NHL Grind Down: Tuesday, March 7th
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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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New Jersey Devils at Columbus Blue Jackets
| New Jersey Devils | Columbus Blue Jackets | ||||||||
 | Cory Schneider |  | Sergei Bobrovsky | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 25-28-12 | 41-17-6 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.22 | 2.85 | 17.70% | 80.70% | Team Stats | 3.17 | 2.31 | 21.50% | 83.00% |
Mike Cammalleri and Andy Greene did not make the trip for tonight’s game while Damon Severson and Miles Wood are still very much question marks to play for tonight’s game. This can’t be good for a Devils team that has scored only nine goals in their last six games and hasn’t won a game in their last seven. Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac will try to knife through the Blue Jackets top defensive line to create a little scoring as they skate on the team’s top line. Palmieri has tallied 10 of his team leading 42 points over the last 10 games while Zajac has chipped in nine points over that same time frame. Pavel Zacha will move up from the second line to join the top line when the Devils get the man advantage. Zacha makes for a deeper GPP play here as long as you pair him up with Adam Henrique who centers the second line. With all of the injuries defenseman Jon Merrill has taking over the point on the top power play unit. New Jersey crushed the Blue Jackets by a score of 5-1 in Columbus on February 4th but I wouldn’t expect a repeat of that here, especially since the lost to them last game by a score of 3-0.
After losing to the Ottawa Senators by a score of 3-2 on Saturday night the Blue Jackets decided to move Brandon Saad back up to the top line to skate alongside of Nick Foligno and Alexander Wennberg. The move paid off because the result was moving Oliver Bjorkstrand down to skate with Sam Gagner and Scott Hartnell which accounted for two of the three goals in their 3-0 over this same Devils team in Newark on Sunday night. Cam Atkinson looks to be a nice one-off here on the road as he leads the team with 5 points so far this season as he skates with Boone Jenner and Brandon Dubinsky. The chalk play is obviously the re-united top line as all three players have grabbed 45 points or more so far this season. Wennberg leads the team with eight points over the last 10 games and also leads the team with 40 assists so far this season. Zachary Werenski has rebounded from a mid-season slump to come back and grab eight of his 39 points over the last 10 games. Seth Jones was giving him a run for his money around the all-star break but the second year defenseman has made the necessary adjustments to be considered as an option on most nights the Blue Jackets play.
Elite Plays
NJ: None
CBJ: Alexander Wennberg, Cam Atkinson
Secondary Plays
NJ: Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri, Travis Zajac, Adam Henrique, Jon Merrill
CBJ: Nick Foligno, Brandon Saad, Zachary Werenski
New York Rangers at Florida Panthers
| New York Rangers | Florida Panthers | ||||||||
 | Henrik Lundqvist |  | James Reimer | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 42-22-2 | 29-24-11 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.18 | 2.63 | 17.80% | 81.80% | Team Stats | 2.44 | 2.69 | 16.60% | 86.10% |
In what can only be called as a battle of good goaltending, the New York Rangers outlasted the Tampa Bay Lightning last night by scoring the only goal in the extra 5 minute frame. The win keeps the Rangers in fourth place in the Metropolitan Division and their heads well above sea level where making the playoffs are concerned. Their 86 points is 15 points above the currently eighth seeded New York Islanders. Despite only scoring seven goals in the last five games they have been able to win two of them which is a good indication that the goaltending is getting back to where they need it to be to make a little noise in the end of the season tournament. New York runs out three scoring lines on a nightly basis with the top line of Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan and Mats Zuccarello being the most consistent. Zuccarello is on the high end with 45 points while Stepan’s 44 points is sandwiched in between the 43 times that Kreider has found the score sheet so far this season. Mika Zibanejad centers the second line alongside of Rick Nash and Pavel Buchnevich while J.T. Miller leads the team with 48 points skating on the third line. Ryan McDonagh is usually the safest play from the back line but Brady Skjei has come on to tally six of his 31 points to the lead the team over the last 10 games. The Rangers played last night and given their recent scoring slump of late, may not be the best cash game play here.
