NHL Grind Down: Wednesday, March 15th
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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Pittsburgh Penguins at Philadelphia Flyers
| Pittsburgh Penguins | Philadelphia Flyers | ||||||||
 | Matt Murray |  | Steve Mason | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 43-16-9 | 31-29-8 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.47 | 2.75 | 22.70% | 80.30% | Team Stats | 2.50 | 2.94 | 20.30% | 79.50% |
With all of the injuries the Pittsburgh Penguins have endured over the season they still have managed to rack up a 43-16-9 record which is good enough to be tied atop the NHL with Washington going into last night’s action. Patric Hornqvist, Kris Letang and Carl Hagelin along with four other players did not participate in Monday’s 4-3 shootout loss in Calgary Monday night. Tonight they face their division rivals in the form of the Philadelphia Flyers who have lost four of their last five games and were six points out of a playoff spot going into last night’s games. Sidney Crosby centers Conor Sheary and Jake Guentzel on the top line while Evgeni Malkin skates with Chris Kunitz and Phil Kessel on the team’s second line. The injury to Hornqvist has prompted a few line changes one of which has Kunitz jump up on the team’s top power play unit with Crosby, Malkin and Kessel. Crosby and Malkin lead the team with 74 and 72 points respectively while Kessel leads the team with a whopping 28 power play points. It’s actually a bit easier with all the injuries to roster players like Guentzel and Sheary with more confidence as they have always done well when either skating next to Crosby or Malkin this season. Sheary has notched 43 points in 48 games while Guentzel has 21 points to his credit in the 31 games he has suited up for. Justin Schultz could be the play of the night here as he soaks up all of the ice time when the Penguins have the extra attacker. Schultz has lit the lamp 12 times so far this season while adding 34 assists to his resume. Pittsburgh should be able to find a way to come away with the victory tonight.
The Flyers come into this one with just four wins in the last 12 games and those wins have come against Buffalo, Florida, Colorado and Vancouver. All of those teams are in the same boat as the Flyers as they would not be playing any extra hockey after the regular season ends. Travis Konecny is back and skating on the second line with Valtteri Filppula while Claude Giroux centers the top line with Jordan Weal and Wayne Simmonds. Brayden Schenn slips to the third line to play with Sean Couturier and Matt Read. The problem the Flyers have is that they do not have a sniper who can be consistently counted on to put the puck in the back of the net. Simmonds is the closest thing they have as his 28 goals is closing him on his second 30 goal season in a row. After that Schenn’s 20 goals are second best with 15 of them coming with the extra attacker. Simmonds and Schenn join Voracek and Giroux on the team’s top power play unit that has tallied just two goals in their last 26 tries. Shayne Gostisbehere and Ivan Provorov are the choices on the back line with Gostisbehere being the safer play by default. He sees most of the power play time but yet has only 30 points while Provorov trails him with five goals and 19 assists. The Flyers have been in a team in disarray for most of the season, save that 10 game winning streak they had, so I wouldn’t expect any miracles tonight.
Elite Plays
PIT: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin
PHL: Wayne Simmonds
Secondary Plays
PIT: Phil Kessel, Justin Schultz, Conor Sheary
PHL: Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, Brayden Schenn, Shayne Gostisbehere
Boston Bruins at Calgary Flames
| Boston Bruins | Calgary Flames | ||||||||
 | Tuukka Rask |  | Brian Elliott | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 37-26-6 | 39-26-4 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.81 | 2.57 | 20.50% | 86.20% | Team Stats | 2.71 | 2.65 | 20.20% | 80.80% |
Boston comes into this one on a modest three game winning streak which pales in comparison to the 10 consecutive games the Calgary Flames have been able to win over the last few weeks. Both of Boston’s top lines have been scoring of late and that is almost always the reason as to why teams can win seven games out of 10. It’s always tougher for a one line team to go on a run because it’s so easy to shut them down. Brad Marchand leads the team with 35 goals and 39 points while skating on the top line Patrice Bergeron and David Backes. Marchand has also tallied two power play goals over the last eight games which could also figure into the equation here as the Bruins have scored a power play goal in four of their last five games. David Pastrnak is the one-off here as he skates with David Krejci and Drew Stafford on the team’s second line. Pastrnak gets the extra ice time when the bruins are on the power play and has accumulated 60 points so far this season. The Flames will shut down the Marchand line which should leave some room on the ice for Pastrnak and company to generate some scoring chances. Defenseman Torey Krug is the play on the back line as he also gets to quarterback the team’s top power play unit. Krug has put together a nice season as 20 of his 45 points have come with the man advantage. Clearly the Flames are on a roll and it’s up to the Bruins to put the fire out tonight.
