NHL Grind Down: Thursday, January 7th - Page Two
Toronto Maple Leafs at Los Angeles Kings – 10:30 PM EST
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Los Angeles Kings | ||||||||
 | Jonathan Bernier |  | Jonathan Quick | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 15-15-7 | 25-12-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.57 | 2.68 | 19.60% | 79.70% | Team Stats | 2.64 | 2.21 | 20.20% | 81.70% |
After a horrendous start the Toronto Maple Leafs are a respectable 13-7-2 in their last 22 games. With wins against Pittsburgh, St Louis and Anaheim the Leafs now get to face one of the best teams in the league in the form of the Los Angeles Kings. Although the Leafs have been scoring of late it is very tough to predict no more than three goals tonight especially with the Kings looking for a little revenge from the 5-0 drubbing the Leafs put on them back on December 19th in Toronto. James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak have been lighting it up lately with each of them having 13 points in the last 12 games. If you want to go a bit contraian, I would have no problem slugging in Leo Komarov with Nazem Kadri into some tournaments tonight. They both skate on the second line and should have a bit more room to skate than the top line will likely see. While neither skate on the top power play unit Komarov does have ten points in his last nine games while Kadri has four assists in his last three. On defense the Leafs are mediocre at best but Jake Gardiner does have an assist in three of the last four games.
The Kings look to get Jeff Carter back tonight and that would further solidify a team that has been on a roll of late. The Kings had won five straight games before their 4-1 loss on Monday night. Early reports have Anze Kopitar and Tyler Tiffoli staying together on the top line while carter moves to the second line to center Tanner Pearson and Marian Gaborik. I like the Kopitar/Toffoli combo here as they combined for eight goals and 11 assists over the last seven games. On defense it’s a toss-up between Drew Doughty and Jake Muzzin. Both play on the top power play unit but the slight edge goes to Doughty as he trumps Muzzin in points by a tally of 24 points to 19 through the first 39 games. Although the Kings have traded for Luke Schenn and Vinny Lecavalier, neither have much value for DFS purposes.
Elite Plays
TOR: None
LAK: Anze Kopitar, Tyler Toffoli
Secondary Plays
TOR: James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak, Nazem Kadri, Leo Komarov
LAK: Jeff Carter, Drew Doughty, Jake Muzzin, Milan Lucic, Marian Gaborik
Detroit Red Wings at San Jose Sharks – 10:30 PM EST
| Detroit Red Wings | San Jose Sharks | ||||||||
 | Jimmy Howard |  | Martin Jones | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 20-13-7 | 18-17-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.50 | 2.60 | 18.10% | 79.40% | Team Stats | 2.70 | 2.86 | 21.80% | 81.00% |
Detroit continues their six game road trip with a stop in San Jose tonight. They beat both the Buffalo Sabres and the New Jersey Devils before travelling across the country for tonight’s tilt against the Sharks. The Red Wings have only scored 12 goals in their last six games which is why it makes it tough to roster their top line on the road against a very tough defensive team. Henrik Zetterberg, Gustav Nyquist and Justin Abdelkader have only hit the scoresheet twice each in Detroit’s last six games. Pavel Datsyuk and Dylan Larkin can be considered one offs tonight as they play the second and third lines respectively. Datsuk plays on the top power play line and has two goals and three assists in his last seven games while Larkin plays on the second power play unit and has accumulated three goals to go along with two assists in his last seven games. Niklas Kronwall is the defensive choice here but if you look hard enough there are better plays out there tonight.
It is status quo for tonight when we talk about the San Jose Sharks. The players on the power play are the targets tonight as that unit has scored ten times in the last seven games. The Red Wings should help the cause as they have been a bit accommodating when they kill penalties by virtue of letting the opposing teams score power play goals in four of the last five games. Joe Pavelski leads the charge as he not only leads the team in points but has scored seven goals to go along with five assists in his last eight games. Joe Thornton is in the middle of a seven game scoring streak making him a solid choice for your lineups tonight. Defenseman Brent Burns makes for a good play if you can afford as he has scored six goals and five assists in his las six games. Patrick Marleau is stepping it up a bit too by virtue of grabbing four points in his last three games. Those four are the easy ones, now we get to the hard part. Joel Ward has been getting a lot of the power play minutes since the injury to Logan Couture but has been hit or miss at best as he has hit the scoresheet just three times in the last nine games. Couture has returned from injury and it’s only a matter of time before he is inserted back on the top power play line. Melker Karlsson is skating on the top line with Thornton and Pavelski but let others make the mistake of rostering him as he has just one goal in his last 17 games. This doesn’t mean he can’t score with all that talent oozing around him, all it means is that the safer plays are the more seasoned guys that play on the top power play unit.
Elite Plays
DET: None
SJ: Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns
Secondary Plays
DET: Dylan Larkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Justin Abdelkader, Niklas Kronwall
SJ: Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture