NHL Grind Down: Tuesday, January 31st - Page Three
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Minnesota Wild at Edmonton Oilers
| Minnesota Wild | Edmonton Oilers | ||||||||
 | Darcy Kuemper |  | Cam Talbot | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 32-11-5 | 28-15-8 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.29 | 2.23 | 21.50% | 84.20% | Team Stats | 2.92 | 2.51 | 21.00% | 82.10% |
The Wild come into this one as the best team in the Western Conference with a 32-11-5 record which is good for 69 points. Mikael Granlund and Mikko Koivu have led the team over the past month which has seen the Wild win nine of the 12 games they have played. Granlund’s 13 points over the last month has catapulted him to the top of the Minnesota scoring chart with 42 points while Koivu has netted six of his 15 goals in the last 12 games. Jason Zucker rounds out the Koivu line and can be added if you are looking for a full line GPP stack tonight. The line of Eric Staal, Charlie Coyle and Nino Niederreiter should grab the attention of the Oilers top defensive line with Stall being a nice one-off here as he leads the team with 16 goals. Zach Parise is usually a guy we look at to target but his numbers have been way off this season as he has just 22 points in the 39 games he has played in. Ryan Suter is the choice on the back line as his nine points over the last month gives him 30 on the season while quarterbacking the team’s top power play unit. Mathew Dumba is an alternative option as he has grabbed seven of his 22 points in the last 12 games. Look for the Wild to score a few tonight as they try to stay ahead of Chicago in the Central Division.
Edmonton went into the break by winning seven of their last eight games which included a resounding 4-1 win against the Sharks in San Jose last Thursday night. The win puts them in a tie for first place with the Sharks in the Pacific Division with 64 points. Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Patrick Maroon will look to lead the charge against the defensive-minded Minnesota squad. McDavid leads the league with 59 points while Draisaitl leads the team with 19 goals. Both players skate on the top power play unit along with Milan Lucic and Mark Letestu that has scored four goals in the last five games. This obviously makes both Letestu and Lucic decent one-off plays just for the mere fact that they get some exposure to the best player in the league. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle and Benoit Pouliot skate at even strength on the team’s second line with the former two being the players to look at for tournament play. Nugent-Hopkins seems to have caught fire a bit as his eight of his 26 points have come over the last 13 games. Andrej Sekera and Oscar Klefbom are the choices on the back line with Sekera being the better choice by a slim margin by virtue of him quarterbacking the top power play unit. Minnesota doesn’t allow many goals to go in their own net so look for a low scoring game.
Elite Plays
MIN: Eric Staal, Mikael Granlund
EDM: Connor McDavid
Secondary Plays
MIN: Mikko Koivu, Charlie Coyle, Ryan Suter, Nino Niederreiter
EDM: Leon Draisaitl, Patrick Maroon, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle, Andrej Sekera, Mark Letestu
Los Angeles Kings at Arizona Coyotes
| Los Angeles Kings | Arizona Coyotes | ||||||||
 | Peter Budaj |  | Mike Smith | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 24-21-4 | 16-26-6 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.49 | 2.41 | 17.00% | 82.80% | Team Stats | 2.17 | 3.15 | 15.30% | 77.30% |
It’s going to seem a bit weird tuning into the Kings game tonight as announcer Bob Miller had suffered a mild stroke over the weekend but seems to be okay and in good spirits. I think I speak for everyone by saying that we all hope for a quick recovery. Going into the break the Kings won their last two games and will need to do a bit more of that if they want to get into the playoffs come early April. Their 52 points have the team sitting fifth in the Pacific Division which is just one point away from the final playoff spot. Anze Kopitar, Marian Gaborik and Dustin Brown will be relied on here to help out with the scoring while Arizona will try to shut down the top line of Jeff Carter, Tanner Pearson and Kyle Clifford. Arizona has given up 152 goals so far this season so it’s probably a safe bet that we can use both lines tonight. Carter and Pearson are joined by Kopitar to form the front line of the top power play unit that has scored twice in the last four games. Carter leads the team with 24 goals and 43 points and could be considered as a one-off cash game play tonight. Meanwhile Kopitar and Gaborik are starting to play a bit better as Kopitar has racked up 11 of his 27 points over the last 12 games while Gaborik’s seven points over that same time frame now gives him 11 points on the season. Defensmen Drew Doughty and Jake Muzzin are the choices on the point as they anchor the top power play unit from the blue line. Doughty is the safer choice as he has registered ten of his 28 points over the last month.
Before the break Arizona had won three home games in a row against Tampa, Florida and Vancouver. Does this mean that they are getting better? Maybe, but I wouldn’t rely on them just yet. The top line of Radim Vrbata, Tobias Rieder and Martin Hanzal is probably the safest line to stack if you are looking at the Coyotes to help you make money tonight. Vrbata leads the team with 11 goals and 23 assists and has grabbed ten of his 24 points in the last 11 games. Brendan Perlini jumps up from the second line to skate with Vrbata and Hanzal when the Coyotes draw a penalty. Perlini has seven goals in the 23 games he has appeared in and could be used as a punt play only. Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Michael Stone play the points on the top power play line. Ekman-Larsson is the play here as he not only has seven points in the last 11 games, he also leads the team with six power play goals and seven power play assists.
Elite Plays
LAK: Jeff Carter
ARZ: Radim Vrbata
Secondary Plays
LAK: Anze Kopitar, Marian Gaborik, Tanner Pearson, Drew Doughty
ARZ: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Martin Hanzal, Tobias Rieder
Colorado Avalanche at Anaheim Ducks
| Colorado Avalanche | Anaheim Ducks | ||||||||
 | Calvin Pickard |  | John Gibson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 13-31-2 | 27-15-9 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.02 | 3.37 | 14.40% | 78.60% | Team Stats | 2.57 | 2.51 | 21.70% | 83.40% |
As if things couldn’t get worse for a team that has won just 2 of their last 17 games the Colorado Avalanche were hit with the news that goaltender Semyon Varlamov will be out for the season. In terms of scoring there really isn’t much here as Nathan MacKinnon leads the team with 33 points in 46 games. This ties him for 63rd in the league which isn’t that great but the silver lining here is that he has collected eight points in the last ten games. Mikko Rantanen and Mikhail Grigorenko are his line mates at even strength but I’m not sure you should waste your time here especially with 27 teams in action tonight. Team goal leader Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog skate on the team’s second line but even these guys have a combined 11 points in the last ten games. If Colorado scores one of these five guys will be in on but they just don’t score enough goals to warrant a cash game play tonight. Tyson Barrie has been on the IR but it’s unclear as to whether he will be taken off in time to play tonight. For what it’s worth Francois Beauchemin will handle the power play duties from the point if Barrie can’t go.
Anaheim is just one point away from the Pacific Division leaders and should be able to improve on their 16-6-3 record in front of the home crowd. Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Rickard Rakell should be the line to look at for cash game play tonight. Rakell leads the team with 20 goals while Getzlaf’s 30 assists is tops on the team. The second line is a bit tougher to decipher as Jakob Silfverberg may not be able to suit up for the game tonight as he has passed all of the concussion tests. His status is now in the hands of the medical staff and the head coach. Regardless of if he plays or not Ryan Kesler is the one-off of the night as he skates on the team’s second line but gets the extra bump by jumping up on the top power play unit. Kesler leads the team with seven power play goals and also leads the team with 39 points. Cam Fowler and Sami Vatanen are the choices on defense with Fowler having the edge by virtue of finding the score sheet 26 times so far this season. Look for the Ducks to take home the victory tonight.
Elite Plays
COL: None
ANA: Ryan Kesler
Secondary Plays
COL: Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog
ANA: Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Rickard Rakell, Cam Fowler
Chicago Blackhawks at San Jose Sharks
| Chicago Blackhawks | San Jose Sharks | ||||||||
 | Corey Crawford |  | Martin Jones | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 30-16-5 | 31-17-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.75 | 2.57 | 17.60% | 75.90% | Team Stats | 2.66 | 2.32 | 16.60% | 82.20% |
Chicago comes into this one with a couple of question marks with the main one being whether or not Artem Anisimov will be able to play in tonight’s game. Anisimov didn’t practice yesterday because of an illness and it’s unclear what his status will be until game time. Head coach Joel Quenneville can go a few ways here if Anisimov cannot go. Marian Hossa has been skating on the third line so one option would be to pull him and Marcus Kruger up and shuffle up the lines or just let Kruger center Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin. This would leave the line of Jonathan Toews, Ryan Hartman and Richard panic together and not mess up two lines. Toews and Hartman make a nice tournament pairing as they will not see the Sharks best defensive line and should get some extra room on the ice tonight. Toews went into the break with ten points in the last 12 games while Hartman was able to add four goals and three assists over that same time frame. It’s hard not to take Kane and Panarin as they both lead the team with 49 and 44 points respectively. Panarin also leads the team with seven power play goals. Defensmen Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook man the blue line when the Blackhawks draw a penalty as both have racked up 11 points when the team has the man advantage. Keith is the clear choice here however as his 118 shots on goal has produced 33 points which is good for fourth on the team.
BLACKHAWKS UPDATE
Anisimov will play between Kane and Panarin while Toews will skate with Hossa and Nick Schmaltz.
As mentioned above the Sharks are in a tight battle for the Pacific Division lead as they are tied with Edmonton with 64 points. San Jose had won six games in a row before falling to Edmonton by a score of 4-1 on home ice right before the break. Melker Karlsson was inserted on the top line with Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski while Logan Couture got some help on the second line as he now skates with Patrick Marleau and Mikkel Boedker. It is still best to stick with the top power play unit which would mean pairing Thornton with Pavelski and Couture with Marleau. Couture leads the team with seven power play goals while Pavelski has notched 15 power play points which is also tops on the team. All four players stand behind defensemen Brent Burns for the team lead in points as Burns has 21 goals and 30 assists which lead the team so far this season. You could probably use Karlsson and Boedker if you are going for the full line stacks but on a night with 14 games I think I’d rather look somewhere else. Look for the Sharks to improve on their 17-7-1 record in front of the home crowd.
Elite Plays
CHI: Patrick Kane, Artemi Panarin
SJ: Brent Burns
Secondary Plays
CHI: Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Artem Anisimov, Marian Hossa
SJ: Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau