NHL Grind Down: Thursday February 4th
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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Boston Bruins at Buffalo Sabres – 07:00 PM EST
| Boston Bruins | Buffalo Sabres | ||||||||
 | Tuukka Rask |  | Robin Lehner | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 26-18-5 | 20-26-4 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.94 | 2.65 | 25.90% | 84.40% | Team Stats | 2.26 | 2.66 | 20.90% | 80.60% |
After an embarrassing 4-3 home loss to Toronto, the Boston Bruins will travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres in the first game of their home and home series. Buffalo played in Montreal last night so this may be a good time for the Bruins to start to piece things back together. Brad Marchand has the hot hand as he has tallied five goals in his last five games, including two the other night against the Maple Leafs. Patrice Bergeron leads the team with 44 points and should be paired with Marchand as they both skate on the team’s top line. David Krejci and Loui Eriksson could make better plays here however as they both skate on the second line but get the first shot on Boston’s top power play unit. Krecji has the hot hand as he puts his four game scoring streak on the line in this one. Ryan Spooner makes a good one-off play here as he skates on the third line but gets the extra minutes as the Bruins use players from their top three lines to create the top power play unit. Torey Krug is the play at the point as he not only mans the power play point, he also leads the team with 14 shots in their last three games. Zdeno Chara would be the other defensive choice as he has tallied three points in his last three games.
The Buffalo Sabres 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens last night propelled them out of the basement in the Atlantic division. Although they once again look like they won’t make the playoffs, they have made a marked improvement over last year. With the Sabres playing last night one might be inclined to think they might be a little tired, but with the team having a few days off, that shouldn’t be a problem. The power play has produced six goals in the last seven games and with the Bruins giving up a short-handed goal in each of their last three games this would be a good place to start. After a brief scoring drought it looks like Jack Eichel has made the necessary adjustments to get back on track as not only is he on the team’s top power play unit, he has scored three goals to go along with five assists in his last six games. Team scoring leader Ryan O’Reilly and Jamie McGinn also skate with Eichel on the power play unit so pairing O’Reilly with Eichel does make sense in a GPP. Buffalo is another team that uses all three lines to form their top power play unit which would make Evander Kane and defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen the last two players to consider if you want to get some exposure to Buffalo in tonight’s contests.
Elite Plays
BOS: Torey Krug
BUF: None
Secondary Plays
BOS: David Krejci, Loui Eriksson, Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, Ryan Spooner
BUF: Jack Eichel, Ryan O’Reilly, Rasmus Ristolainen, Evander Kane
New York Islanders at Washington Capitals – 07:00 PM EST
| New York Islanders | Washington Capitals | ||||||||
 | Jaroslav Halak |  | Braden Holtby | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 25-16-6 | 35-8-3 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.70 | 2.45 | 17.50% | 87.20% | Team Stats | 3.33 | 2.15 | 27.10% | 84.90% |
Slowly but surely it looks like the New York Islanders are starting to get back to the team that everyone thought they would be at the end of last year. Tonight is a big test as they travel to take on Alex Ovechkin and the division leading Washington Capitals. New York has been getting scoring from their top two lines recently and that can only bode well for them moving forward. The top line features John Tavares and Mikhail Grabovski who have each scored at least two goals and assisted on two others in the last five games. Tavares is obviously the play here as he is not only tied for the team lead with 36 points, he anchors the team’s top power play unit. Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen skate on the second line but get the top power play minutes along with third liner Anders Lee and defenseman Nick Leddy. All four of these players have at least four points in their last five games with the exception of Lee who only has a goal over that same five game time period. It will be an uphill battle tonight however as the Capitals not only have given up the least amount of goals in the league with 109 of them, they also are 18-4-2 on home ice.