After getting healthy and looking like they were ready to contend for a playoff spot, the Florida Panthers have won just one game in their last six. This has put them in 10th place in the eastern Conference with 69 points and look to beat a very good New York Ranger team here tonight to get back on track. Aleksander Barkov will center Jaromir Jagr and Jonathan Huberdeau on the top line while Thomas Vanek, Nick Bjugstad and Jonathan Marchessault seems to have claimed the ‘second line’ tag. Barkov and Huberdeau have combined for eight goals and eight assists in the last 10 games and should be the duo to target here on home ice tonight. Marchessault is third on the team in points with 19 goals and 19 assist while Bjugstad has registered four of his nine points over the last 10 games. Vincent Trocheck looks to be a one-off here as he leads the team with 22 goals and 43 points while skating on the team’s third line with Jussi Jokinen and Reilly Smith. Keith Yandle and Aaron Ekblad are the choice on the defensive side of things as Ekblad is starting to heat up over the past three weeks. He’s been shooting the puck all year as he leads the team with 211 shots on goal that has yielded just 20 points so far this season. He has however collected five of those 20 points over the last 10 games while Yandle’s 32 points would seem to make him a safer play tonight.
Elite Plays
NYR: None
FLA: Aleksander Barkov
Secondary Plays
NYR: J.T. Miller, Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello, Derek Stepan, Ryan McDonagh, Rick Nash
FLA: Jonathan Huberdeau, Jonathan Marchessault, Vincent Trocheck, Jaromir Jagr, Keith Yandle
Detroit Red Wings at Toronto Maple Leafs
| Detroit Red Wings | Toronto Maple Leafs | ||||||||
 | Petr Mrazek |  | Frederik Andersen | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 25-27-11 | 28-22-14 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.40 | 2.97 | 12.90% | 81.30% | Team Stats | 3.03 | 2.90 | 22.90% | 83.30% |
The Red Wings have fell from grace over the last few seasons and probably won’t make the playoffs for the first time since the 1990 season. Henrik Zetterberg, Anthony Mantha and Tomas Tatar skate on the team’s top line while Frans Nielsen centers Andreas Athanasiou and Gustav Nyquist on the second line. Toronto has lost their last five games and have given up 16 goals in the process so it’s not out of the question to think that the top line isn’t in play here. Zetterberg leads the team with 51 points while Mantha has chipped him four points over the last seven games. Justin Abdelkader gets the top power play unit assignment from the third line and has responded with a goal and four assists in the last five games. Niklas Kronwall and Mike Green are the choices on the back end with Green not only having 18 more points than Kronwall with 26, he also gets on the north side of 23 minutes if ice time on a nightly basis. Detroit’s 158 goals are the lowest in the Atlantic Division but could score a few year against a Toronto team that has given up 193 goals so far this season.
Toronto has dropped their last five games which has subsequently dropped them out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The New York Islanders hold the eighth and final spot with 71 points while Toronto needs a win here to jump over them for the time being. Auston Matthews is almost in play on any given night as he leads the team with 31 goals and 55 points while centering William Nylander and Zach Hyman. Nylander skates on the top power play line with Matthews so it’s no surprise that they have combined for nine goals and 11 assists over the past ten games. James van Riemsdyk and Mitchell Marner skate on the second line with Tyler Bozak and should be considered in play here as they are Toronto’s most consistent line this season. Marner ‘s 50 points is second on the team while van Riemsdyk has lit the lamp 19 times and has assisted on 29 other goals so far this season. Nazem Kadri skates on the third line with Leo Komarov and looks to be a one-off here as he has collected eight of his 48 points over the last 10 games. Jake Gardiner is usually the play from the point as he gets the first crack at quarterbacking the team’s top power play unit. His seven points over the last 10 games has lifted his seasonal point total to 32 while Nikita Zaitsev is just three points behind him. Toronto should win this one tonight but it could get ugly.
Elite Plays
DET: Henrik Zetterberg
TOR: Auston Matthews
Secondary Plays
DET: Anthony Mantha, Frans Nielsen, Gustav Nyquist, Mike Green
TOR: Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk, Mitchell Marner, Jake Gardiner
Philadelphia Flyers at Buffalo Sabres
| Philadelphia Flyers | Buffalo Sabres | ||||||||
 | Michal Neuvirth |  | Robin Lehner | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 30-26-8 | 27-27-12 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.47 | 2.91 | 20.80% | 81.40% | Team Stats | 2.49 | 2.75 | 22.90% | 76.30% |
The Flyers has won three times over their last eight games as they have been able to beat Florida, Colorado and Vancouver. These are not the best teams in the league, in fact they look a lot like the team they play tonight as their current four game road trip takes them to Buffalo after losing to Washington in overtime on Saturday night. The addition of Valtteri Filppula may help the team on a short term basis but I wouldn’t expect any miracles here as this is a team destined for failure this season. Claude Giroux has grabbed 26 of his 45 points with the man advantage as he centers Wayne Simmonds and Jordan Weal. Simmonds is right there with him in terms of points as his 27 goals leads the team while Weal is just getting his NHL career started. Jakub Voracek makes for a decent one-off here as he leads the team with 52 points while linemate Brayden Schenn has notched seven of his 42 points over the last eight games. Filppula centers this line which should have the extra room on the ice tonight so using them here for tournament play may be a good idea. Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere seems to be re-adjusting to the league as his five points in the last eight games represents a little under 20% of his seasonal production. 27 points is not exactly what the Flyers were looking for after the 23 year old found the score sheet 48 times in 64 games last season. The Flyers should be able to pump in a few here but I wouldn’t bet on them winning the game.
Kyle Okposo looks to be sidelined for a little while longer as the team leader in points continues to suffer from an upper body injury that has kept him on the sidelines the last two games. Buffalo is another team out of the playoff race which makes this game almost meaningless had it not been for daily fantasy sports. Ryan O’Reilly centers Brian Gionta and Evander Kane while Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart seem to be the play here as Eichel is clearly the real deal as he collected his 16th goal of the season on Sunday afternoon. Eichel now has 42 points in the 45 games he has suited up for this season and more than likely will add to the here tonight. Kane leads the team in goals with 23 of them and could be useful here as long as you pair him up with O’Reilly. Rasmus Ristolainen is the only defender that can actually find the score sheet for the Sabres to taking him here could provide some nice returns. 22 of his 39 points have come on the power play which could bode well here as the Sabres have tallied four goals in the last three games with the extra attacker.
Elite Plays
PHL: None
BUF: Jack Eichel
Secondary Plays
PHL: Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek, Valtteri Filppula, Brayden Schenn, Shayne Gostisbehere
BUF: Ryan O’Reilly, Evander Kane, Rasmus Ristolainen, Sam Reinhart
St. Louis Blues at Minnesota Wild
| St. Louis Blues | Minnesota Wild | ||||||||
 | Jake Allen |  | Devan Dubnyk | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 32-27-5 | 42-15-6 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.73 | 2.83 | 22.20% | 84.00% | Team Stats | 3.32 | 2.33 | 22.10% | 84.30% |
The Blues snuck back into the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference with a 3-0 win at Colorado on Sunday night. Beating the Avalanche however is almost comparable to the Princeton Basketball team beating Dartmouth, it doesn’t mean that much. St Louis shuffled their lines up a bit which now has Jori Lehtera back on the third line where he belongs while Paul Stastny was centering Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko. Hopefully this gets Tarasenko going as the team leader has six points in the 12 games the team has played over the last month. Patrik Berglund, David Perron and Alexander Steen skate as the team’s second line and should be able to generate a few scoring chances tonight as there’s no doubt the Wild will have their top defensive line against Tarasenko and Company. The Blues have scored just six goals in the previous five games before their encounter with Colorado so the jury is still out as to whether the Blues can actually stay in the playoff race or not. Tonight’s game against the second best defensive team in the league will provide a stern test to see exactly where the team is. Alex Pietrangelo and Colton Parayko are the choices on the back line as Pietrangelo makes for the safer play here as he has assumed the spot vacated by Kevin Shattenkirk on the team’s top power play unit. The guess here is that the Blues go back to their losing ways here on the road against the best team in the conference.
The Wild got back on track on Sunday night as they beat the San Jose Sharks by a score of 3-1 in front of the home crowd. The win catapulted them back into first place in the Central Division as they have two games in hand over the second place Chicago Blackhawks. Chris Stewart showed us once again why he shouldn’t even be near the top line on any team in the league as his penchant for playing out of control surfaced once again as his punch that was intended for an opponent connected more on Zach Parise than it did in any part or Marc Vlasic’s body. Anyway, Mikael Granlund, Mikko Koivu and Jason Zucker have been the line to use lately as Granlund leads the team with six points over the last five games while leading the team with 21 goals and 38 assists. Parise and Stewart draw Eric Staal as their center while the third line of Nino Niederreiter, Martin Hanzal and Charlie Coyle can be used here as well. Ryan Suter leads the Wild defense with 34 points while Jared Spurgeon or Mathew Dumba could make for a cheaper play tonight. When a team has the ability to have three lines chip in on a nightly basis it’s tough to pick just one line, especially on those nights that they don’t score a lot of goals. Tonight should not be one of those nights however as I expect the Blues to go back to giving up a ton of goals.
Elite Plays
STL: Vladimir Tarasenko
MIN: Mikael Granlund
Secondary Plays
STL: Jaden Schwartz, Paul Stastny, Alexander Steen, Alex Pietrangelo
MIN: Mikko Koivu, Eric Staal, Nino Niederreiter, Jason Zucker, Zach Parise