NHL Grind Down: Tuesday, December 8th - Page Two

by Sean Chard (maxdout) Last Updated 2015-12-08 20:59:06

Arizona Coyotes at St. Louis Blues – 08:00 PM EST

Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Arizona Coyotes					St. Louis Blues
			Mike Smith
			Record					Record
			13-13-1					15-8-4
Team Stats	2.74	3.15	15.50%	81.40%	Team Stats	2.48	2.44	17.10%	86.30%

St. Louis is the biggest favorite of the night and has an excellent matchup at home to the Arizona Coyotes. That said, they were in a similar situation on Saturday at home to Toronto and were upset 4-1. Despite that loss, as daily fantasy players we need to move past it and focus on tonight’s game, where the Coyotes are another weak opponent and have lost four straight games (and outscored 20-9).

For the Blues, Jake Allen is a top cash game goaltender in action tonight, despite his recent results. Many Blues players are good plays for DFS lineups tonight, including all players on their top two lines, and top defensemen. The Blues’ first line of Vladimir Tarasenko, Paul Stastny and Magnus Paajarvi (recently moved to this line) is one of the top lines overall tonight, and they will be a popular tournament stack. For cash game lineups, you may want one or more Blues players in your lineup.

The Coyotes have been struggling for wins but they are ranked eighth in the league for goal scoring and they’ve had several big scoring games. They are a possible tournament stack for that reason, with Oliver Ekman-Larsson as an upside play, and several forwards to put into a stack.

Elite Plays

ARI: None

STL: Jake Allen, Vladimir Tarasenko, Kevin Shattenkirk, Paul Stastny

Secondary Plays

ARI: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Mikkel Boedker, Max Domi, Martin Hanzal

STL: Alexander Steen, Magnus Paajarvi, Troy Brouwer, David Backes, Alex Pietrangelo

Carolina Hurricanes at Dallas Stars – 08:30 PM EST

Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Carolina Hurricanes					Dallas Stars
			Cam Ward					Kari Lehtonen
			Record					Record
			10-13-4					20-5-2
Team Stats	2.19	2.96	13.30%	76.10%	Team Stats	3.41	2.56	24.10%	82.50%

Dallas leads the league in goals per game (3.41) and their offense runs through the top line with the best duo in hockey with Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn, along with defenseman John Klingberg. Recently Valeri Nichushkin was added to the top line, and he contributed right away and is a great value play for tonight. These Stars players will be highly owned tonight in all DFS game formats. Additionally, the Dallas power play (ranked third overall) matches up against the Hurricanes’ 26th ranked penalty kill (and dead last on the road).

The Hurricanes are a difficult team to gauge this season. They rank among the leading teams in the puck possession and Corsi advanced statistics, yet they have a -22 goal differential. Carolina has seldom been a team to target in daily fantasy this season, and that is the case again tonight, except as a pure contrarian stack in tournaments for the Hurricane’s top line.

Elite Plays

CAR: None

DAL: Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, John Klingberg, Kari Lehtonen

Secondary Plays

CAR: Eric Staal, Justin Faulk, Elias Lindholm

DAL: Valeri Nichushkin, Jason Spezza, Alex Goligoski, Mattias Janmark

Nashville Predators at Chicago Blackhawks – 08:30 PM EST

Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Nashville Predators					Chicago Blackhawks
			Pekka Rinne					Corey Crawford
			Record					Record
			13-8-5					14-9-4
Team Stats	2.58	2.62	20.70%	75.00%	Team Stats	2.74	2.56	21.60%	80.30%

The Nashville versus Chicago matchup is a huge battle in the ultra-competitive Central division. Nashville is currently one point ahead of Chicago but they’ve been struggling, especially on the road (2-3-2 in past seven, averaging over three goals against per game in that stretch). The two teams play their first of five head-to-head games this season, with a second game in Nashville on Thursday.

Nashville’s top scorers lately have been their defensemen, team captain Shea Weber had a hat trick on Saturday (all goals on PP) and then followed it up with two assists last night. His blueline partner Roman Josi has points in four straight games, including back-to-back multi-point games. This pairing is on the ice for nearly half of all Nashville’s games, and they play a large amount of minutes on the team’s power play.

Patrick Kane is the hands down winner for league MVP at the moment, he’s way ahead of everyone in points (42) and currently has an incredible 22-game point streak. Duncan Keith has a modest six-game point streak of his own. The Blackhawks have the league’s sixth ranked power play, and match up against the Predators’ 29th ranked penalty kill.

Elite Plays

NSH: Shea Weber, Roman Josi

CHI: Patrick Kane, Artemi Panarin, Duncan Keith

Secondary Plays

NSH: Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson, Mike Ribeiro

CHI: Jonathan Toews, Artem Anisimov, Teuvo Teravainen, Corey Crawford

San Jose Sharks at Calgary Flames – 09:00 PM EST

Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
San Jose Sharks					Calgary Flames
			Martin Jones					Jonas Hiller
			Record					Record
			14-12-0					10-14-2
Team Stats	2.65	2.62	18.20%	80.70%	Team Stats	2.46	3.58	12.20%	72.00%

San Jose started the season strong, but have lost three straight games. Conversely, Calgary got off to a horrible start to the season but have turned things around a bit with two straight wins and signs of life from their offense. Johnny Gaudreau scored a hat trick (plus an assist) against Boston on Friday night, including the game winning goal in overtime.

With both teams having defensive struggles recently, and with the offensively firepower that they both have, this game is very much GPP relevant with a lot of different stack options for regular strength and power play units. As an example, San Jose defeated Calgary 5-2 just 10 days ago, with two power play goals and three goals from their third line. This could be a fun game to stack, and as we saw from Calgary last game, a single line can go off late in the night and help vault a daily fantasy player up the leaderboard in tournaments.