Alex Ovechkin returns to the ice tonight after serving his one game suspension for missing the All-Star game. Washington has been playing a better brand of hockey this season but it was obvious they missed their superstar as they went 0-8 on the power play Tuesday night in a 5-2 loss to the Florida Panthers. Evgeny Kuznetsov has been on fire of late as he not only leads the team in scoring he has tallied two goals to go along with 12 assists in his last seven games which makes him a fine play if you can afford him. Ovechkin will join his line mates T.J. Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom on not only the team’s top line, but on the power play unit as well. Matt Niskanen has stayed on the top power play unit despite the return of John Carlson and has done ok by evidence of grabbing three points over the last four games. All players listed are decent cash game plays but if you want to go more contrarian take a look at Kuznetsov’s line mate in Andre Burakovsky. He has flourished since being brough up into the top six and has scored four goals to go with two assists in the last five games making him a nice under the radar play tonight.
Elite Plays
NYI: John Tavares
WAS: Evgeny Kuznetsov, Alexander Ovechkin
Secondary Plays
NYI: Kyle Okposo, Frans Nielsen, Nick Leddy, Mikhail Grabovski
WAS: T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom, Matt Niskanen, Andre Burakovsky
Minnesota Wild at New York Rangers – 07:00 PM EST
| Minnesota Wild | New York Rangers | ||||||||
 | Devan Dubnyk |  | Henrik Lundqvist | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 23-17-9 | 27-17-5 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.47 | 2.31 | 17.10% | 80.00% | Team Stats | 2.86 | 2.59 | 17.50% | 79.50% |
Thanks to a 2-7-1 record in their last ten games the Minnesota Wild are slowly losing grip of any hopes they may have had of making the playoffs. The top line of Zach Parise, Jason Pominville and Mikael Granlund has produced just two goals in the last five games so it’s off to the second line we go if we want to mix in some Wild players into our lineups tonight. We can start with Charlie Coyle who is in the middle of one of his patented scoring streaks by evidence of grabbing a goal in each of his last four games. Nino Niederreiter is right there with him with a goal and three assists in his last five games making this duo an easy pair to target for GPP contests. Mikko Koivu centers both Coyle and Niederreiter but only has two assists in his last five games despite playing on the team’s top power play unit with Parise and company. Ryan Suter remains the choice on defense by being second on the team in scoring and manning the point on the team’s top power play unit. Because the Wild have only scored more than two goals three times in the last ten games it is awfully difficult to take any of their players in anything but a GPP.
The Rangers come into this one with a 18-5-2 record on home ice which has helped them stay afloat in the suddenly tight Metropolitan division. Rick Nash is slated to sit out yet another game which makes the top line of Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan and Mats Zuccarello a viable option as they all get the top power play minutes as well. Derick Brassard heads up the second line which has found some chemistry in the past few games as he has scored two goals to go along with four assists in the last two games. Meanwhile line mate J.T. Miller has netted six goals in his last five games. Defenseman Keith Yandle has made his way back to the team’s top power play unit and has scored points in four of his last five games. Minnesota is usually a good defensive team but they have given up ten goals in their last three games, which would seem to indicate that maybe the Rangers would make a nice GPP play tonight.
Elite Plays
MIN: None
NYR: None
Secondary Plays
MIN: Zach Parise, Nino Niederreiter, Charlie Coyle, Ryan Suter
NYR: Derek Stepan, Mats Zuccarello, J.T. Miller, Derick Brassard, Keith Yandle
Detroit Red Wings at Florida Panthers – 07:30 PM EST
| Detroit Red Wings | Florida Panthers | ||||||||
 | Petr Mrazek |  | Roberto Luongo | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 25-16-8 | 29-15-5 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.47 | 2.47 | 17.60% | 80.90% | Team Stats | 2.65 | 2.18 | 16.20% | 83.10% |
After trying to knock off the second place team in the Atlantic division last night, the third place Red Wings must settle for trying to take down the division leaders, the Florida Panthers. This will be a good test for Detroit to see exactly what they have as the teams come down the stretch in the second half. Will they be a team that can rise up or just fall back into being another non-relevant playoff team? Detroit seems to be another team that relies on the goaltender more than their scoring prowess and that’s alright, but it doesn’t make too much sense to be using them on a night in and night out basis for DFS. Henrik Zetterberg and Dylan Larkin lead the team with 33 points through the first 50 games but neither has done too much lately as evidence by combining for only seven points over the last eight games. Pavel Datsyuk is the big name here but even the aging superstar has fallen off a bit this season by compiling just 24 points in the 35 games he has played. Tomas Tatar skates on the third line but gets to see some time on the power play unit. He has been the most consistent of the Detroit scorers by lighting the lamp twice and assisting on two other goals in the last nine games and could possibly be your one-off here. These are not great numbers in general so maybe it’s best to stay away from this game tonight.
Some thought after losing the last four games, the magic that the Florida Panthers seemed to have to build a 12 game winning streak, was slowly dissipating. With impressive wins over Chicago, Tampa Bay and Washington it would appear that everything is just fine in South Florida. A lot of this can not only be attributed to good goaltending but the power play as well. The Panthers have scored five times in the last three games with the man advantage with Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov leading the charge with two goals and three assists each in the last four games. Reilly Smith, Nick Bjugstad and defenseman Aaron Ekblad round out the team’s top power play unit and for those of you who look at recent performance, which you should, take a look at both Smith and Bjugstad. Smith has tallied four goals and two assists in the last five games while Bjugstad seems to be coming back to form from his injury with two goals and two assists in his last three games. Jaromir Jagr left the last game with an apparent injury but is good to go for tonight. He did take a shift on the team’s second power play unit before leaving but there is always that possibility that he takes his former position with line mates Barkov and Huberdeau back on the top unit. If this happens it makes Bjugstad and Smith a little less attractive as they may put Dmitri Kulikov on the point with Ekblad. It didn’t take long for the Panthers to get back on track so I sense that you will find them in a lot of cash game action tonight.
Elite Plays
DET: None
FLA: None
Secondary Plays
DET: Henrik Zetterberg, Dylan Larkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Tatar, Mike Green
FLA: Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, Reilly Smith, Aaron Ekblad, Jaromir Jagr
Edmonton Oilers at Ottawa Senators – 07:30 PM EST
| Edmonton Oilers | Ottawa Senators | ||||||||
 | Cam Talbot |  | Craig Anderson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 19-26-5 | 23-21-6 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.36 | 2.96 | 16.60% | 80.80% | Team Stats | 2.70 | 3.02 | 17.90% | 75.30% |
This game should be a fun one to watch as both teams cannot seem to keep the puck out of their own net. Edmonton has given up 150 goals, which is good for fourth most in the league while the Ottawa Senators is second by virtue of giving up 161 goals through 51 games. The Oilers broke their three game losing streak by disposing of the Columbus Blue Jackets by a score of 5-1 at home on Tuesday night. Connor McDavid returned after being out for three months with an injury to grab a goal and assist on two others in the lopsided win. This will no doubt push his ownership numbers up a bit as well as line mates Jordan Eberle and Benoit Pouliot who each had a goal and an assist on Tuesday night. The top line should be in play tonight which features team scoring leaders Taylor Hall and Leon Draisaitl. They both are almost averaging a point a game with Hall grabbing 49 points in 51 games while Draisaitl has found the scoresheet 38 times in the 41 games he has played in. Nail Yakupov and Andrej Sekera man the points on the power play against a team that has given up four goals over the last four games while being a man down. With Ottawa giving up three goals or more in eight of their last nine games it is probably safe to say that the Oilers will score a few tonight.
The Senators are slowly making their way down the Atlantic conference ladder as their 52 points are now tied for fifth place with the Montreal Canadiens. The saving grace here is their play at home is decent in which they have won half of their 24 games and lost in overtime in another four. Defenseman Erik Karlsson leads the team with 53 points in 51 games while Bobby Ryan is second on the team, a good ten points behind. Mika Zibanejad teams up with Ryan on the top line as well as the first unit of the team’s power play. Zibanejad has a goal and three assists over the last five games while line mate and team leader in goals, Mike Hoffman, has chipped in with two goals and two assists in that same time frame. Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Mark Stone skate on the second line but get their opportunities as part of the team’s top power play line. They both combined for five points in Ottawa’s 6-5 loss in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.
Elite Plays
EDM: Taylor Hall
OTT: Erik Karlsson
Secondary Plays
EDM: Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, Jordan Eberle, Benoit Pouliot, Andrej Sekera
OTT: Bobby Ryan, Mika Zibanejad, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman