NHL Grind Down: Wednesday, November 23rd - Page Two
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St. Louis Blues at Washington Capitals
| St. Louis Blues | Washington Capitals | ||||||||
 | Carter Hutton |  | Braden Holtby | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 11-6-3 | 11-5-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.55 | 2.60 | 20.60% | 88.80% | Team Stats | 2.67 | 2.17 | 15.40% | 81.80% |
St Louis will try to improve their dismal road record with a visit to Washington tonight. They just got done playing a tough game against the Boston Bruins last night so look for the Blues to be a little tired. Aftre a loss to Columbus on Sunday I’d look for the Capitals to try and clamp down here tonight. This could be bad news for the top line of Vladimir Tarasenko, Jori Lehtera and Robby Fabbri. Tarasenko has seven points in the last five games and could be used as a one-off in cash games tonight. The second line of Jaden Schwartz, Paul Stastny and David Perron have to do the damage here if the Blues have any hope of winning this game. Perron also makes a good one-off play as he gets the top power play minutes while contributing six of his 11 points over the past five games. Kevin Shattenkirk is the play on the back line as he quarterbacks the team’s power play unit. He is second on the team with 14 points while nine of those points have been registered while the Blues have the man advantage. Washington is tough at home so I’d use a bit of caution here.
The Washington Capitals cannot be happy with the news that T.J. Oshie is now listed as week-to-week as opposed to day-to-day. The early reports are that he may have suffered a concussion from the hit he took Friday night against the Capitals 1-0 win against the Red Wings. Nicklas Backstrom will now have Justin Williams on the right wing in place of Oshie as Marcus Johansson remains to his left. Johnasson’s value drops a little here as it looks like he was taken off the power play unit that features Alex Ovechkin. Backstrom leads the team in points with 17 while netting four goals and four assists over the last six games. He also joins the top line of Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Andre Burakovsky on the team’s top unit when the Capitals have the man advantage. The move to put Kuznetsov with Ovechkin came a few games ago in an effort to get Kuznetsov moving as he has just two goals and five assists so far this season. The trick should work as Kuznetsov has mostly had third line duty with minimal ice time on the power play. John Carlson continues to man the point on the power play but only has seven assists to his credit. Dmitri Orlov makes for an intriguing play here as he has tallied four of his six points over the last six games. He also has fired 10 shots on net in those six games and makes for a one-off GPP at best on a night like tonight.
Elite Plays
STL: Vladimir Tarasenko
WSH: Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Ovechkin
Secondary Plays
STL: Kevin Shattenkirk, Robby Fabbri, David Perron, Jaden Schwartz
WSH: Evgeny Kuznetsov, John Carlson
Philadelphia Flyers at Tampa Bay Lightning
| Philadelphia Flyers | Tampa Bay Lightning | ||||||||
 | Anthony Stolarz |  | Ben Bishop | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 9-8-3 | 12-7-1 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.15 | 3.30 | 27.10% | 79.70% | Team Stats | 3.05 | 2.40 | 25.30% | 84.60% |
The Flyers will play their second game in two nights in the Sunshine State as tonight they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning. If you remember it was this same Lightning team that shut out the Flyers by a score of 3-0 on Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center. Philadelphia would like to return the favor tonight but the only question is, do they have enough guns to do it. The top line of Brayden Schenn, Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek would appear to be the chalk play in this game but I’d look at Wayne Simmonds. Travis Konecny and Sean Couturier are now Simmonds new line mates on the second line but the value in Simmonds as a one-off play here is his work on the top power play unit. Of Simmonds 17 points, eight have come on the power play while another goal has come while the team was short-handed. Shayne Gostisbehere continues to see the extra minutes when the Flyers go on the power play while both Michael Del Zotto and Radko Gudas have been outperforming him of late. Del Zotto was a scratch last night and that’s just like the Flyers to bench a defenseman with the hot hand.
The Lightning almost swept their current five game road trip but the Nashville Predators got in their way on Tuesday night as Tampa lost by a score of 3-1. A lot of folks put a lot of stock in the first game back from a long road trip and sometimes think that they play a bit sloppy. Those same folks also like to target against teams that play the night before, which the Philadelphia Flyers did. This is quite the conundrum for ‘those’ type of players but for me, I’d stick with the top line here against a team that gives up a ton of goals. Nikita Kucherov, Vladislav Namestinikov and Ondrej Palat is the line to play here with Kucherov leading the team with 23 points and seven points over the last five games. Tyler Johnson makes a decent one-off play here as he leads the team in shots over the last five games while netting two goals and assisting on two others from the second line. Jonathan Drouin is in play as a one-off as well as he plays with the top line on the power play and has scored a goal and grabbed an assist over the last three games. Nikita Nesterov is the play on the point as scored all three of his points over the last five games since being promoted to the top power play unit. Victor Hedman is in play as well from the blue line as he has three goals and 11 assists so far this season. The Flyers should give the Lightning a fight early but fresh legs will prevail in this one.
Elite Plays
PHL: Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek
TB: Nikita Kucherov
Secondary Plays
PHL: Wayne Simmonds, Shayne Gostisbehere
TB: Vladislav Namestnikov, Tyler Johnson, Nikita Nesterov
Dallas Stars at Nashville Predators
| Dallas Stars | Nashville Predators | ||||||||
 | Kari Lehtonen |  | Pekka Rinne | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 8-7-5 | 8-7-3 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.65 | 3.30 | 18.80% | 78.30% | Team Stats | 2.78 | 2.56 | 22.70% | 83.30% |
The Dallas Stars outlasted the Minnesota Wild the other night by a score of 3-2 on home ice. The big question is will Lindy Ruff keep Jamie Ben, Tyler Seguin and Cody Eakin on the top line? A funny thing happens when teams put their top six players on the top two lines, they win more often than not, unless of course you are just a bad team. Jason Spezza Patrick Sharp and Patrick Eaves are the players we want to target here as the Stars take to the road for one game in Nashville before returning Friday night to play the Canucks. Eaves leads the team in goals with nine while Spezza is playing a little catch-up as he has eight points in the 13 games he has played in so far this season. This has been a team that has been decimated with injuries and is just starting to round back into shape as the have seen Sharp and Eakin return this past week. While defenseman Julius Honka grabbed an assist in place of the recently reprimanded John Klingberg last game we can only assume that Klingberg jumps right back into the power play mix tonight. I’m sure that will be the last time that Mr. Klingberg misses a team meeting for a while.
With a 6-2-2 record over the last ten games the Nashville Predators are trying to stay relevant where the playoff picture is concerned. Yes, I know it’s only a day before Thanksgiving but teams can be done in this league before it even starts. Their 8-7-3 record has them in sixth place in the Central division and just one point out of a playoff spot if the end of the season tournament started today. The top line of James Neal, Ryan Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson are three of the four players that have ten or more shots on goal over the last four games. Expect that to continue tonight as they should get the favorable match ups tonight on home ice. Defenseman P.K. Subban has tied second liner Filip Forsberg for the team lead in points as they each have registered 13 of them through the first 18 games. Roman Josi gets the top minutes on the point on the power play as five of his nine points have come with the man advantage. To go off the beaten path you could use Forsberg with his line mates Mike Ribeiro and Craig Smith in GPP play tonight but only if you like to multi enter.
Elite Plays
DAL: Tyler Seguin
NSH: James Neal
Secondary Plays
DAL: Patrick Eaves, Jason Spezza, John Klingberg
NSH: Ryan Johansen, P.K. Subban, Filip Forsberg
Chicago Blackhawks at San Jose Sharks
| Chicago Blackhawks | San Jose Sharks | ||||||||
 | Corey Crawford |  | Martin Jones | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 13-5-2 | 10-8-1 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.00 | 2.60 | 18.10% | 68.30% | Team Stats | 2.37 | 2.21 | 16.40% | 87.80% |
Chicago continues their brutal seven game road trip that will take them right through Thanksgiving weekend. So far they are 2-2 as their two losses have come at the hands of Edmonton and Winnipeg which have resulted into the only times the Blackhawks have been shut out all year. Head coach Joel Quenneville still can’t seem to find a left winger for Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane as he went back to Nick Schmaltz for Monday’s debacle in Edmonton. The second line of Artemi Panarin, Artem Anisimov and Marian Hossa makes for a nice GPP play here as they sit 2-3-4 on Chicago’s scoring standings. Panarin and Anisimov join Patrick Kane on the top power play unit that has only scored four times in the last 11 games. Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are your choices on defense and for my money it’s always Keith who gets the nod over his power play partner. The statistic we have to look at here is that although Chicago is 13-5-2 they are only 5-4 away from the home crowd.
