NHL Grind Down: Tuesday, November 22nd
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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St. Louis Blues at Boston Bruins
| St. Louis Blues | Boston Bruins | ||||||||
 | Jake Allen |  | Tuukka Rask | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 10-6-3 | 11-7-0 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.47 | 2.63 | 21.20% | 89.60% | Team Stats | 2.44 | 2.22 | 13.80% | 85.30% |
The Blues have this odd thing going on around them. Somehow they seem to winning close games and getting blown out in their losses which is the reason they are 10-6-3 and have scored 47 goals while giving up 51 of them. They also need to start winning games on the road as they are a dismal 2-5-1 away from Scottrade Center. St Louis has scored six power play goals over the last four games so taking the top line of Robby Fabbri, Vladimir Tarasenko and Jori Lehtera may not be a bad idea, even on the road. I think the slate is small enough that you will see Tarasenko and maybe even Fabbri in a lot of your cash games tonight. Tarasenko is the given but Fabbri has flourished since joining the top line as he has three goals and two assists over the last five games. David Perron skates on the second line and joins defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk on the team’s top power play unit with the Tarasenko line. Four of Perron’s last six points have come with the man advantage while Shattenkirk has lit the lamp once while assisting on three other goals over the last four games. Usually I like to take good second lines on the road as the top line is frequently saddled with the home team’s top defensive line. Paul Stastny and Jaden Schwartz join Perron on the second line that has a combined five goals and six assists over the last four games. The only problem I see here is that Tuukka Rask and the Bruins have been very stingy over the past eight games as they have given up just eight goals with only five of them coming at even strength. Alexander Steen did not skate with the team yesterday as he is nursing an upper-body injury.
David Pastrnak has started to skate on his own as the Bruins look to get their leading goal scorer back on the ice. Whether it is tonight or not remains to be seen as Riley Nash has been taking his place on the top line with Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron. David Krejci, Ryan Spooner and David Backes are the team’s other scoring line and also get the first shot when the team goes on the power play, Krejci leads the team with a goal and three assists over the past four games while defenseman Zdeno Chara has tallied three assists over that time span. Torey Krug gets the extra minutes when the team has the man advantage on the point as he joins the Krecji line with Bergeron rounding out the quintet. On a small slate such as this players like Bergeron make decent one-off plays as he has a good line mate in Marchand and gets the extra work on the power play unit. The Blues need to tighten up their road game as they have given up 11 goals in the last four games away from home.
Elite Plays
STL: Vladimir Tarasenko
BOS: Patrice Bergeron
Secondary Plays
STL: Robby Fabbri, Kevin Shattenkirk, Jaden Schwartz, David Perron
BOS: Brad Marchand, David Krejci, Torey Krug, David Backes
Carolina Hurricanes at Toronto Maple Leafs
| Carolina Hurricanes | Toronto Maple Leafs | ||||||||
 | Cam Ward |  | Frederik Andersen | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 6-6-4 | 8-7-3 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.59 | 2.82 | 18.40% | 90.70% | Team Stats | 3.17 | 3.28 | 21.60% | 84.20% |
Carolina has only given up four goals in their last four games as they won the last four games of the current home stand that ended with a 3-1 victory over Winnipeg Sunday night. Now they go back on the road to face a very tough Toronto team that plays well on home ice. It looks like the Hurricanes have reunited Jeff Skinner back with Victor Rask and Elias Lindholm which would seem to make Jordan Staal and Teuvo Teravainen decent GPP plays here tonight. Teravainen leads the team with two goals and four assists over the last four games. Staal has four points while Sebastian Aho joins completes the team’s second line with two goals and two assists over the last four games as well. Defensemen Justin Faulk and Jaccob Slavin have been seeing a lot of power play minutes of late but only have a Faulk assist to show for their hard work over the last four games. Skinner and Rask lead the team with 15 points apiece as Teravainen is the one-off here as those six points in the last four games more than double the four he had in the team’s first 11 games.
After a brief stint of shuffling up the lines it looks like the Maple Leafs have gone back to having William Nylander skate with Auston Matthews and Zach Hyman. Connor Brown returns to the third line to skate with Leo Komarov and Nazem Kadri while the line of Mitchell Marner, James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak has remained intact. This is the line you want to target tonight as Bozak is the playmaker while van Riemsdyk and Marner are the finishers as evidence by the combined seven goals Marner and van Riemsdyk have over the last four games. Although defenseman Jake Gardiner continues to see time on the top power play unit it has been Morgan Rielly who has been more productive as he has registered five of his 11 points over the last four games. Two of those came while having the man advantage as the Maple Leafs employ a fifty-fifty split when it comes to ice time when the draw a penalty. Carolina has been tough of late but they have been mostly home games. It is now up to Toronto to prove that Carolina isn’t as good as they have been in the past ten days.
Elite Plays
CAR: None
TOR: Mitchell Marner, James van Riemsdyk
Secondary Plays
CAR: Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask, Teuvo Teravainen, Justin Faulk
TOR: Nazem Kadri, Morgan Rielly, William Nylander
After a brief stint of shuffling up the lines it looks like the Maple Leafs have gone back to having William Nylander skate with Auston Matthews and Zach Hyman. Connor Brown returns to the third line to skate with Leo Komarov and Nazem Kadri while the line of Mitchell Marner, James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak has remained intact. This is the line you want to target tonight as Bozak is the playmaker while van Riemsdyk and Marner are the finishers as evidence by the combined seven goals Marner and van Riemsdyk have over the last four games. Although defenseman Jake Gardiner continues to see time on the top power play unit it has been Morgan Rielly who has been more productive as he has registered five of his 11 points over the last four games. Two of those came while having the man advantage as the Maple Leafs employ a fifty-fifty split when it comes to ice time when the draw a penalty. Carolina has been tough of late but they have been mostly home games. It is now up to Toronto to prove that Carolina isn’t as good as they have been in the past ten days.
Elite Plays
CAR: None
TOR: Mitchell Marner, James van Riemsdyk
Secondary Plays
CAR: Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask, Teuvo Teravainen, Justin Faulk
TOR: Nazem Kadri, Morgan Rielly, William Nylander
Ottawa Senators at Montréal Canadiens
| Ottawa Senators | Montréal Canadiens | ||||||||
 | Craig Anderson |  | Carey Price | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 10-7-1 | 14-3-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.06 | 2.56 | 9.40% | 88.50% | Team Stats | 3.16 | 2.16 | 22.80% | 82.20% |
The good news for the Senators is that both Bobby Ryan and Mike Hoffman skated with the team in practice yesterday and while Hoffman is good to go, Ryan still has a question mark or two surrounding him. Either way Ottawa has been experiencing a power outage as they have scored 14 goals in their last 11 games. They have won a few of them but like I mentioned over the weekend, they can’t continue to rely on their goaltending if they are to stay in the playoff hunt. Defenseman Erik Karlsson leads the team with 14 points thanks to the four assists he has racked up over the last five games. When you consider that the Senators have only scored seven goals in those four games you realize Karlsson has been in on more than half of them. Mark Stone and Kyle Turris hook up together on the team’s top power play unit as they each have two goals and an assist over the last five games. Sticking with Hoffman and line mate Derick Brassard may be the safest play here but the problem is that Montreal hasn’t been scoring many goals either of late. All of this information could point to a low scoring affair tonight.
Alexander Radulov looks to return to the line up just in the nick of time as the Canadiens have basically flat-lined since he was injured three games ago. Montreal has managed five power play goals over the past five games but Ottawa has clamped down in the department as they have not let up a goal while killing a penalty since October 22nd, 14 games ago. Radulov, Alex Galchenyuk and Paul Byron are the play here on home ice as they look to get back to scoring more goals than the other team. Galchenyuk leads the team with 19 points in 19 games with Radulov right behind him with 16 points in 17 games. Either Andrei Markov or Shea Weber are in play from the defensive side of things as both play the point on the power play and have a combined 10 points in the last five games. Max Pacioretty skates on the third line while David Desharnais gets time on the team’s fourth line but both draw Radulov, Markov and Weber when the team heads to the power play. Breandan Gallagher and Tomas Plekanec skate on the second line and probably only have value in deeper GPP action while sticking with the Galchenyuk line makes the most sense for cash games tonight. As a side note here, Montreal is yet to lose a game at home as they are 11-0-1 in front of the home crowd.
Elite Plays
OTT: Erik Karlsson
MTL: Alexander Radulov
Secondary Plays
OTT: Mike Hoffman, Derick Brassard, Kyle Turris
MTL: Alex Galchenyuk, Shea Weber, Andrei Markov, Max Pacioretty
Philadelphia Flyers at Florida Panthers
| Philadelphia Flyers | Florida Panthers | ||||||||
 | Steve Mason |  | Roberto Luongo | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 8-8-3 | 9-8-1 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.16 | 3.42 | 25.00% | 78.20% | Team Stats | 2.68 | 2.63 | 14.80% | 83.30% |
The Philadelphia Flyers continue to be one of the most mediocre teams in the league. With just two wins in the last seven games the Flyers have dropped to sixth place in the Metropolitan division with an 8-8-3 record. The good thing is, up until last game, they at least were scoring goals. In a switch of left wingers it now seems that Claude Giroux and Brayden Schenn will now have Jakub Voracek on the top line while Wayne Simmonds drops down to the second line with Travis Konecny and Sean Couturier. This is a lateral move in my opinion as both Couturier and Konecny do not score enough to make the Flyers a two line team. Simmonds is the one-off play here on the road as he now skates on the second line while seeing the top minutes in front of the net when the team has the man advantage. He also has lit the lamp three times over the last four games while adding an assist to boot. Giroux and Voracek can be used as GPP plays here as they both lead the team in scoring with 17 points apiece through the first 19 games so far this season. Shayne Gostisbehere took a seat in the press box a few games ago and did have three shots on goal in the Flyers 3-0 loss to the Tampa bay Lightning on Saturday night. Mark Streit was hot for a little while but now it’s been Michael Del Zotto who has grabbed three points over the last five games while getting 13 shots on goal.
The Panthers switched up their lines a few games ago and so far it’s worked out pretty good as they have won their last two games on the road against Ottawa the Metropolitan division leading New York Rangers. Moreover they have won four of their last five games while having 11 players register two or more points over those five games. The top line would now seem to be Jussi Jokinen, Jaromir Jagr and Aleksander Barkov while the team scoring leader in Jonathan Marchessault skates with Vincent Trocheck and Reilly Smith. Nick Bjugstad looks to make his season debut as he will center Denis Malgin and Colton Sceviour. Philadelphia has given up a whopping 67 goals so far which is easily the most in the league. I am not opposed to taking any part of the first two lines for cash play on the five game slate that is presented to us this evening. You could even roll the dice on the third line for GPP play as Malgin has collected a goal and two assists over the last five games. Aaron Ekblad and Keith Yandle man the points when the Panthers have the man advantage so either one is an acceptable play tonight especially Ekblad as he has garnered three of his five goals in the last five games. He has no assists so far this season.
Elite Plays
PHL: Claude Giroux
FLA: None
Secondary Plays
PHL: Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn
FLA: Jonathan Marchessault, Vincent Trocheck, Jaromir Jagr, Aleksander Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle
New York Islanders at Anaheim Ducks
| New York Islanders | Anaheim Ducks | ||||||||
 | Jaroslav Halak |  | John Gibson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 5-8-4 | 9-6-3 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.47 | 3.06 | 12.00% | 79.70% | Team Stats | 2.63 | 2.42 | 21.70% | 86.20% |
The Islanders have only won one game out of eight so far in November so it’s no wonder they are now considered one of the worst teams in the league. Their 14 points are tied with the Arizona Coyotes for the dubious honor of having the least points in the league. Even this team has made John Tavares look almost human as the team leader in scoring has just five goals and 13 points in the first 17 games. Tavares has had Josh baily on his line for most of the season but has seen quite a few players line up on his right. Ryan Strome is the most recent candidate and which should basically render this line useless on the road tonight. The Islanders are yet to win a game on the road as they have only scored nine goals in the five games that they have played away from Barclay’s Center. I always talk about how Andrew Ladd has been a non-factor so far this season as he skates on the second line with Brock Nelson and Shane Prince. Nelson seems to be a GPP one-off here as he does have five goals and seven assists so far this season while playing on the second line and the team’s top power play unit. Nick Leddy and Calvin de Haan are battling it out for the scoring lead in terms of where the defensive corps is concerned. Leddy gets the top power play minutes and has seven points while de Haan grabbed a goal and five assists so far this season.
Anaheim lost a tough battle to the Los Angeles Kings on home ice Sunday night by a score of 3-2. They need to get back to work tonight as that loss put them in a three-way tie for first place in the Pacific going into last night’s play. Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf will no doubt be two of the higher owned players in tonight’s cash games. Nick Ritchie completes the team’s top line and can be used only if you need some salary relief as he does not get the extra minutes when the team goes on the power play. Ryan Kesler picks up the slack there and makes a great one-off play tonight because of it as he has netted four goals in his last five games. You can also look to Kesler and the second line for a nice GPP play tonight as Jakob Silfverberg has scored eight of his 13 points while Andrew Cogliano has added three assists over the last five games. Cam Fowler is the play here over fellow defenseman Sami Vatanen as six of Fowler’s 11 points have been when the Ducks have had the man advantage. Rickard Rakell has accumulated 10 points in 10 games and makes for a decent one-off in GPP play tonight.
Elite Plays
NYI: None
ANA: Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf
Secondary Plays
NYI: John Tavares, Brock Nelson, Nick Leddy
ANA: Ryan Kesler, Cam Fowler, Jakob Silfverberg