NHL Grind Down: Wednesday, November 23rd - Page Three
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Edmonton Oilers at Colorado Avalanche
| Edmonton Oilers | Colorado Avalanche | ||||||||
 | Cam Talbot |  | Semyon Varlamov | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 11-8-1 | 9-9-0 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.90 | 2.55 | 17.50% | 86.20% | Team Stats | 2.17 | 2.72 | 17.20% | 79.20% |
It looked like the Edmonton Oilers went to full freefall mode after losing five straight games but luckily they held on to the Pacific division with a big win in Dallas followed by a 5-0 shutout win on home ice against the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night. Now the task is to take down the team that has the second last goals in the league on their sheet of ice tonight. I tell you, it’s amazing what happens when teams put their top six guys on the top two lines. I know I’ve said this before, but it’s true, they actually do have a better chance of scoring more goals. More goals means more wins plain and simple. Connor McDavid can be used as a one-off play here as he has 24 points in 20 games while leading the team with six power play points. Milan Lucic and Jesse Puljujarvi skate alongside him but the second line is the line to look at tonight. Jordan Eberle, Patrick Maroon and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins should have some room to skate tonight as the avalanche will be bust trying to shut down McDavid and the boys. Leon Draisaitl makes a decent one-off play here as he has three goals and three assists over the last four games while getting the extra minutes with the top line on the power play. Defenseman Oscar Klefbom is finally starting to get hot as he mans the point when the team has the man advantage. He has tallied four of his seven points over the last four games. Colorado can be stingy at home as they have only surrendered nine goals in their last five games played in front of the home crowd.
Besides the Buffalo Sabres the Colorado Avalanche are the second team in the league that has the most trouble scoring goals. Matt Duchene returned to the lineup the other night after missing four games because of injury and he still retained the team lead in the goal department with seven of them. He skated on the top power play line last game and scored the game winner in overtime against the Dallas Stars on Monday night. Carl Soderberg and Andreas Martinsen skate alongside of Duchene while Nathan MacKinnon centers A.J. Greer and Mikko Rantanen. MacKinnon took over the team lead in points as his two goals and three assists over the last five games now gives him a point total of 13. This isn’t really that great considering the team doesn’t score much but at least it’s an improvement. Defenseman Erik Johnson has found the scoresheet four times over the last four games and that only gives him ten points so far this season. As you can see the Avalanche are starting to score a little bit of late but there’s really not much here to trust in cash game play. Duchene is about the only one you can trust if you need a one-off for cash game play tonight.
Elite Plays
EDM: Connor McDavid
COL: Matt Duchene
Secondary Plays
EDM: Milan Lucic, Leon Draisaitl, Jordan Eberle, Oscar Klefbom
COL: Nathan MacKinnon, Erik Johnson
New York Islanders at Los Angeles Kings
| New York Islanders | Los Angeles Kings | ||||||||
 | Jaroslav Halak |  | Peter Budaj | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 6-8-4 | 10-9-1 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.44 | 3.00 | 12.70% | 78.90% | Team Stats | 2.50 | 2.50 | 13.10% | 81.20% |
The Islanders continue to look for answers as they have become the worst team in the league right along with the Arizona Coyotes. The New Yorkers had a game last night in Anaheim and now play Los Angeles tonight before moving on to San Jose on Friday. The Islanders needed to go deep into a shootout last night to grab their second win of the month as they downed the Ducks by a score of 3-2. John Tavares leads the team in points as he skates on the top line along with Josh Bailey and now Anthony Beauvillier. Brock Nelson makes a nice one-off here as he skates on the team’s second line but gets the top minutes when the islanders have the man advantage. Nelson is second on the team in points and now has Nikolay Kulemin and Ryan Strome as his wingers. Nick Leddy is the choice on defense as he quarterbacks the team’s top power play unit. It’s tough to recommend any of these guys for cash games with so many others teams that can score more goals than they can, so keeping it to a dull roar in GPP play is the way to go here tonight.
The Kings came away with a 3-2 win in Anaheim on Sunday night and now make the short trip home to face an Islander team that will play the second game on the west coast in as many nights. The big question surrounds the availability of Anze Kopitar as he was spotted skating on Saturday but obviously wasn’t ready to play in Sunday nights’ games. In Kopitar’s absence Jeff Carter has been stepping it up in a major way as he has garnered six points in the last five games and is now just three points away from scoring a point per game. Tyler Toffoli has helped out along the way as he has contributed four points over the last five games while moving into second place on the Kings scoring chart with 13 points. Tanner Pearson joins them on the top line while defensemen Jake Muzzin and Drew Doughty round out the Kings top power play unit that has scored three goals over the last four games. That is about all you should need for this game as the second line of Nic Dowd, Devin Setoguchi and Dustin Brown could make an interesting GPP play here against a New York team that has given up more than their share of goals as they sit in last place in the Eastern Conference.
Elite Plays
NYI: None
LAK: Jeff Carter
Secondary Plays
NYI: John Tavares, Josh Bailey, Brock Nelson, Nick Leddy
LAK: Drew Doughty, Jake Muzzin, Tanner Pearson
UPDATES
Chicago is going to go with Panarin, Anisimov and Kane as the line to target now is Toews and Hossa along with Hinostroza.
Colorado has moved Duchene with Greer and Soderberg while MacKinnon will center Rantanen and Bourque.
Tampa has Kucherov with Namestnikov and Killorn while Palat has dropped down with Drouin and Filppula.
Buffalo gets O’Reilly back with Okposo and Moulson making them the line to target at home.
The Rangers have put Grabner with Nash and Stepan while Zuccarello gets Hayes and Kreider as line mates.
New Jersey will get Cammalleri back and be on the top line tonight.