NHL Grind Down: Thursday, February 11th
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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Los Angeles Kings at New York Islanders – 07:00 PM EST
| Los Angeles Kings | New York Islanders | ||||||||
 | Jonathan Quick |  | Jaroslav Halak | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 32-17-3 | 28-18-6 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.77 | 2.29 | 23.40% | 82.40% | Team Stats | 2.79 | 2.48 | 19.20% | 86.80% |
The Kings started their seven-game road trip off on the right foot Tuesday night by beating the Boston Bruins by a score of 9-2. Now I wouldn’t expect the Kings to reel off nine goals on a nightly basis but what they have been working is getting three good lines together by evidence of veterans Marian Gaborik and Vincent Lecavalier playing on the team’s third line. The power play is hitting on all cylinders by connecting for seven goals in the last three games. The second line that features Jeff Carter and Tyler Toffoli should be the line to target here as they both play on the top power play unit and will more than likely have some room to maneuver on the ice with the Islanders shut down line trying to shut down Kopitar and company. Speaking of Anze Kopitar, he is in play as well as he collected seven assists in the last five games with four of them coming with the man advantage. Jake Muzzin and Drew Doughty are the choices on defense and both have at least five points in their last five games.
Backed by their 17-8-3 record at home the New York Islanders are right in the middle of the Eastern conference playoff race. A win tonight would certainly help from falling any lower than 7th and could even catapult them up to as high as fourth place as four teams are tied with 62 points. John Tavares is the play if you can afford as he is the centerpiece of the top line as well as the team’s top power play unit. It doesn’t hurt that he has also tallied seven points in his last five games. Line mates Ryan Strome and Mikhail Grabovski have each registered three points in their last five games and can be used to pair with Tavares. Kyle Okopso and Frans Nielsen skate with Tavares on the top power play unit but are assigned second line duties which helps the Islanders become a more well balanced team. Okposo is the team leader in points and has seven points in the last five games just like Tavares. Nick Leddy is the choice on defense and gets the point on the power play. Leddy also has five assists in his last five games.
Elite Plays
LAK: Anze Kopitar
NYI: John Tavares, Kyle Okposo
Secondary Plays
LAK: Tyler Toffoli, Jeff Carter, Jake Muzzin, Drew Doughty, Dustin Brown
NYI: Frans Nielsen, Nick Leddy, Anders Lee
Anaheim Ducks at Columbus Blue Jackets – 07:00 PM EST
| Anaheim Ducks | Columbus Blue Jackets | ||||||||
 | John Gibson |  | Joonas Korpisalo | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 26-19-7 | 21-28-6 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.25 | 2.35 | 18.10% | 89.00% | Team Stats | 2.49 | 3.09 | 17.60% | 79.80% |
Anaheim comes into this one winning nine of their last 11 games and have firmly put themselves in position to make the playoffs after losing to the Blackhawks in the conference finals a year ago. Columbus is one of the worst teams in the league and leading the league goals against with 173 pucks going behind them so far this season. Furthermore their penalty kill has been subpar of late by virtue of giving up six goals in the last six games of that variety. Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry lead the team in points and have a scored a combined 12 points over the last five games. Rickard Rakell skates with Perry on the team’s second line as well as the top power play unit and has three goals to go along with two assists in his last five games. Patrick Maroon has been placed with Perry and Rakell and seems to be responding well as he also has five pints in his last five games. While only tallying two assist in the last five games Sami Vatanen is a decent choice on the blue line as he continues to shoot the puck from the point. Vatanen has four shots in each of his last two games so tonight may be the night he finally finds the back of the net against a bad Columbus team.
The Blue Jackets have only scored more than three goals just twice in their last 15 games and that happened to come in a home and home series with Montreal. Any team that has 33 year old Scott Hartnell leading their team in scoring is in serious trouble. Hartsy skates on the top line and does have two goals to go along with an assist in his last five games, but still that’s not enough to trust him in cash games tonight. Brandon Dubinsky and Cam Atkinson skate on the second line and have been the most productive by combining for nine points over the last five games. Outside of that, not much is going on with the Columbus offense. Even defensemen Jack Johnson and Seth Jones only have two assists between them with both belonging to Jones. With nine games on the slate, I think there are many other options to choose from for your lineups tonight.
Elite Plays
ANA: Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry
CBJ: None
Secondary Plays
ANA: Rickard Rakell, Sami Vatanen, Patrick Maroon
CBJ: Scott Hartnell, Brandon Dubinsky, Cam Atkinson
Buffalo Sabres at Philadelphia Flyers – 07:00 PM EST
| Buffalo Sabres | Philadelphia Flyers | ||||||||
 | Robin Lehner |  | Steve Mason | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 21-27-6 | 23-20-9 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.30 | 2.70 | 21.10% | 81.20% | Team Stats | 2.35 | 2.63 | 18.00% | 78.70% |
After three straight losses head coach Dan Bylsma continues to shuffle up the lines in search for some sort of continuity. The power play consists of players from three separate lines to go along with defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen. Ryan O’Reilly leads the team in scoring with 17 goals and 28 assists, both tops on the team. He has five assists in his last five games and makes a decent play against the ailing, tired Flyers. Sam Reinhart and Jack Eichel also get to see extra time on the team’s top power play unit and have been producing of late with Reinhart snaring four goals and Eichel tallying two goals and two assists over the last five games. Evander Kane skates with Reinhart on the third line and see time on the team’s second power play unit which would make him a GPP option for tonight as he has scored three goals in the last five games. Again, Bylsma is trying anything he can to get his team to be more than a one line threat.
The Flyers are in a bit of trouble as not only is top shut down man Sean Couturier out for the better part of a month, tonight will be their sixth games in ten days. Steve Mason looked a bit tired the other night at home against Anaheim in a 4-1 loss but should be back in between the pipes tonight as back up Michal Neuvirth is almost ready to come back from injury. The Flyers don’t have many secondary scorers so sticking with the top line at home is the way to go tonight. Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds and Jakub Voracek are the main targets as they skate on both the top line and top power play unit. To make matters better defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere mans the point on the power play and all four players have each found the scoresheet six times in the past five games. Brayden Schenn completes the top power play unit from the second line and makes a nice one-off play.
Elite Plays
BUF: None
PHL: Claude Giroux
Secondary Plays
BUF: Ryan O’Reilly, Rasmus Ristolainen, Jack Eichel, Jamie McGinn, Evander Kane, Sam Reinhart
PHL: Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, Shayne Gostisbehere
Colorado Avalanche at Ottawa Senators – 07:30 PM EST
| Colorado Avalanche | Ottawa Senators | ||||||||
 | Semyon Varlamov |  | Craig Anderson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 27-25-4 | 25-23-6 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.66 | 2.77 | 19.00% | 79.50% | Team Stats | 2.83 | 3.07 | 17.60% | 74.60% |
Colorado limps into this one with just one win in their last six games. Their 58 points however are good enough to claim the eighth spot in the Western conference but obviously need to get back on track to stay in the playoff hunt. There’s a few ways to go here against an Ottawa team that lost by a score of 3-1 in Detroit last night. You can go with Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon from the top line or drop down to the second line and go with Gabriel Landeskog, Carl Soderberg and Blake Comeau. Soderberg has the hot hand as he has involved in seven of the teams last 15 goals. Erik Johnson has caught fire on the point as he has tallied four assists in the last six games while Tyson Barrie has just three assist over the last eight games. As is the case with slumping teams it may be wise to just use them as GPP plays until they show some signs of consistency.
After getting boat raced in back to back games against Pittsburgh and Edmonton the senators decided to call a team meeting. It seemed to work for two games as they beat both Tampa Bay and Toronto convincingly but reverted back to their old ways by losing 3-1 to Detroit last night. Tonight will mark the ninth time that Ottawa will be playing on consecutive days and things do not look good as they have only won once in their first eight tries. Erik Karlsson is as steady as the come as he not only leads the team in scoring but has 14 points in his last ten games. Bobby Ryan and Zack Smith play on the top power play unit with Karlsson, Kyle Turris and the newly acquired Dion Phaneuf. Ryan and Smith are the plays here as Ryan has nine points in his last ten games while Smith has tallied three goals to go along with three assist in his last five games. Smith skates on the second line with Mark Stone and Jean-Gabriel Pageau who have been hot of late as well and make for an excellent GPP play tonight. Both Pageau and Stone have combined for seven goals and seven assists over the last five games. Again, the only hesitation here is the fact that Ottawa is not very good on the second half of a back-to-back situation.
Elite Plays
COL: None
OTT: Erik Karlsson
h3. Secondary Plays
COL: Gabriel Landeskog, Carl Soderberg, Blake Comeau, Matt Duchene, Nathan Mackinnon, Erik Johnson
OTT: Bobby Ryan, Mike Hoffman, Mark Stone, Zack Smith, Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Boston Bruins at Winnipeg Jets – 08:00 PM EST
| Boston Bruins | Winnipeg Jets | ||||||||
 | Tuukka Rask |  | Connor Hellebuyck | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 28-19-6 | 24-26-3 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.89 | 2.75 | 24.30% | 83.20% | Team Stats | 2.58 | 2.85 | 16.60% | 76.90% |
After the 9-2 beat down at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night the Boston Bruins will look to get back on track as they start a six game road trip in Winnipeg tonight. As always when the Bruins play a bad game head coach Claude Julien goes into full panic mode and shuffles the lines. The only one still intact is the top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Mike Connolly. Matt Beleskey is now with David Krejci and David Pastrnak while Loui Eriksson, Ryan Spooner and Jimmy Haynes now make up the team’s third line. It’s anyone’s guess as to whether or not the power play lines stay together but one can assume that Torey Krug will remain on the point with the man advantage. With all these changes it is probably best to pick a line and play the best pairs from that line. For instance pair Marchand with Bergeron, Beleskey with Krejci and Eriksson with Spooner. The Bruins should score some goals tonight especially after that debacle the other night but trying to pick which line is going to score is almost impossible.
Winnipeg is another team that is trying to find their identity. Their 51 points has them tied for 12th in the 14 team Western conference and if things don’t turn around quickly, they could be golfing by mid-April. The problem is, as with most teams that struggle, is lack of depth on the top two lines. The power play has been a bright spot recently as the Jets have scored five goals in the last six games with the man advantage. Nikolaj Ehlers leads the way with three goals and two assists over the last five games with Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele and defenseman Dustin Byfuglien right behind him with four points over the same time frame. Tyler Myers rounds out the power play unit but has been struggling of late by only finding the scoresheet once in the last 12 games. There’s no need to look elsewhere as the rest of this group needs to pick up the slack before we consider them in play in any kind of format.
Elite Plays
BOS: None
WIN: None
Secondary Plays
BOS: Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Ryan Spooner, Loui Eriksson, Torey Krug
WIN: Blake Wheeler, Nikolaj Ehlers, Mark Scheifele, Dustin Byfuglien