NHL Grind Down: Tuesday, February 2nd - Page Three
Columbus Blue Jackets at Edmonton Oilers – 09:00 PM EST
| Columbus Blue Jackets | Edmonton Oilers | ||||||||
 | Joonas Korpisalo |  | Cam Talbot | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 19-27-5 | 19-26-5 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.57 | 3.16 | 17.90% | 81.00% | Team Stats | 2.36 | 2.96 | 16.60% | 80.80% |
In a battle between two teams currently sitting in the cellar of their respective conferences, the Blue Jackets will invade the Rexall Place tonight in Edmonton. With that said, Columbus picked up a pair of 5-2 victories over the Montreal Canadiens in their home-and-home series to hit the break with a bit of momentum and did pick up a pair of shootout victories over the Oilers in their two meetings last season. The Blue Jackets may be a bit of a disaster in their defensive end, but John Tortorella does have three very capable scoring lines at his disposal. Brandon Saad represented the team in Nashville over the weekend and leads them with in both goals (19) and points (35) this season. He’s joined by Scott Hartnell and Alexander Wennberg on the top forward line. Brandon Dubinsky tallied two goals and four assists in the last four games before the break and has taken over as the center on the Blue Jackets’ top power-play unit. On defense, the newly acquired Seth Jones has already picked up six assists in just ten games in a Columbus uniform while logging at least 22 minutes of ice-time in each game. He’s seeing plenty of run with the man advantage and is still very reasonably priced across the industry.
It’s never easy to trust the Edmonton Oilers in cash games, but if there’s ever the time it’s a home matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Not only is Columbus allowing a league worst 3.16 goals against per game this season but they also happen to be the most penalized team in the NHL. To make things even better, reports leaking from the Edmonton camp are hinting that phenom Connor McDavid will return to action tonight after missing three months with a shoulder injury. McDavid’s presence in the lineup gives Todd McLellan two extremely talented forward lines to throw at the Blue Jackets. McDavid will likely center Jordan Eberle and Benoit Pouliot on one line, leaving leading scorer Taylor Hall to headline the top line with Leon Draisaitl and Teddy Purcell. All six players see a healthy dose of playing time with the man advantage and look like terrific options tonight in all formats. We haven’t seen much offensive production from the Edmonton blue-line this season, but Justin Schultz showed signs of life prior to the break; scoring a pair of goals and adding three assists over his last nine games.
Columbus Blue Jackets
CF%: 47.7, CP60: 106.6, 5×5 Differential: -13
Elite Options: Brandon Saad, Scott Hartnell, Brandon Dubinsky, Seth Jones
Secondary Options: Boone Jenner, Cam Atkinson, Alexander Wennberg, Ryan Murray, Jack Johnson
Edmonton Oilers
CF%: 49, CP60: 109.4, 5×5 Differential: -24
Elite Options: Taylor Hall, Connor McDavid (if healthy), Leon Draisaitl
Secondary Options: Jordan Eberle, Benoit Pouliot, Teddy Purcell, Justin Schultz, Andrej Sekera
San Jose Sharks at Anaheim Ducks – 10:00 PM EST
| San Jose Sharks | Anaheim Ducks | ||||||||
 | Martin Jones |  | John Gibson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 26-18-4 | 22-18-7 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.92 | 2.67 | 22.50% | 79.30% | Team Stats | 2.11 | 2.32 | 18.90% | 89.60% |
The Pacific Division (Los Angeles aside) was a dumpster fire for most of the first half, but these two potential power-houses have turned things around lately and look poised to make some noise come playoff time. San Jose has posted an 8-0-2 record over their last ten games while averaging 3.90 goals per game during that stretch. However, Anaheim has defeated the Sharks in two of their three meetings this season and, perhaps more importantly, we’ve only seen four total goal scored in those three games. Joe Pavelski leads the team with 49 points in 48 games and thrives alongside Joe Thonton (and Tomas Hertl) on the Sharks very dangerous top forward line. “Super” Joe Thornton has picked up points in ten straight games (18 of his last 19) and is severely underpriced on a few sites (ie; FanDuel). Patrick Marleau leads the very capable secondary scoring line with Joel Ward and Matthew Nieto and happens to own San Jose’s only two goals against the Ducks this season. Brent Burns has posted 43 points in 48 games this season from the blue-line and his 205 SOG trails only Alex Ovechkin. While he’s a fine defensive option if you can afford him, he has been held off the scoresheet in each of the first three games against Anaheim and the Ducks do happen to own the league’s #1 penalty kill.
The Ducks won’t enter the playoffs as the #1 seed in the Western Conference like last season, but they’ve finally gained some traction after a sluggish start to the season and own a 10-3-1 record over their last 14 games. While their 2.11 goals per game is easily the worst in the NHL this season, they’re definitely starting to heat up. In an effort to create a very balanced scoring attack, Bruce Boudreau has split up the tandem of Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry at even strength in favor of three very capable scoring lines. While Perry and Getzlaf still join forces on the #1 power-play unit and are the top options, this has also opened the door for newcomer David Perron to play alongside Getzlaf. Perron has posted two goals and three assists in four games with his new team and is a fine value option on the wing. With all of that said, the Ducks turnaround coincided directly with Ryan Kesler offensive outbreak. Both Kesler and his linemate Jakob Silfverberg posted 11 points in 11 games during the month of January. Cam Fowler looks poised to return to the lineup tonight which is great news for the Ducks, but muddies the waters a bit from a fantasy perspective. Fowler’s return will likely steal some playing time from Sami Vatanen and impressive rookie Shea Theodore, but considering San Jose’s unflattering 79.3% penalty kill, all three look like fine options.
San Jose Sharks
CF%: 50.8, CP60: 107, 5×5 Differential: 5
Elite Options: Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Brent Burns
Secondary Options: Patrick Marleau, Tomas Hertl, Joel Ward, Logan Couture
Anaheim Ducks
CF%: 53.6, CP60: 107.7, 5×5 Differential: -14
Elite Options: Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry
Secondary Options: Jakob Silfverberg, Ryan Kesler, David Perron, Cam Fowler, Shea Theodore, Sami Vatanen