NHL Grind Down: Tuesday, November 1st
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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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NOTE: Team records are currently not up-to-date.
Dallas Stars at Columbus Blue Jackets
| Dallas Stars | Columbus Blue Jackets | ||||||||
 | Antti Niemi |  | Sergei Bobrovsky | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 2-2-1 | 2-2-0 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.25 | 3.25 | 15.80% | 78.90% | Team Stats | 2.57 | 2.43 | 44.40% | 93.80% |
I wonder what the Dallas Stars would look like if Lindy Ruff actually left his lines alone for a while. Yes, I know they’ve had injuries and he has put Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin back together with Patrick Eaves, but now we find Jiri Hudler on the team’s fourth line. Jason Spezza will skate on the second line with Radek Faksa and Antoine Roussell. Dallas has only scored four goals in their last four games so it really is up to the second line, or any line for that matter, to step up to alleviate the pressure from Seguin and Benn. Devin Shore has quietly put up one goal and assisted on five others in the team’s first eight games which would make him an ok one-off play in deeper GPP contests. John Klingberg plays the point when the team has the man advantage but so far this season he has only assisted on three goals while logging more than 23 minutes of ice time a night. It’s tough to take any Stars tonight unless you want to pay up for Benn and Seguin.
The Blue Jackets started their four game road trip with a 3-0 shutout against these same Dallas Stars ten days ago and ended it with a 4-0 win at Anaheim Friday night. If you believe in a team being flat in the first game back on home ice, you may want to stay away from this one, otherwise, let’s carry on. Nick Foligno, Alexander Wennberg and Brandon Saad is probably the line to target tonight as Foligno and Wennberg lead the team in scoring while collecting a combined eight power play points. The reason this is important is that Dallas has given up four goals in the last three games while having a player in the penalty box. Zachary Werenski has six points in the first seven games while playing the point on the top power play unit. Sam Gagner has seen some ice time on the man advantage and should be considered as a one-off in GPP play only. After the top line the Blue Jackets become a hit and miss team as we find Scott Hartnell tallying four of his five points in the last five games while Cam Atkinson as only four points so far this season. Stick with the top line here on home ice for your cash game play.
Elite Plays
DAL: Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn
CBJ: None
Secondary Plays
DAL: Patrick Eaves, Jason Spezza
CBJ: Nick Foligno, Alexander Wennberg, Zachary Werenski, Brandon Saad
St. Louis Blues at New York Rangers
| St. Louis Blues | New York Rangers | ||||||||
 | Jake Allen |  | Henrik Lundqvist | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 4-1-1 | 4-2-0 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.44 | 2.22 | 26.10% | 95.00% | Team Stats | 3.89 | 2.44 | 21.10% | 84.20% |
The Blues won a hard fought battle against the Los Angeles Kings on home ice Saturday night by a final tally of 1-0. Although St Louis is 5-2-2 there has to be some concern over the fact that they have just scored one goal in each of the last three games, which we all on home ice. They hit the road to face a New York team that plays tough at home as their 5-1 record at Madison Square Garden can attest to. Head coach Ken Hitchcock has left the lines together from last game which means that David Perron will skate with Paul Stastny and Alexander Steen while Jaden Schwartz and Jori Lehtera will skate with the teams scoring leader in Vladimir Tarasenko. Perron has three of his four points over the last four games by finding the back of the net which makes a decent one-off play tonight as the Rangers will be a bit busy trying to stop Tarasenko and company. Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk joins Tarasenko, Schwartz, Steen and Stastny on the team’s top power play unit. The problem is Shattenkirk has five of his six points with the man advantage and the Rangers usually don’t take too many penalties. There are plenty of games tonight so be careful of this one.
J.T. Miller is making a huge push to get into the top six of the Rangers top line rotation but as luck would have it, Chris Kreider looks to return to the ice tonight. Nonetheless, Miller has taken over the Rangers scoring lead thanks to finding the scoresheet seven times over the last five games whereas he had only two points in the first four games. Now that we have found our one-off play for the Rangers it will be interesting to see what line head coach Alain Vigneault will view as his top line. Rick Nash and Jimmy Vesey have been red hot of late combining for 11 points over the last two weeks while skating on a line with Derek Stepan. Kreider will return to skate with Mika Zibanejad and Mats Zuccarello who have missed him a bit as they have cooled off a little by grabbing three points apiece in the last five games. They had a combined nine points in the five games with Kreider. Ryan McDonagh is the choice on the back line as he gets most of the power play time while getting over 25 minutes of ice time a night. It also doesn’t hurt that he has eight assists in nine games either. This could be a tight game so plan wisely.
Elite Plays
STL: Vladimir Tarasenko
NYR: None
Secondary Plays
STL: Paul Stastny, Alexander Steen, David Perron, Jaden Schwartz, Kevin Shattenkirk
NYR: Rick Nash, Ryan McDonagh, Jimmy Vesey, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello
Edmonton Oilers at Toronto Maple Leafs
| Edmonton Oilers | Toronto Maple Leafs | ||||||||
 | Cam Talbot |  | Frederik Andersen | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 5-1-0 | 1-1-3 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.22 | 2.11 | 16.70% | 87.00% | Team Stats | 2.89 | 3.78 | 26.70% | 88.90% |
This should be a fun one here in Toronto as we get to take a look into the future with Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers squaring off against the hometown Maple Leafs. McDavid, Milan Lucic and Jordan Eberle lead the team in points as they compromise the team’s top line while getting the majority of the ice time with the man advantage. Leon Draisaitl moves up with the top line when the team is on the power play but of late, hasn’t done much. This is in part to the power play only scoring one time in the last six games as he has just seven shots in the last four games with nothing to show for it. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Benoit Pouliot seem to be getting acquainted as they have each found the scoresheet three times in the last four games. They could easily be used as a pair in GPP play tonight. We have to drop all the way down to ninth place on the Edmonton scoring chart to find the first defenseman, well the first three let’s say as Kris Russell, Darnell Nurse and Andrej Sekera all have three points rendering all of them virtually useless on a big slate like tonight.
Although the Maple Leafs own the second worst record in the Eastern Conference, they do have more goals than nine of the other 15 teams in the conference and that counts for something. They have also chalked up their only two wins in three tries on home ice and look to make it three tonight. The easy chalk plays here are William Nylander (4-7-11) and Auston Matthews (6-4-10) as they not only skate on the team’s top line but are responsible for four of the team’s seven power play goals. It looks like third liner Leo Komarov has moved up with the two budding superstars to play on the team’s top power play unit along with linemate Nazem Kadri, so I wouldn’t be opposed to using these two in GPP play tonight. Jake Gardiner mans the point on the power play and could be heating up by virtue of his two points over the last two games. Small sample size I know, but this is all you have if you like a defenseman from Toronto tonight. The second line of Mitchell Marner, James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak has tallied six goals over the last five games which would make them a good GPP play tonight. Enjoy the Matthews vs. McDavid show tonight.
Elite Plays
EDM: Connor McDavid
TOR: Auston Matthews
Secondary Plays
EDM Jordan Eberle, Milan Lucic, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
TOR: William Nylander, James van Riemsdyk, Leo Komarov, Jake Gardiner
Carolina Hurricanes at Ottawa Senators
| Carolina Hurricanes | Ottawa Senators | ||||||||
 | Eddie Lack |  | Craig Anderson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 1-2-2 | 3-2-0 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.00 | 3.75 | 28.60% | 90.00% | Team Stats | 3.00 | 3.13 | 7.10% | 71.40% |
Bryan Bickell has found his way back on the top Carolina Hurricanes top power unit along with the whole top line of Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask and Lee Stempniak. I must really digress here considering what happened on Sunday with the whole ‘ Colton Sceviour Debacle’ so let’s just say that anyone getting time on any team’s power play can get a hat trick. Skinner is red hot as he has lit the lamp three times while assisting on three other goals in the last three games so taking him along with Rask may not be a bad idea here. You can add Stempniak in there as well but don’t go hog wild on the Canes tonight. Craig Anderson has two shut outs in the last three games for Ottawa, so it may be a little rough for the ‘Caniacs’ to light the lamp tonight. Second liner Sebastian Aho is overdue for his first NHL goal and tonight just may be the night as he has fired 12 shots on net in the last four games, the most of any Carolina player. On defense Justin Faulk and Noah Hanifin each have six points so far this season with Faulk seeing about six more minutes of ice time a night than Hanifin.
The Senators got outshot by a tally of 37-22 but were still able to come away with the win in Edmonton on Sunday night. Goaltender Craig Anderson stopped all 37 shots en route to the 2-0 win making that his second shut out on the young season. Ottawa started with one set of lines but by the end of the night it looks like a lot of combinations were used. Whatever works right? Ottawa needs to get things going again as they have only found the back of the net six times in their last four games. Ryan Dzingel makes a nice one-off play here as he had a hand in three of the goals while being second on the team in scoring only to defenseman Erik Karlsson. Otherwise its business as usual as Bobby Ryan normally skates with Derick Brassard and Kyle Turris centers Mike Hoffman and Tom Pyatt. Either way you go here is fine just as long as you keep the lines together.
Elite Plays
CAR: Jeff Skinner
OTT: Erik Karlsson
Secondary Plays
CAR: Victor Rask, Justin Faulk, Lee Stempniak
OTT: Mike Hoffman, Mark Stone, Bobby Ryan, Derick Brassard
Tampa Bay Lightning at New York Islanders
| Tampa Bay Lightning | New York Islanders | ||||||||
 | Ben Bishop |  | Jaroslav Halak | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 4-1-0 | 3-3-0 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.89 | 3.22 | 26.30% | 92.30% | Team Stats | 3.00 | 2.78 | 6.70% | 95.50% |
With a win tonight in Brooklyn the Tampa Bay Lightning can break even as they finish up this current six game road trip. After winning the first two, they have dropped the last three games by a combined score of 12-3. The top line of Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Drouin and Ondrej Palat will try to get the team back on track tonight but you may only want to take Stamkos here as he has netted four goals to go along with two assists in the last five games. Both Stamkos and Drouin have each collected 18 shots on goal during that same time frame which may give you some insight as to why they aren’t scoring much of late as defenseman Jason Garrison is next in line with 13. Ryan Callahan returned to the lineup last game as he joined Nikita Kucherov and Valtteri Filppula while Tyler Johnson centered Alex Killorn and Vladislav Namestnikov. Kucherov and Killorn make decent one-off plays here as they saw the most time with the man advantage last game and have cashed in on that opportunity by finding the scoresheet three times over the last five games while on the power play. Anton Stralman is the defensive choice in terms of scoring but it looks like Victor Hedman may be getting to see more power play time.
The Islanders will look to improve on their 4-2 road record tonight as they take on the recently listless Tampa Bay Lightning. John Tavares and Josh Bailey skate on the top line along with Anthony Beauvillier with the former two getting most of the minutes on the top power play unit. Over the last ten days Tavares leads the team with three goals and two assists in five games, which includes snagging two points while on the man advantage. He has taken 20 shots over the last five games and that is second only to the upstart Johnny Boychuk who from the point has garnered 23 shots while scoring two goals and adding an assist over that same time period. Brock Nelson and Andrew Ladd make an interesting combination skating from the second line as it is Ladd who gets more power play time but Nelson being more productive as he is averaging a point per game. Defenseman Travis Hamonic is heating up as well as forward Shane Prince, who skates on the Nelson, who has two goals and two assists in just two games.
Elite Plays
TB: Steven Stamkos
NYI: John Tavares
Secondary Plays
TB: Jonathan Drouin, Alex Killorn, Nikita Kucherov, Anton Stralman
NYI: Josh Bailey, Brock Nelson, Johnny Boychuk