NHL Grind Down: Tuesday, February 28th - Page Three
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Detroit Red Wings at Vancouver Canucks
| Detroit Red Wings | Vancouver Canucks | ||||||||
 | Petr Mrazek |  | Ryan Miller | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 24-26-10 | 26-29-6 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.38 | 2.97 | 12.30% | 81.00% | Team Stats | 2.28 | 2.85 | 14.40% | 77.80% |
What we have here is two teams that are looking to the future as they are all but out of the picture for this season’s end of the season tournament. Detroit has kept their top line of Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Tatar and Anthony Mantha together for quite a long time and will look to be the tournament play here tonight. Zetterberg leads the team with 40 points while Mantha has been enjoying a decent rookie season by collecting 13 goals and 18 assists in 45 games. Thomas Vanek leads the team in goals with 15 from the second line as he skates with Andreas Anathasiou and Frans Nielsen. This line should have an easier time of it tonight as there is no diubt that Vancouver will put their best defensive line against the Zetterberg line. Niklas Kronwall gets the call to quarterback the top power play unit but for my money I think I’d rather roster Mike Green. Kronwall has just seven points in the 36 games he has appeared in while Green’s 26 points leads the Detroit defensemen in scoring. When two teams this bad go at it late in the season anything can happen and usually does.
Vancouver is another bad team that is probably scheduling their tee times for mid-April. Their 26-29-6 record has them out of the playoff picture by nine points and more than likely will not be able to make up enough ground before the end of the season. Daniel Sedin, Markus Granlund and Henrik Sedin skate on the team’s top line while Bo Horvat, Loui Eriksson and Jannik Hansen skate on the team’s second line. Horvat makes for a decent one-off tournament play here as he leads the team with 18 goals and 40 points. Meanwhile the Sedin brothers look like time is catching up with them as Henrik has managed 37 points with Daniel right behind him with 35. Besides these three players there is no Vancouver player with over 27 points so far this season. To give you a point of reference, 27 points is good enough to be tied for 194th best in the league. Troy Stecher would seem to be the defensive play based on opportunity but with his 18 points leading all Vancouver defensemen in scoring it’s probably best that we pass here.
Elite Plays
DET: Henrik Zetterberg
VAN: Bo Horvat
Secondary Plays
DET: Anthony Mantha, Thomas Vanek, Mike Green, Frans Nielsen
VAN: Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin
Toronto Maple Leafs at San Jose Sharks
| Toronto Maple Leafs | San Jose Sharks | ||||||||
 | Frederik Andersen |  | Martin Jones | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 28-20-13 | 36-18-7 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.08 | 2.87 | 22.80% | 83.30% | Team Stats | 2.75 | 2.36 | 17.60% | 81.80% |
The Maple Leafs dropped two tough games to the New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens before the embarked on their current three game west coast road trip. They were able to take each of those teams into overtime which earned them a point in each game which has put their seasonal total at 69 points. This is good enough to hold on to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and will surely need to keep getting points anyway they can to stave off the New York Islanders who are on the outside looking in just one point away. Auston Matthews has notched 10 of his team leading 54 points over the last nine games and should be considered as a decent one-off play here tonight. Yes, the kid is that good and pretty much unstoppable. Zach Hyman and William Nylander skate with him at even strength while Nazem Kadri skates on the third line with Leo Komarov and Connor Brown. Kadri has also put up some good numbers this year as his 10 power play goals is tops on the team. Mitchell Marner is back on the top line skating with Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk. The Sharks will probably put their best defensive unit out against this line but it may not matter as they also double as the team’s top power play unit. Both Marner and van Riemsdyk have each hit the 47 point mark for the season although it took Marner 56 games to reach 48 points while van Riemsdyk’s 61 games has yielded 19 goals and 28 assists so far this season. Defenseman Jake Gardiner is the clear cut choice from the back line as he has registered seven of his 32 points over the last nine games while Nikita Zaitsev has cooled off a bit by collecting three assists over that same time frame. The Maple Leafs should get on the board tonight but then again, so should the Sharks.
San Jose leads the Pacific Division with 70 points and looks to extend their five point lead over both Anaheim and Edmonton tonight. For the Sharks it’s pretty cut and dried. Defenseman Brent Burns is the elite option of the night from the back line as he sits in third place in overall scoring with 27 goals and 38 assists so far this season. The only thing getting in the way would be his high salary but as I always say, there are more cheap forwards than there are defensemen. Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton and Kevin Labanc skate on the top line and should be the line to target here. We know Pavelski and Thornton grab a lot of their points when the team has the extra attacker but Lebanc hasn’t done too bad with his four assists in the last six games. Pavelski has 53 points in 61 games which is a stat that may get overlooked considering the year that Burns is having. Patrick Marleau and Logan Couture join Pavelski, Thornton and Burns on the team’s top power play unit while skating with Mikkel Boedker at even strength. Boedker has squandered a lot of chances playing with some real talent as he has managed just 20 points in the 60 games he has played in. It’s probably best to stick with the top five here for cash games and move on.
Elite Plays
TOR: Auston Matthews
SJ: Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski
Secondary Plays
TOR: Mitchell Marner, James van Riemsdyk, Nazem Kadri, Jake Gardiner
SJ: Logan Couture, Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton