NHL Grind Down: Tuesday, November 29th - Page Two
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New Jersey Devils at Winnipeg Jets
| New Jersey Devils | Winnipeg Jets | ||||||||
 | Cory Schneider |  | Connor Hellebuyck | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 10-6-5 | 10-12-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.43 | 2.57 | 14.50% | 83.10% | Team Stats | 2.58 | 2.92 | 14.60% | 79.50% |
Since the return of Mike Cammalleri the Devils have scored 11 goals over the last three games. Cammalleri has four of them while assisting on four others and grabbing three power play points in the process. New Jersey has only scored three goals with the man advantage over the last three games while Winnipeg has given up a whopping seven goals over the last five games after they take a penalty. Travis Zajac skates on the top line with Cammalleri and has five points to his credit over the last five games making them an easy GPP play and almost a borderline cash game play tonight. Adam Henrique and P.A. Parenteau also get some power play time from the second line but really can’t be trusted as they have nine and eight points respectively through 21 games played so far this season. On the blue line Dominic Moore has made a splash over the last four games while assisting on four goals, meanwhile Damon Severson as he has none of his 12 points over the last five games. Cammalleri is hot so riding solo with him is not a bad idea, especially against Winnipeg’s suddenly porous penalty kill unit.
After losing all five games on their last road trip the Winnipeg Jets came home to shutout the Nashville Predators buy a score of 3-0 on Sunday afternoon. Tonight they look to improve on their 7-4 home record as they host the New Jersey Devils. The top line of Nikolaj Ehlers, Patrik Laine and Mark Scheifele is the line to target here as all three occupy the top three spots on the Jets scoring chart. Blake Wheeler makes for a fine one-off play here as he gets the top power play minutes with the Scheifele line while playing on the second line with Drew Stafford and the returning Bryan Little. I wouldn’t get too excited just yet about Little’s return as he is going to keep his shifts shorter than usual tonight. Nonetheless, he is back with Wheeler making the Jets an ‘almost’ two-line team. Defenseman Dustin Byfuglien has started to get his game together as he now has 61 shots on goal to go along with 12 points so far this season. That five game losing streak makes the Jets statistics sag a little bit as they only managed six goals in that game. They did however get back to their scoring ways at home as they have scored at least three goals in each of their last home games. This is exactly what a one line team is supposed to look like, but don’t get me started as it doesn’t have to be that way with this team.
Elite Plays
NJ: Mike Cammalleri
WIN: Mark Scheifele
Secondary Plays
NJ: Travis Zajac, Dominic Moore
WIN: Nikolaj Ehlers, Patrik Laine, Blake Wheeler, Dustin Byfuglien
Florida Panthers at Chicago Blackhawks
| Florida Panthers | Chicago Blackhawks | ||||||||
 | Roberto Luongo |  | Corey Crawford | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 11-10-1 | 14-6-3 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.50 | 2.59 | 14.70% | 81.30% | Team Stats | 2.83 | 2.52 | 17.70% | 70.80% |
The Panther brass was going to wait until after their current six game road trip was over but after a 3-2 loss to Carolina they couldn’t wait any longer. They fired head coach Gerard Gallant. It will be interesting to see how the Panthers respond here on the road against Chicago as there is no doubt that the top line of Aleksander Barkov, Jaromir Jagr and Jussi Jokinen will be blanketed tonight. Jokinen is the odd man out here as both Barkov and Jagr have found the scoresheet at least five times over the last five games. They also get the extra ice time when the team draws a penalty along with second-liner and team leader in goals and points, Jonathan Marchessault. Keith Yandle has been consistent from the blue line as he and fellow defenseman Aaron Ekblad get the duties on the point when the team has the man advantage. The Blackhawks are coming off of a brutal seven game road trip so if you are a believer of a team not playing up to par in their first home game back, then Florida may be the team for you tonight.
Marian Hossa and Artem Anisimov both has maintenance days yesterday and should be fine to play in tonight’s contest against the Florida Panthers. The top line of Anisimov, Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin is the line to target as head coach Joel Quenneville will have his choice of lines to match them up with on the Florida side of things. Jonathan Toews will not return tonight which will leave Hossa, Vinnie Hinostroza and Ryan Hartman to handle the second line duties. Both Kane and Panarin have four points over the last five games while Hossa leads the team in goals with 11. Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook join the Kane line to form the team’s top power play unit which has only found the back of the net three times in the last 11 games. Chicago is 8-1-2 at home and should be in a lot of your cash game line ups tonight.
Elite Plays
FLA: None
CHI: Patrick Kane
Secondary Plays
FLA: Aleksander Barkov, Jaromir Jagr, Jonathan Marchessault, Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle
CHI: Artemi Panarin, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Marian Hossa
Nashville Predators at Colorado Avalanche
| Nashville Predators | Colorado Avalanche | ||||||||
 | Pekka Rinne |  | Calvin Pickard | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 10-8-3 | 9-10-1 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.86 | 2.48 | 23.80% | 85.10% | Team Stats | 2.20 | 2.85 | 15.60% | 77.80% |
The bad news for the Nashville Predators is that they lost their top goal scorer in James Neal for an undisclosed amount of time with an upper-body injury. This has forced head coach Peter Laviolette to shuffle up the lines a bit as Filip Forsberg will take his place on the top line with Ryan Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson. Mike Ribeiro makes for a nice one-off play here as he skates on the second line with Kevin Fiala and Craig Smith but has had a hand in two of the six power play goals the Predators have scored. If you are thinking that Neal supplied a lot of that power play offense he did score once and assist on another while Ryan Johansen led the team as he had a hand in half of those six goals. It looks like your GPP pairing will be third liners Mike Fisher and Colin Wilson. Both players will now work with Johansen on the top power play unit and should have some room to skate as Colorado will be more concentrated on shutting down the Johansen line than they will the Fisher line. Roman Josi and P.K. Subban are the plays on defense as they both have registered four points over the last five games while playing quarterback on the team’s two power play units, Josi with the first and Subban with the second.
As bad as the Avalanche are, with a win tonight they can pull within two points of a fourth place tie with the Predators provided the Dallas Stars don’t come away with a win tonight against the Detroit Red Wings. Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene are the only Colorado players who are averaging more than a half of a point per game. Scoring 44 goals in 20 games will give a team some bad statistics and the Avalanche are no exception. The good thing is that MacKinnon and line mate Mikko Rantanen have done some work over the last four games by finding the scoresheet five times apiece. This is obviously the line to target as they will be matched up against the weaker Nashville lines tonight. Matt Duchene makes for a decent one-off play here as he gets the extra time on the top power play unit while grabbing 13 points in the 16 games he’s played in. Defensively Tyson Barrie and Erik Johnson are the plays here as Johnson gets the first crack on the power play while Barrie gets the second line duties with the man advantage. Both players have three points over the last four games and that’s a heckuva lot better than they have been doing.
h3. Elite Plays
NSH: Ryan Johansen
COL: Nathan MacKinnon
Secondary Plays
NSH: Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, P.K. Subban
COL: Mikko Rantanen, Matt Duchene, Tyson Barrie
Toronto Maple Leafs at Edmonton Oilers
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Edmonton Oilers | ||||||||
 | Frederik Andersen |  | Cam Talbot | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 9-8-4 | 12-9-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.14 | 3.19 | 21.00% | 83.10% | Team Stats | 2.91 | 2.52 | 17.40% | 87.70% |
In an effort to generate some more offense, the Maple Leafs have shuffled up their lines as most teams usually do. James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Mitchell Marner have been the only line that has remained intact over the last two weeks as Marner and van Riemsdyk lead the team in points with 18 through the first 21 games. Auston Matthews and Connor Brown have gained some chemistry over the last five games as they have tallied five pints each with Matthews netting three goals. Nikita Soshnikov has pushed William Nylander to the fourth line and will now skate with Leo Komarov and Nazem Kadri. Komarov and Kadri haven’t been bad lately either as they have combined for nine points over the last five games. Edmonton will try to shut down the Bozak line which makes Auston Matthews a decent one-off play here. Jake Gardiner is the play on the back line as he gets the top minutes on a power play unit that has scored three goals in the last four games. This is a rematch from November first in which Toronto was outshot 31-46 but came away with a 3-2 overtime win in Toronto. The venue changes tonight with the Oilers looking for some revenge.
