NHL Grind Down: Thursday, October 8th - Page Two
Pittsburgh Penguins at Dallas Stars – 08:30 PM EDT
| Pittsburgh Penguins | Dallas Stars | ||||||||
 | Marc-Andre Fleury |  | Kari Lehtonen | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 43-27 | 41-31 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.65 | 2.49 | 19.30% | 84.80% | Team Stats | 3.13 | 3.13 | 19.00% | 80.70% |
With Dallas being the fastest-paced team in the NHL last season (117.7 CP60), and offensive firepower all over the ice in this contest, it’s a good bet we’re going to see some offensive fireworks in this matchup. The Penguins, who were already loaded up front with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (among others), made a big splash this offseason and brought in another major offensive weapon in Phil Kessel. Those big three, along with Chris Kunitz, Patric Hornqvist, and KHL-transfer Sergei Plotnikov are all nice options tonight against this Dallas team allowed the fourth-most goals against per game last season (3.13 GA/G). The offensively-minded Kris Letang anchors the defensive unit for Pittsburgh and he’s an interesting option if you’re looking for some somewhat reasonably priced exposure to that deadly #1 power-play unit.
While even casual NHL fans know of Pittsburgh’s explosiveness, Dallas packs quite the punch up front as well. After acquiring Patrick Sharp during the offseason, the Stars’ top two forward lines look stacked. All reports are that Jamie Benn will hit the ice tonight, feeling as healthy as he can remember (for now), and when he joins Tyler Seguin on that top scoring line, red lights tend to follow. The second line, likely featuring Jason Spezza centering Patrick Sharp and the very talented Valeri Nichushkin, should be able to provide a consistent secondary scoring option for Lindy Ruff. On the blue-line, John Klingberg exploded onto the scene last season and never looked back. He racked up 40 points in 65 games and firmly grabbed the reigns of the point-spot on the team’s #1 power-play unit. He’s joined by Alex Goligoski as a solid offensive contributor from the Dallas defense. This team stumbled through a rough preseason and there are plenty of question marks surrounding Kari Lehtonen in net, but they should be able to create scoring chances against even the toughest competition.
Elite Plays
PIT: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malin, Patrick Hornqvist, Phil Kessel, Kris Letang
DAL: Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Jason Spezza, John Klingberg
Secondary Plays
PIT: Chris Kunitz, Segei Plotnikov, Olli Maata
DAL: Valeri Nichushkin, Patrick Sharp, Cody Eakin, Alex Goligoski
Minnesota Wild at Colorado Avalanche – 09:00 PM EDT
| Minnesota Wild | Colorado Avalanche | ||||||||
 | Devan Dubnyk |  | Semyon Varlamov | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 46-28 | 39-31 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.77 | 2.41 | 15.80% | 86.30% | Team Stats | 2.55 | 2.72 | 15.00% | 84.60% |
The Minnesota Wild dominated this Colorado team last season, taking four of their five meetings and outscoring them 14-4 in the process. Only the Buffalo Sabres rated out worse by Corsi standards than the Avalanche last season and Minnesota was able to utilize their puck control advantage to slow things down and frustrate the Colorado offense while methodically picking them apart when the opportunity presented itself. The Avalanche lost Ryan O’Reilly to free-agency, but were able to bring in several new faces to help ease the depth problem Patrick Roy was faced with last season. While I doubt this team is ready for a playoff push this season, Roy does have the luxury of having three, very talented young forwards at his disposal (MacKinnon, Landeskog and Duchene) but it’s still a bit unclear how he’ll be using them. The addition of Francois Beauchemin should help stabilize the defensive core, but aside from Erik Johnson and Tyson Barrie, there’s not a ton of fantasy upside here. Using last season as an indication, I’ll be avoiding the Avalanche today against a very stout defensive Minnesota Wild team.
The Wild aren’t the most exciting team on the ice this evening, but they should be able to control play in this one and have plenty of offensively intriguing talent on their top two forward lines. Zach Parise is the undoubted leader of this team, and with 62 points and 259 shots on goal last season (not to mention two goals and two assists in the five meetings against Colorado), he’s a terrific option on the wing tonight. The Avalanche may have owned one of the league’s top penalty kills last season, but targeting the other five forwards slate for power-play time makes sense considering the puck control problems Colorado suffered through last season. Anchoring the blue-line of their #1 power-play is Ryan Suter, who logs huge minutes each game, and has averaged 40 points over the past seven seasons. Between the pipes, Devan Dubnyk posted an absurd 27-9-2 record to go along with a 1.78 GAA and .935 SV% after being acquired by the Wild, but he wasn’t overly impressive during their brief playoff run, and there’s certainly some uncertainty that he can even come close to replicating last year’s numbers.
Elite Plays
MIN: Zach Parise, Ryan Suter
COL: None
Secondary Plays
MIN: Jason Pominville, Mikael Granlund, Thomas Vanek, Mikko Koivu, Devan Dubnyk
COL: Nathan Makinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Matt Duchene, Jarome Iginla, Erik Johnson