Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Around the rink - Monday, December 27th

gyi0062881129

Tonight a couple of die-hard rivals dig out of the snow to battle at Madison Square Garden while a pair of other rivalries, old and new, renew acquaintances in Denver and San Jose respectively. As always, all times are Eastern.

7:00 pm

NY Islanders @ NY Rangers

As New York City digs out from the snow, the Rangers and Isles will have at it once again only this time the Isles come into the game on fire. The Isles have gone 4-0-1 in their last five games and a lot of that is thanks to the NHL’s #1 star of the week Dwayne Roloson. The Rangers, meanwhile, should have Marian Gaborik back on the ice tonight. Forgive us if our eyes are fixed upon James Wisniewski and Sean Avery tonight to see if Wisniewski renews acquaintances with the Rangers pest. That didn’t work out so well for Wisniewski last time.

7:30 pm

Minnesota @ Columbus

Minnesota comes into tonight’s game looking to get back to their winning ways after having their three-game win streak snapped by Detroit last night. The Blue Jackets, on the other hand, are desperate for any kind of success tonight. The Jackets have lost six of their last seven games and miserable goaltending has been the root of the problem. Tonight, Steve Mason gets another chance to redeem himself in goal and don’t fault us if we say our confidence in that happening is low.

Boston @ Florida

The off-season dance partners meet once again. Nathan Horton will look to continue haunting his former team. As will Dennis Seidenberg and Greg Campbell. Well, hey, at least Florida still has Dennis Wideman and they’re riding high off beating Buffalo back on Thursday night. Boston will have Milan Lucic in the lineup after he avoided a suspension for sucker punching Atlanta’s Freddy Meyer. The Bruins will want to keep the good momentum riding after that win over Atlanta, they’re just four points ahead of Ottawa in 8th place in the East.

9:00 pm

Detroit @ Colorado

It’s not the rivalry it used to be, but these two do still get together for some exciting games. Detroit sends Chris Osgood out to try once again to win his 400th game. He’s failed in his last two chances to do it against St. Louis and Dallas. Keeping up with the speedy Avalanche could turn ugly for Detroit if the defense and Osgood aren’t sharp. Colorado is one of the league’s highest scoring teams and our own confidence is low that Osgood gets it done tonight. The Wings will be without Dan Cleary tonight after he broke his ankle in last night’s win over Minnesota.

Buffalo @ Calgary

With the World Junior Championships going on in Buffalo, the Sabres hit the road for western Canada and they’ll do it without Derek Roy who tore a tendon in his leg and is out for the season. These two teams come into this game as inconsistent and frustrating teams that go from playing great to awful on a game to game basis. As for which team we’ll see of each of them, your guess is as good as ours. Buffalo dropped their last game to Florida while the Flames beat Dallas in a shootout on Thursday.

10:30 pm

Los Angeles @ San Jose

The Kings are finishing up their post-Christmas tour of California. They took out the Ducks last night and now get to deal with a San Jose team that’s figuring themselves out. The Kings have won three in a row while the Sharks have won four straight. Logan Couture versus Anze Kopitar? Yeah, we’ll take that for a marquee match-up for sure. The guy who could steal the show is Kings goalie Jonathan Quick who’s helped the Kings to be second in the league in goals allowed.