their last four games.
Elite Plays
CHI: Patrick Kane
COL: None
Secondary Plays
CHI: Artemi Panarin, Jonathan Toews, Andrew Shaw, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook
COL: Nathan MacKinnon, Jarome Iginla, Carl Soderberg, Gabriel Landeskog, Tyson Barrie, Erik Johnson