NHL Grind Down: Wednesday, March 16th - Page Two
New York Rangers at Anaheim Ducks – 10:30 PM EDT
| New York Rangers | Anaheim Ducks | ||||||||
 | Antti Raanta |  | John Gibson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 39-23-7 | 38-21-9 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.81 | 2.59 | 18.60% | 77.20% | Team Stats | 2.51 | 2.29 | 23.40% | 86.90% |
With an overtime loss in Pittsburgh last night, the New York Islanders pulled even with the Rangers in a dogfight for home ice-advantage in the likely cross-town opening round matchup in the NHL playoffs. With the Rangers owning some fairly drastic home vs road splits this season, they should be hungry to kick off a three game California road trip with two points. However, with the Ducks rolling right now and allowing just 2.29 goals against per game this season, this is clearly not an ideal matchup. To make things a bit more complicated, Alain Vigneault hasn’t done any of us any favors as he’s spread his top offensive options across three forward lines. Derek Stepan has been playing quite well lately as the center of Chris Kreider and Mats Zuccarello on the top line. He dished out a pair of assists in Pittsburgh on Sunday to extend his point streak to five games and now owns seven goals and nine assists in his last 16 games. Alternatively, Derick Brassard has lit the lamp in three straight games and scored two goals and added an assists in the only other meeting between these teams this season. Rick Nash returned to action over the weekend, and while he’s yet to find the scoresheet, he’ll join Eric Staal on what is likely the most dangerous “third” line in the NHL. Both Ryan McDonagh and Keith Yandle are the top options on the blue-line but really see a dent in their fantasy value as the Ducks own the NHL’s best penalty-kill (86.9%).
The Ducks have been the NHL’s best team since the All-Star break, but with Los Angeles appearing to have their foot back on the gas, they’re still trailing their cross-town rivals in the Pacific Division. Anaheim has posted a 18-3-2 record in the second half of the season and just exploded for seven goals against the New Jersey Devils on Monday night. With a five game road-trip looming at the end of the week, they should be very hungry to keep pace with Los Angeles and pick up two points tonight against the visiting Rangers. Ryan Getzlaf leads the charge for the Ducks and their captain has come on strong in the second half, with eight goals and 14 assists in 20 games. He’s bringing the best out of his new winger David Perron as Perron has posted an impressive eight goals, 11 assists and a plus 12 in 25 games since being acquired by Anaheim. Corey Perry and Rickard Rakell have developed a nice rapport on the second line and both players join Getzlaf and Perron on the top power-play unit. With the Rangers owning the league’s 27th ranked penalty kill, all four look like fine options this evening. While those four see most of the attention from fantasy owners and opposing defenses alike, Ryan Kesler and Jakob Silfverberg showed off their offensive upside on Monday and have plenty of GPP appeal. On defense, Sami Vatanen was held out of Monday’s game with an upper-body injury and his status for tonight is unclear. If he’s unable to lace things up, both Cam Fowler and Hampus Lindholm would be locked into huge minutes and see plenty of run with the man-advantage.
New York Rangers
CF%: 47.6, CP60: 107.4, 5×5 Differential: 34
Elite Options: Derek Stepan, Mats Zuccarello
Secondary Options: Rick Nash, Chris Kreider, Derick Brassard, Keith Yandle, Ryan McDonagh
Anaheim Ducks
CF%: 53.1, CP60: 107.8, 5×5 Differential: -8
Elite Options: Ryan Getzlaf, David Perron, Corey Perry
Secondary Options: Rickard Rakell, Ryan Kesler, Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, Sami Vatanen (if healthy)