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Around the Rink - Thursday, November 18th

San Jose Sharks v Dallas Stars

of the San Jose Sharks at American Airlines Center on March 31, 2010 in Dallas, Texas.

Ronald Martinez

Let’s take a look at the NHL’s five games of the day. All start times are Eastern (ET) as usual.

7:00 pm

New Jersey @ Toronto

Two of the worst teams in the East (and the NHL) square off in this one. At least each club will be “in their element” (relatively speaking), as the Devils are much better on the road (4-6-0) and the Leafs are much more comfortable at home (4-4-2). Whoever gets the start in the Toronto net should have a lot to gain; New Jersey has been shut out in three of their last six games and scored the least amount of goals in the NHL (33) so far this season.

Tampa Bay @ Philadelphia

This should be a real fun one to watch. The Lightning have fallen behind the Capitals quite a bit in the Southeast Division, but they are still a team on the rise. Steve Stamkos is making his presence felt as arguably the most unstoppable scorer in the NHL. Meanwhile, the Flyers finally dropped a game after getting shut out by the Montreal Canadiens and their red-hot goalie Carey Price, but they’re 8-1-1 in their last 10 games.

The game is on NHL Network, by the way.

Florida @ Boston

It’s not yet clear if the Bruins will play Tim Thomas or rest him in favor of Tuukka Rask, but if Tomas Vokoun plays in both back-to-back contests, this could be a real showcase of great goaltending. Oddly enough, Boston has been a lot better on the road (7-1-0) than at home (3-4-1) at this point. These two teams aren’t quite rivals, but it might be interesting to see Nathan Horton play against his former team.

7:30 pm

Nashville @ Montreal

Not too long ago, the Predators were 5-0-3 and stood as the last team in the NHL without a regulation lost. In the eight games since then, the Predators went 2-6 and needed shootouts to gain those victories.

While the Predators are falling apart, the Canadiens are on fire. They have a four point lead on the Bruins for the Northeast Division lead, although it’s really a two win lead. That’s because they’ve played in two more contests than Boston, so Montreal still needs to continue to pile up the wins. Tonight appears to be a great opportunity to do just that, as long as they don’t take Nashville too lightly.

8:30 pm

San Jose @ Dallas

Both teams are playing well, but not exceptionally so, in the ultra-competitive Pacific Division. At this point, the Sharks just seem to be better at losing. Both teams have nine wins to their credit, but San Jose earned three points via shootout/overtime losses while every Dallas loss came in regulation.

These two clubs don’t like each other at all, so it should be entertaining. The Sharks come off a tough loss to the Colorado Avalanche, while the Stars are more rested and are at home, so I’d give Dallas a slight advantage going into this contest.