The Edmonton Oilers look to rebound here as there was clearly something on their minds when they decided to drop a home and home series to the Arizona Coyotes. Connor McDavid, Milan Lucic and Jesse Puljujarvi is the line to target here on home ice as McDavid has grabbed ten points over the last five games. Not to mention the fact that he leads the team in both goals and assists with ten and 19 respectively. Lucic must feel like he’s back on the 2011 Boston Bruins when he registered 62 points in 79 games. So far he has 16 points with seven of them coming in the last five games. Leon Draisaitl makes for a decent one-off play here in cash games as he also has tallied seven points in the last five games while playing on the team’s third line. He also has the benefit of playing next to McDavid and Lucic on the team’s top power play unit. Jordan Eberle has the same courtesy as Draisaitl , which is why he has 17 points so far this season while his line mates in Patrick Maroon and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins have just ten points in 23 games. Oscar Klefbom has found the promised-land since being moved to quarterback the top power play unit. Klefbom leads the team with Lucic over the last five games with 19 shots on goal while registering half of his eight points over that same time frame. Look for Edmonton to score a few tonight against a Toronto team that just has one road win all season.
Elite Plays
TOR: None
EDM: Connor McDavid
Secondary Plays
TOR: James van Riemsdyk, Mitchell Marner, Auston Matthews, Nazem Kadri
EDM: Milan Lucic, Leon Draisaitl, Oscar Klefbom, Jordan Eberle
Arizona Coyotes at San Jose Sharks
| Arizona Coyotes | San Jose Sharks | ||||||||
 | Mike Smith |  | Martin Jones | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 8-10-2 | 12-9-1 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.40 | 3.15 | 12.10% | 79.70% | Team Stats | 2.36 | 2.18 | 17.40% | 84.90% |
If you look real closely you will see that although Arizona is the worst team in the Western conference they are just a few goals away from being a better team. Of their 20 games so far 15 have been decided by just one goal and all they need to do is get the offense in gear and they could be set. The Coyotes have only scored ten goals over the last five games and the top line of Max Domi, Martin Hanzal and Radim Vrbata account for four of them. San Jose has given up just six goals in their last four home games so maybe taking the top line as a deeper GPP play is in order here. Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Anthony DeAngelo join the top line to form the team’s top power play unit that has hasn’t tallied a goal in the last three games. San Jose has given up a three goals with a man in the box over the last 13 times they have taken a penalty. DeAngelo is the cheap play here as he has racked up three assists over the last four games. The second line of Christian Dvorak, Jamie McGinn and Anthony Duclair have 18 points between them so maybe looking at Tobias Rieder and Shane Doan could provide the one-offs you are looking for in deeper GPP’s for salary relief.
The Sharks look to improve on their 7-3 home record tonight as they host the Arizona Coyotes. Besides the errant points for say a Chris Tierney or a Paul Martin most of the Sharks scoring comes from the players that get the extra minutes on the team’s top power play unit. Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton make up the team’s top line. They are joined by second-liner Logan Couture who has scored three goals in the last five games while defenseman extraordinaire Brent Burns completes a power play unit that has not only scored three goals over the last five games, but also sees a majority of the ice time when the Sharks have the man advantage. Burns has six points over the last five games and leads the team in scoring with 20 points in the first 22 games. Marleau and Pavelski make a good cash game pair as Thornton has fallen off a bit in the production department since Marleau joined the top line a few games ago. Look for a lot of Sharks in your cash games tonight.
Elite Plays
ARZ: None
SJ: Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns
Secondary Plays
ARZ: Max Domi, Radim Vrbata, Anthony DeAngelo, Oliver Ekman-Larsson
SJ: Logan Couture, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau