NHL Grind Down: Tuesday, October 20th - Page 2
Tampa Bay Lightning at Nashville Predators – 08:00 PM EDT
| Tampa Bay Lightning | Nashville Predators | ||||||||
 | Ben Bishop |  | Pekka Rinne | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 50-24 | 47-25 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.16 | 2.51 | 18.80% | 83.70% | Team Stats | 2.76 | 2.46 | 16.20% | 80.80% |
With the Lightning headed to Nashville to take on the Predators, we’re getting another glimpse at two of the best teams from their respective conferences doing battle tonight. The Lightining kick off a grueling four game road trip tonight and should be very eager to get things started off with two points. However, they dropped both meetings against the Predators last season and were an entirely different team away from Amalie Arena (18-16-7 on the road). The Lightning are powered by a pair of very dangerous forward lines, and while both top lines are acceptable options even in tough matchups, facing the Predators at the Bridgestone Arena is one of the few matchups that push them off my cash game radar. It looks like they’ll finally get Victor Hedman back tonight, but again, this is one of their worst matchups of the season.
The NHL scheduling gods granted the Predators a fairly easy start to the season, but they’ve been tested against some improved competition in their last two games and things are certainly about to get tougher for them as the next three weeks look like a very punishing schedule. Nashville posted an impressive 28-9-4 record at the Bridgestone Arena last season and I already touched on Tampa’s struggles away from home last season, but this game is highly unlikely to be the most fantasy friendly game on the board today. Nashville should be content trying to slow this game down and grinding their way to two points, but that top line of Forsberg, Fisher and Neal is easily the most appealing by fantasy standards. On defense, the trio of Shea Weber, Roman Josi and Seth Jones are all very capable of posting solid offensive numbers, but the same logic applies here; I simply don’t expect a ton of offense.
Elite Plays
TBL: Steven Stamkos
NSH: Filip Forsberg, James Neal
Secondary Plays
TBL: Jonathan Drouin, Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman, Ben Bishop
NSH: Mike Fisher, Shea Weber, Roman Josi, Seth Jones, Pekka Rinne
Washington Capitals at Calgary Flames – 09:00 PM EDT
| Washington Capitals | Calgary Flames | ||||||||
 | Braden Holtby |  | Jonas Hiller | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 45-26 | 45-30 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.89 | 2.43 | 25.30% | 81.20% | Team Stats | 2.89 | 2.60 | 18.80% | 80.60% |
The Capitals will hit the road for the first time this season as they start their tour of western Canada in Calgary tonight. While the Flames have now dropped three straight games and find themselves owning an ugly 1-4-0 record, the Capitals have posted back-to-back 4-1 victories and enter tonight’s game with a 3-1-0 record. Washington was excited to welcome Nicklas Backstrom back to the lineup against Carolina and the star forward contributed immediately by scoring a goal and adding two assists. It’s worth noting that he did this as the center of the Capitals second forward line, playing apart from Alex Ovechkin for the first time in years. While separating those two stars may be better for the overall balance of the Capitals scoring this season, it certainly can’t be beneficial for Backstrom’s overall numbers (although they will share plenty of ice-time together on the point of the Capitals top ranked power-play unit). Both T.J. Oshie and Evgeny Kuznetsov find themselves sharing the ice with Mr. Ovechkin on the team’s top forward line, and all three are fine options against this rather small Calgary team that ranked 28th in the league by Corsi standards last season (44.5 CF%). John Carlson leads this team in points so far on the young season, as the blue-liner has already scored a goal and dished out three assists over the first three games. With him slated to see an abundance of playing time on the point of that lethal #1 power-play unit, he’s a top-tier option.
After five games, the Flames find themselves in the cellar of the Pacific Division and they desperately need to get things turned around quickly. The Flames may have overachieved a bit last season, but they’re loaded with young offensive talent and can lean on four quality defenseman to log huge minutes on a nightly basis. Offensively, Johnny Gaudreau has headlined a top line (alongside Jiri Hudler and Sean Monahan) that developed into one of the most dangerous scoring lines in the NHL last season, but after the early season struggles, Bob Hartley has finally decided to shake things up. Jiri Hudler appears likely to slip down onto the second line with Michael Frolik taking his spot alongside Gaudreau and Monahan. The idea is obviously to create some consistent secondary scoring, but the fantasy fallout is pretty clear: Frolik becomes an excellent value option as long as he sticks on that line, and Hudler’s outlook takes a big hit although he’ll still play with his former teammates on the #1 power-play unit. Defensively, Dougie Hamilton and Mark Giordano will likely end the season with the most fantasy friendly stats, but it’s been Dennis Wideman leading the charge thus far as he’s already picked up five assists.
Elite Plays
WAS: Alex Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson
CGY: Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Mark Giordano
Secondary Plays
WAS: Evgeny Kuznetsov, Braden Holtby
CGY: Michael Frolik, Jiri Hudler, Dougie Hamilton, Dennis Wideman