Calgary has shot up into second place in the Pacific Division as their 10 game winning streak has the team with 82 points. The Kings are 10 points below them in ninth place with 72 points which almost guarantees the Flames a berth in the end of the season tournament. Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan have led the troops over the last 10 games by combining for 25 points while skating together at even strength and on the top power play unit. Michael Ferland is their line mate at even strength and could make a decent punt play here just based on his exposure to his talented line mates. Mikael Backlund, Matthew Tkachuk and Michael Frolik skate on the team’s second line and subsequently get the second line duties when the Flames have the extra attacker. All three players have registered over 40 points apiece so far this season and could be used here as a tournament stack. Defenseman Dougie Hamilton is the safest play here even though T.J. Brodie continues to get the extra time with the top power play unit. Hamilton has racked up 10 of his 44 points over the last 10 games while Brodie has registered 29 points so far this season. It seems pretty cut and dried here as the Flames seek their 11th win in as many games.
Elite Plays
BOS: Brad Marchand
CGY: Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan
Secondary Plays
BOS: David Pastrnak, Torey Krug, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, David Backes
CGY: Dougie Hamilton, Matthew Tkachuk, Mikael Backlund, Michael Frolik
St. Louis Blues at Anaheim Ducks
| St. Louis Blues | Anaheim Ducks | ||||||||
 | Jake Allen |  | John Gibson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 36-27-5 | 36-23-10 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.76 | 2.78 | 22.30% | 83.80% | Team Stats | 2.58 | 2.49 | 19.00% | 84.90% |
St Louis comes into Anaheim on a roll as they have won their last five games they have played. Their 3-1 win in Los Angeles on Monday night was huge as that opened up a five point lead over the ninth place Kings. The Blues 77 points are good enough for the eighth seed if the playoffs were to start today but with a few more wins St Louis could move higher up the Western Conference playoff seeding chart. Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz and Paul Stastny skate as the team’s first line while Alexander Steen joins them form the second line to form the team’s top power play unit. The Blues have tallied four power play goals over the last five games so looking here first isn’t a bad idea. Tarasenko’s 32 goals and 61 points lead the team while Steen’s 44 points is surely one-off worthy here. David Perron and Patrik Berglund skate with Steen on the second line and could be used as another tournament stack here tonight. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo leads the team with seven points over the last eight games and seems comfortable filling in for the departed Kevin Shattenkirk on the back line of the top power play unit. Pietrangelo has been in on all of the last four goals the Blues have scored with extra attacker and should be a consideration for all formats tonight. The Blues are hot as they go for their second west coast wins over the last here nights.
Anaheim comes into this one tied for second in the Pacific Division with the Calgary Flames. The Ducks are coming off an impressive 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals and look to improve on their 22-8-3 record in front of the home crowd tonight. Ryan Getzlaf, Patrick Eaves and Rickard Rakell will lead the way as they skate together as the team’s top line with Eaves being the odd man out in favor of Ryan Kesler when the team has the man advantage. Getzlaf has notched 11 of his team leading 56 points over the last eight games while Rakell’s seven goals is by far the most over that same time frame of eight games. Andrew Cogliano and Jakob Silfverberg skate with Kesler at even strength and could be used as a tournament play tonight. Kelser has lit the lamp 20 times en route to 50 points while Silfverberg’s 41 points is good enough for fifth on the team in scoring. Corey Perry makes for an interesting one-off here as he has dropped to the third line and the team’s second power play unit. Perry has racked up six of his 46 points over the last eight games and has 185 shots on goal to his credit so far his season. Cam Fowler and Sami Vatanen man the points when the Ducks have the extra attacker with Fowler being the safer play. Vatanen has been able to muster 22 points so far this season but that pales in comparison to Fowler’s 33 points in which 12 have come with the man advantage. Look for this one to be very entertaining as it may even be a preview to one of the playoff round match ups.
Elite Plays
STL: Vladimir Tarasenko
ANA: Ryan Getzlaf
Secondary Plays
STL: Jaden Schwartz, Alexander Steen, Alex Pietrangelo, Paul Stastny
ANA: Rickard Rakell, Patrick Eaves, Ryan Kesler, Corey Perry, Cam Fowler
Detroit Red Wings at Colorado Avalanche
| Detroit Red Wings | Colorado Avalanche | ||||||||
 | Jimmy Howard |  | Calvin Pickard | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 26-30-11 | 19-46-3 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.37 | 3.01 | 12.70% | 81.20% | Team Stats | 1.89 | 3.25 | 13.30% | 78.20% |
It’s almost a shame that this game has to be part of a four game slate as both teams occupy the respective basements in the divisions they are in. The Red Wings are a slightly better team as it’s awfully tough to be as bad as the Avalanche and their 131 goals scored in 68 games is pretty tough to beat in terms of futility. Henrik Zetterberg , Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist will stay together as the team’s top line while Anthony Mantha and Frans Nielsen will try to provide some scoring punch from the second line. Zetterberg leads the team with 55 points while Tatar’s three goals over the last eight games has him in front of the rest of the team with a total of 17 goals. Nielsen and Mantha make for an interesting tournament duo as both can score at times and should be able to generate a few more scoring chances than usual as the Avalanche will try to shut down the Zetterberg line. Now whether they can do that still remains to be seen as Colorado also has given up 222 goals so far this season. Andreas Athanasiou, Justin Abdelkader and Dylan Larkin are also in play in terms of tournaments as it’s anything goes when the Avalanche are involved. They also make a nice play because they do have some upside and you will need to be a bit contrarian to take down a GPP on a four game slate. Mike Green and Niklas Kronwall are the choices on the back line with Green being the safer of the two as he leads all Detroit defensemen with 29 points so far this season. Although Colorado is a bad team, Detroit isn’t that great either and we know what happens when bad teams get together.
The Avalanche are just plating out the rest of the schedule as they have won just two of their last eight games. They always have trouble scoring and really cannot be counted on for cash game plays even if this was a one game slate. Matt Duchene will center the top line with Gabriel Landeskog and Rene Bourque while Nathan MacKinnon will center Sven Andrighetto and Mikko Rantanen on the second line. Duchene leads the team with 16 goals while MacKinnon’s 44 points is tops on the team. Landeskog leads the team with four goals over the last 11 games so maybe sticking with Duchene and Landeskog as a tournament pairing and MacKinnon as a one-off is the way to go tonight. Tyson Barrie and Mark Barberio take the points on the power play but Barrie is the safer pick here as he not only has the team lead with six points in the last 11 games, he also has 31 points on the season which is good enough for third on the team. Colorado is not a good team so using them in tournaments tonight is about as far as you should go.
Elite Plays
DET: Henrik Zetterberg
COL: None
Secondary Plays
DET: Tomas Tatar, Gustav Nyquist, Anthony Mantha, Frans Nielsen, Mike Green
COL: Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog, Tyson Barrie