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

Around the rink - February 11th; Bruins and Sharks look to keep rolling

75364_sharks_capitals_hockey

7:00 p.m.

Detroit @ Boston

Detroit’s offense has been struggling of late and they’ve had a hard time keeping opponents off the board. Let’s just say this doesn’t bode well for their matchup with the Bruins. The Bruins are coming off an eight-goal explosion against Montreal in which they bullied and pushed around the Habs. Doing the same sort of physical thing with Detroit might backfire though. Call it the “sleeping giant” syndrome.

San Jose @ New Jersey

San Jose’s seven game road trip is going over quite well. The Sharks are 4-0-0 so far on the trip including two shutouts by Antti Niemi. In all the Sharks are on a five game win streak and going up against a re-motivated and feisty Devils squad coming off an OT win against Toronto might provide the Sharks with the test they’re not looking forward to facing. New Jersey is riding a three-game win streak of their own.

Pittsburgh @ NY Islanders

Forgive us if we’re not overly excited by this match up. A pair of teams coming off gutsy wins last night square off in an event that features nearly more AHL talent than NHL talent. It’s all a part of the game but it’s bizarre to see the Islanders come into the game with more talent at forward than the Penguins. Of course, with the Pens being plenty healthy on defense and in goal, they’re still working with the advantage in that they can keep the Islanders off the board.

Colorado @ Columbus

Forsberg watch is officially on for this game as it’s believed that Peter Forsberg will be making the road trip with the Avalanche and either playing tonight against Columbus or against Nashville in their next game. With the Avs struggling badly of late and the Jackets playing better, getting Forsberg into the game to give the team the spark they need to get things back to how they were.

7:30 p.m.

NY Rangers @ Atlanta

These two teams go into this one stumbling more often than not. The Rangers roll into Atlanta on a five-game losing streak while the Thrashers are nursing a four-game skid of their own. The Rangers losing came at a bad time as they appeared to be ready to throw themselves into the mix with the better teams in the East. For the Thrashers, their fall from grace has been a bit drawn out and has seen them fall out of the top eight in the East. Both teams could use an emphatic win, but the truth is any kind of win will do them good.

8:00 p.m.

Minnesota @ St. Louis

After not playing each other at all yet this season, the Wild and Blues will face off in the front end of a home-and-home series tonight. The Wild are playing great of late while the Blues are still dealing with inconsistency. Considering they’re now starting to get healthy again in St. Louis, seeing some line chemistry issues isn’t too surprising. Once guys get themselves figured out and provided Jaroslav Halak can have his play rebound, the Blues can get right back into it for the playoffs in the West. Minnesota has won four of their last five and seven of their last nine going into this one and trail Calgary by two points in the division.

8:30 p.m.

Chicago @ Dallas

Two desperate teams for a win dropping the puck in Dallas tonight. Dallas is trying to hang on to dear life for their top spot in the Pacific Division while the Blackhawks are frustrated at their lack of consistent play and lack of wins too. Chicago comes into this one off a win against Edmonton but they’re just 2-2-0 so far on their six game road trip. Dallas comes into this one losers of six of their last eight games and four in a row. Getting better goaltending would go a long way for the Stars right about now as both Kari Lehtonen and Andrew Raycroft have been letdowns during the current losing streak.

9:00 p.m.

Anaheim @ Calgary

Francois Beauchemin is set to make his Ducks re-debut in Calgary as the Ducks hope to hold off the streaking Flames. Seeing how the Ducks play on defense with Beauchemin in the lineup is worth watching because if that part of their game improves, they’re shaping up to be a very dangerous team come playoff time. Calgary’s rise in the West continues on and for them, taking care of the Ducks would show that things in the West are indeed as tight as they appear to be. Getting continued great play from Miikka Kiprusoff doesn’t hurt matters either.