It took them a while but the San Jose Sharks may have just saved the season for Patrick Marleau. While floundering on the third line Marleau had registered just five points in the first 18 games. Sure he always got the top power play minutes but it just didn’t seem to be working out. Then it happened. Marleau was moved to the first line with Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski and whammo! Marleau scores his fifth goal of the season just 6 minutes and 43 seconds into a subsequent shutout over the visiting New Jersey Devils. Do I have to say it again? I think you get the picture. The top line should be seen in most cash games across the industry especially since Chicago is having problems on the road but if you want to deviate a little, you can always use Logan Couture. He centers the second line with Joonas Donskoi and Joel Ward while playing on the top power play unit. Okay, so now the big one. Brent Burns reportedly is going to sign an eight-year extension worth 64 million dollars. Let’s just hope he doesn’t go the way of Johnny Gaudreau and comes out of the gate with all guns blazing tonight. This game should be entertaining while having some goals scored in it, so get a piece of the Sharks in some capacity tonight.
Elite Plays
CHI: Patrick Kane
SJ: Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns
Secondary Plays
CHI: Artemi Panarin, Artem Anisimov, Duncan Keith, Jonathan Toews
SJ: Joe Thornton, Logan Couture, Patrick Marleau
Vancouver Canucks at Arizona Coyotes
| Vancouver Canucks | Arizona Coyotes | ||||||||
 | Ryan Miller |  | Mike Smith | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 7-10-2 | 6-9-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.11 | 3.16 | 12.30% | 83.30% | Team Stats | 2.53 | 3.29 | 13.70% | 76.50% |
A lot of folks will look at this game and say that maybe there is some value in this game and they would be wrong, for cash game play anyway. GPP play is a different story especially if you multi-enter in a few tournaments across the industry. Vancouver has a minus 20 goal differential between goals for and goals against. It’s hard not to play anyone but Daniel Sedin, Brandon Sutter and Henrik Sedin as this trio not only leads the team in points, they also lead the team in scoring over the last five games. Even though this is the first line, they still can be used as a GPP play here but I wouldn’t advise using any of them for your cash games tonight. Cult hero Bo Horvat could be used as a GPP one-off here as he tends to go on scoring streaks that seem to literally come out of nowhere. He has scored two of his six goals over the last five games so scoring against a team that gives up more than three goals a game is not out of the question. Troy Stecher and Alexander Edler have been manning the points on the power play and could be in play here especially since the Canucks have scored three goals over the last four games when on the man advantage. Remember, these plays are basically GPP plays only as this team is bad enough but being 1-6-1 on the road almost takes the cake.
Arizona comes off of an impressive 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night so if they can resemble anything like that tonight, they should be able to garb the win. The top line of Max Domi, Martin Hanzal and Radim Vrbata are the best plays here on home ice as Domi and Vrbata lead the team in points with 13 and 12 respectively. The lines get a little muddy after that as it’s hard to tell what line is actually the second line. Tobias Rieder, Jordan Martinook and Shane Doan make up one line while Anthony Duclair, Jamie McGinn and Christian Dvorak make up a third line. Duclair and McGinn get the first shot on the power play with Martin Hanzal which has tallied four goals over the last six games. Defenseman Anthony DeAngelo has four points to his credit in the first six games he has played in. Oliver Ekman-Larsson joins him on the team’s top power play unit and could be used tonight as a border line cash play. All in all this a game that features two teams that aren’t very good and the only reason to watch it would be if you rostered a player in this game or you are related to one of the players.
Elite Plays
VAN: None
ARZ: None
Secondary Plays
VAN: Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Brandon Sutter
ARZ: Max Domi, Radim Vrbata, Martin Hanzal, Anthony DeAngelo, Oliver Ekman-Larsson