NHL Grind Down: Tuesday, March 14th
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The RotoGrinders NHL Grind Down article will give you an in-depth analysis into the NHL schedule. This article will break down the numbers for every single game and give you analysis on which trends you can exploit. While matchups are a major factor in daily fantasy hockey there are plenty of other factors to consider such as injuries, salaries, and more.
The analysis should point you in the right direction, but it is still up to you to decipher the information and make your own selections. Hockey is an extremely high variance sport. The best choice is not always the right choice but following the trends will win you money over time.
Remember, these writeups are done prior to lineups being released, so make sure to check our Starting Lineups page to ensure the recommended options are playing.
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Minnesota Wild at Washington Capitals
| Minnesota Wild | Washington Capitals | ||||||||
 | Devan Dubnyk |  | Braden Holtby | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 43-18-6 | 44-17-7 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.28 | 2.40 | 21.10% | 84.00% | Team Stats | 3.19 | 2.16 | 21.30% | 84.00% |
This one has all the makings of possibly being a preview to the Stanley Cup final as both teams have exhibited scoring and a good defense throughout the season. At least the Wild have come to their senses and put Chris Stewart back on the fourth line as now we have Mikko Koivu, Jason Zucker and Mikael Granlund as one scoring line while Eric Staal, Nino Niederreiter and Charlie Coyle can surely hold their own on the second scoring line. Even Zach Parise, Jason Pominville and Erik Haula can add to the festivities with Pominville grabbing 41 points so far this season. The Way the wild stack up reminds one of the New York Rangers a little bit as they do indeed have three lines that are capable of lighting the lamp multiple times on any given night. Ryan Suter and Mathew Dumba get the lion’s share of power play time from the back line. Suter leads the Wild defensemen with 35 points and that’s not bad but you can probably find either better defensemen or lower priced ones to fill out your line up tonight. I wouldn’t look for many goals here tonight but it is surely going to be a good one to watch.
Washington comes into this one trying to break their four game losing streak, which is something they haven’t had to do all season. They remain as the top team in the league with 95 points but do have their opponent in the Minnesota Wild breathing down their necks with 92 points and a game in hand coming into tonight’s contest. It looks like the Capitals will stick with Nicklas Backstrom centering T.J. Oshie and Marcus Johansson while Alexander Ovechkin will skate alongside fellow countryman Evgeny Kuznetsov on the second line. Washington has scored 11 goals in the last six games and look to turn that trend around here tonight. Backstrom will have to be the catalyst as his 47 assists is 10 more than anyone else on the team and is a valuable piece on the team’s top power play unit. Kuznetsov isn’t bad at assisting on goals either as he has 37 of them which may come in handy tonight with Ovechkin lining up on his left wing. Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk will sit out the second game of his two-game suspension which will make both Matt Niskanen and John Carlson a bit more lucrative here tonight. Again, this game could be a tight battle won in the trenches so sit back and enjoy the show.
Elite Plays
MIN: Mikael Granlund
WSH: Nicklas Backstrom
Secondary Plays
MIN: Mikko Koivu, Eric Staal, Charlie Coyle, Ryan Suter, Jason Pominville
WSH: Alex Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Matt Niskanen
New York Islanders at Carolina Hurricanes
| New York Islanders | Carolina Hurricanes | ||||||||
 | Jean-Francois Berube |  | Eddie Lack | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 32-25-11 | 28-27-11 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.94 | 3.00 | 15.60% | 80.40% | Team Stats | 2.55 | 2.85 | 17.60% | 84.20% |
With 14 games remaining the Islanders continue to chase the Toronto Maple Leafs for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Maple Leafs have the leg up by one point and a game in hand which makes this game an important one if they want to keep pace. John Tavares, Anders Lee and Josh Bailey skate on the team’s top line and need to score tonight if the New Yorkers want to take home the victory. All three players are the only Islanders with more than 40 points so far this season while getting the extra ice time on the top power play unit. Ryan Strome joins them from the third line along with defenseman Nick Leddy to complete the top unit with the man advantage. Brock Nelson and Josh Ho-Sang are an interesting duo if you are looking for a deeper GPP play as they skate on the second line and will not draw the top defensive line of the Hurricanes which should leave them a little more room on the ice tonight. Bailey has grabbed 10 of his 49 points over the last 10 games while Tavares leads the team with 25 goals and 58 points.
Carolina ambushed the Islanders last night that saw the Hurricanes score a season high eight goals up in New York last night. It looks like both teams were able to get out of New York last night ahead of the impeding storm to play round two tonight in Raleigh. Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask and Elias Lindholm will skate as one scoring line while Jordan Staal, Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen play on the team’s second scoring line. It’s amazing what happens when team’s put their six best players on the top two lines. Carolina has been messing around with their line all season as we have seen Lee Stempniak, Derek Ryan and the injured Phil Di Giuseppe all have cameo appearances on the top two lines this season. Skinner leads the team with 32 goals and 45 points while Rask has collected 40 points in the 60 games he has played in. Taking them here would not be considered ‘chasing points’ as they both work well together when placed on the same line, last night’s performance was only evidence of that. Justin Faulk is usually the defenseman to take when we are talking about the Hurricanes but Jaccob Slavin has been making a move of his own. His three goals last night has him at 28 points which is just two behind Faulk for the team lead where defensemen are concerned. I wouldn’t expect Carolina to score another eight goals but they can certainly score enough to improve on the 19-10-3 record in front of the home crowd.
Elite Plays
NYI: John Tavares
CAR: Jeff Skinner
Secondary Plays
NYI: Josh Bailey, Anders Lee, Nick Leddy, Ryan Strome, Brock Nelson
CAR: Sebastian Aho, Elias Lindholm, Jordan Staal, Justin Faulk
Tampa Bay Lightning at Ottawa Senators
| Tampa Bay Lightning | Ottawa Senators | ||||||||
 | Andrei Vasilevskiy |  | Craig Anderson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 33-26-9 | 39-22-6 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.72 | 2.69 | 22.60% | 80.70% | Team Stats | 2.66 | 2.59 | 17.70% | 81.90% |
If there’s one word that probably best describes the Tampa Bay Lightning it’s resilient. After trading both Ben Bishop and Valtteri Filppula the team has put together a string of three wins which now has them just one point away from Toronto for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Ottawa will try to shut down the top line of Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Ondrej Palat while the second line of Jonathan Drouin, Alex Killorn and Yanni Gourde will try to chip in with the anticipated extra room on the ice. Drouin makes for a decent one-off here as he is afforded the extra ice time with the team’s top players when the Lightning draw a penalty. Kucherov is the one to stick with here however as he has found the score sheet 20 times over the last 10 games which now gives him 31 goals and 38 assists so far this season. Victor Hedman is a strong play from the back line as his 27 power play points is third most in the league so far his season. This should bode well tonight as the Senators have surrendered a power play goal in four of their last five games. Tyler Johnson did not play in last night’s 3-2 win against the New York Rangers and his status is unclear for tonight’s game.
The Senators will get some good news tonight as Kyle Turris should return to the lineup and center the top line. The problem is that Mark Stone looks to be listed as week-to-week with a lower body injury suffered in last Thursday night’s game. Stone leads the team with 22 goals and has accumulated 50 points so far this season. Mike Hoffman, Derick Brassard and Alexandre Burrows were skating as the team’s top line and with the return of Turris the lines have been shuffled once again. Turris will center Ryan Dzingel and Zack Smith while Brassard will center Burrows and Bobby Ryan, who returns from injury tonight. Hoffman feels like a one-off as once again he has been dropped to the third line. He has grabbed nine of his 48 points over his last eight games and should be very involved on the team’s top power play unit. Defenseman Erik Karlsson is the choice on the back line as he soaks up the majority of the power play minutes while leading the team with 49 assists and 62 points. Karlsson’s four goals and 11 assists over the last 10 games is tops on the team and will be counted on heavily tonight to generate a lot of scoring opportunities for a team that is plagued with injuries. The Senators go for their seventh straight win tonight as they go up against a tough Tampa team.
Elite Plays
TB: Nikita Kucherov
OTT: Erik Karlsson
Secondary Plays
TB: Victor Hedman, Ondrej Palat, Jonathan Drouin, Brayden Point
OTT: Mike Hoffman, Derick Brassard, Kyle Turris, Alexandre Burrows
Toronto Maple Leafs at Florida Panthers
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Florida Panthers | ||||||||
 | Frederik Andersen |  | James Reimer | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 31-22-14 | 29-27-11 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.05 | 2.86 | 23.50% | 82.90% | Team Stats | 2.45 | 2.79 | 16.70% | 86.30% |
Toronto has rebounded with three straight wins which has put them back into the highly coveted eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. Their 76 points is just one point ahead of both the New York islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning who are both in action tonight as well so any slip up here could be fatal. Auston Matthews makes for a decent one-off play here as he leads the team with 55 points while skating with William Nylander and Zach Hyman. Meanwhile the Maple Leafs most consistent scoring line has been that of Mitchell Marner, James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak. Marner leads the team with 37 assists while Bozak has grabbed eight of his 46 points over the last three weeks. Nazem Kadri skates with Leo Komarov and Connor Brown and he also has this one-off feel to him as he is fourth on the team with 50 points while Brown is the next closest with 28 points in terms of where his linemates are concerned. Jake Gardiner is the choice on the back line as his six points over the last nine game sis an indication that he is back on track. Nikita Zaitsev could be used as an alternative here as his seasonal numbers are not that far off of Gardiner’s as his 29 points are just five shy of the defensive team leader’s. Florida is playing horrific hockey of late so stealing one here in Florida is not out of the question for the maple Leafs tonight.
The Panthers have gone 2-7-1 in their last 10 games which has single-handedly dropped them from the playoff conversation. This does not mean that they won’t be able to score goals and become a spoiler in the last five weeks of the season. It didn’t take long for the Panthers to re-unite their top line of Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau and Jaromir Jagr as there is no doubt that this is their best line. They couldn’t carry the team by themselves which prompted the line changes which we can expect from time to time now that Florida is seven points away from the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Barkov leads the team with eight points over the last nine games while Huberdeau has been able to find the score sheet 13 times in the 16 games he has played in since returning from injury. Vincent Trocheck leads the team with 22 goals and 47 points and will center Reilly Smith and Jussi Jokinen while Thomas Vanek, Nick Bjugstad and Jonathan Marchessault will fill out what appears to be a formidable GPP line. Aaron Ekblad is injured which will make Keith Yandle the strongest option on the Florida back line tonight. Yandle’s 33 points is good enough for fifth on the team’s scoring chart.
Elite Plays
TOR: Auston Matthews
FLA: None
Secondary Plays
TOR: Mitchell Marner, James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak, Nazem Kadri, Jake Gardiner
FLA: Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Vincent Trocheck, Keith Yandle
Chicago Blackhawks at Montréal Canadiens
| Chicago Blackhawks | Montréal Canadiens | ||||||||
 | Corey Crawford |  | Carey Price | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 43-20-5 | 39-22-8 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.96 | 2.50 | 18.80% | 77.70% | Team Stats | 2.71 | 2.46 | 20.30% | 80.50% |
After losing two games in a row Chicago got back to their winning ways and won their eighth game in the last 10 by defeating Minnesota on home ice by a score of 4-2 on home ice. They now embark on a three game road trip that starts here in Montreal tonight and if there’s a weakness Chicago has it usually is the record away from the home crowd. There’s no worries about that this season however as the team is 20-11-1 going into their 33rd road game of the season. Patrick Kane, Artemi Panarin and Artem Anisimov is usually the line targeted for cash game play as Kane leads the team with 30 goals and 43 assists while Panarin is second on the team in points with 61 of them in 68 games. Jonathan Toews, Nick Schmaltz and Richard Panik certainly deserve a look here as well as they skate on the team’s other scoring line. Toews has picked it up a bit as he has registered 11 of his 48 points over the last over the last nine games. Meanwhile Schmaltz looks like a decent one-off tournament play here as his eight points over the last seven games is almost half of his seasonal 19 point total. It’s funny when players get promoted to play alongside some of the better players in the league. Duncan Keith is the play from the back line here as he quarterbacks the team’s top power play unit along with Kane, Panarin, Toews and Panik. Keith logs over 25 minutes of ice time a night which gives him ample opportunity to get on the score sheet on any given night.
Montreal is feeling the heat from the surging Ottawa Senators as the Canadiens hold on to the top spot in the Atlantic Division by two points. The Senators have two games in hand so a win here would certainly be helpful in their quest to stay in first place in the division. Montreal has decided to put their three best players on the top line as Max Pacioretty and Alexander Radulov will be centered by Alex Galchenyuk. This is actually a decent move here as they get to match them up with whatever line they want to as they are the home team. Pacioretty has been outstanding this season as he leads the team with 33 goals and 60 points. Galchenyuk has registered nine of his 39 points over the last 10 games while Radulov’s 31 assists is tops on the team. Paul Byron, Brendan Gallagher and Phillip Danault will skate on the second line but with 17 other teams on the docket, you can probably find better line stacks for both cash and tournament play tonight. Shea Weber and Andrei Markov man the points from the back line on the team’s top power play unit that has not scored a goal in the last five games. Weber’s 38 points in 69 games is almost comparable to Markov’s 30 points in 50 games so if you need some salary relief, you know where to go.
Elite Plays
CHI: Patrick Kane
MTL: Max Pacioretty
Secondary Plays
CHI: Artemi Panarin, Jonathan Toews, Richard Panik, Duncan Keith
MTL: Alex Galchenyuk, Alexander Radulov, Shea Weber, Andrei Markov