NHL Grind Down: Tuesday, November 1st - Page Three
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San Jose Sharks at Arizona Coyotes
| San Jose Sharks | Arizona Coyotes | ||||||||
 | Martin Jones |  | Louis Domingue | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 3-3-0 | 1-4-0 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.56 | 2.33 | 15.00% | 78.90% | Team Stats | 3.00 | 4.13 | 11.10% | 80.00% |
Let’s see, what do we have here? San Jose has scored 23 goals in nine games and Arizona has scored 24 goals in eight games yet San Jose is 6-3 while Arizona is 2-6. In fact, the only team that Arizona has beaten is the Philadelphia Flyers, twice. The Coyotes have also given up at least one goal while short-handed in each of their last four games. This plays right into the hands of the San Jose Sharks as they have scored four power play goals in the last three games and are starting to heat up. It’s the normal clan here for the Sharks in Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Logan Couture, Patrick Marleau and defenseman Brent Burns. Everyone but Marleau is in the top four in team scoring but that could change if he can find any chemistry with new center Tomas Hertl. Mikkel Boedker will move up to the top line with Thornton and Pavelski to try to give him a boost as he has just one goal going into tonight’s game against his old team. Narrative Street anyone? Joonas Donskoi has two goals and three points skating on the second line with Couture. As you can see there are many ways to go with the Sharks tonight but you can never go wrong with the expensive Burns or the top line pair of Thornton and Pavelski.
Besides the fact that the Coyotes lost goaltender Mike Smith for the last seven games, they have also been out shot in every single one of those games as well. This does not bode well for the team or goaltender Louis Domingue as Arizona has only won one game during that time frame. To be fair, this is only Arizona’s third home game so far this year as they beat Philadelphia on opening night and just lost to a scrappy Colorado team by a score of 3-2 on Saturday night. Let’s assume for a second that the grueling road trip followed by a letdown at home is actually what happened here. If we assume that, then the new line of Max Domi, Martin Hanzal and Radim Vrbata should almost be considered for cash games and easily for GPPs. This could actually work out on home ice as both Domi and Vrbata have combined for nine points in the last five games. There’s no doubt they will be on the power play together with defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson as two of his five goals have come with the man advantage. Brad Richardson could be viewed as a one-off here I suppose as he has been pretty consistent by scoring seven points in the first eight games. San Jose does tend to give up some goals on the road so Arizona could be the sleeper team of the night.
Elite Plays
SJ: Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski
ARZ: None
Secondary Plays
SJ: Joe Thornton, Logan Couture, Patrick Marleau
ARZ: Max Domi, Martin Hanzal, Radim Vrbata, Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Anaheim Ducks at Los Angeles Kings
| Anaheim Ducks | Los Angeles Kings | ||||||||
 | John Gibson |  | Peter Budaj | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 2-3-1 | 2-3-0 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.33 | 2.56 | 15.00% | 85.20% | Team Stats | 2.11 | 2.89 | 17.60% | 73.70% |
Anaheim will look to Rickard Rakell to give the team a little bit more scoring depth as the five players on the team’s top power play unit occupy the first five spots on the Ducks scoring chart. Rakell will start out on the third line with Antoine Vermette and see minimal time on the second power play unit. He will however be given every chance to get back into the top six, which could be sooner than later. Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry skate on the first line and have eight and six points while defensemen Cam Fowler and Sami Vatanen are right there as well with seven and six points respectively. The Kings will try to shut down the line with Perry, Getzlaf and nick Ritchie so taking second liner Ryan Kesler as a one-off here may not be a bad idea. Jakob Silfverberg and Andrew Cogliano skate on the second line as well but it is Kesler who gets the exposure to Perry and Getzlaf while playing on the top power play unit.
The Kings are also shifting things around a bit as they too look to get a little more firepower for the arsenal. They finally figured out that Devin Setoguchi is not a top six forward so now they turn back to Dustin brown to fill that role. The injury to Marian Gaborik doesn’t help matters much so Brown finds himself on a line with Anze Kopitar and Tanner Pearson. Brown has earned it though as he has found the scoresheet four times over the last ten days. Jeff Carter stays with Tyler Toffoli on the second line and on the top power play unit as Dwight King drops from the first line to complete the trio for the second line. The team leader in points is none other than defenseman Alec Martinez who has also collected four of his seven points over the last ten days. Drew Doughty and Jake Muzzin are also options on the back line but with Martinez being promoted to the top power play unit with Doughty, it would appear that Muzzin is the odd man out here. Look for this to be close one that could go either way.
Elite Plays
ANA: Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf
LAK: None
Secondary Plays
ANA: Sami Vatanen, Cam Fowler
LAK: Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Alec Martinez, Tyler Toffoli, Drew Doughty