Happy hump day folks - here’s your beefy rundown of games in the NHL tonight with 12 games rocking your eyeballs across the continent. All times listed are Eastern because that’s just how we roll.
7:00 pm
Tampa Bay @ NY Islanders
Jack Capuano makes his NHL head coaching debut for the Islanders and he gets to deal with a Lightning team that could use a win themselves. A battle between two teams that are trending down of late, the Isles more so having lost 10 straight, doesn’t usually mean there’ll be headlines to be had, but this one’s a bit different.
Boston @ NY Rangers
The Rangers get to debut their 85th anniversary jerseys tonight and doing so against a Bruins team that’s looking for their offense to come back. The Rangers have been playing some solid and tough hockey of late and Marian Gaborik’s return to action has been worth the offense his presence demands. Boston meanwhile may have Johnny Boychuk back in the lineup on defense.
Vancouver @ Pittsburgh
Had this game happened last year, the story line would be “Sid vs. Lou in a battle of gold medalists.” It’s not happening then, and it’s happening now so forget it. Vancouver’s east coast tour is treating them with a .500 record and trying to get one over the Penguins will be tough.
Buffalo @ Washington
The Caps will look to get one back on Buffalo after the Sabres overtime win on Saturday thanks to Thomas Vanek’s crazy overtime winner. The Sabres are winners of four of their last five but beating the Caps in Washington is a tough order to fill. For the Caps, the loss to Buffalo on Saturday was the one hiccup in what’s been a stellar run of late winning seven of their last eight.
Ottawa @ Carolina
The Hurricanes are looking to bounce back after two ugly losses in a row in which they gave up 15 goals total to Philadelphia and Montreal. The Senators would approve if Carolina decided to continue not stopping shots as they’ve scored five goals in their last three games including a 5-1 drubbing by Philly.
Florida @ Atlanta
The Panthers have won two of their last three games and dealing with an Atlanta team in search of a break in goal might be the cure to an ailing offense for Florida. Atlanta has lost five of their last six and in all those losses they’ve given up a ton of goals, an average of 4.6 goals per game in those losses. Ugly.
7:30 pm
St. Louis @ Detroit
The Wings come into tonight’s game winners of six of their last seven and while Mike Babcock has taken his power play players to task, the Blues come into the game looking to turn things around. The Blues have lost four in a row and the great goaltending that was guiding them before has evaporated as the Blues have allowed 22 goals in the last four games. They’ll need Jaroslav Halak to be playoff-good to take down the streaking Wings.
8:00 pm
Anaheim @ Minnesota
After a tough loss last night in Dallas, the Ducks will try and bounce back against the Wild. What’ll be making that difficult is the Wild goaltending which has been outstanding of late. Both Niklas Backstrom and Jose Theodore have been solid-to-stellar this year. Also playing great of late for Minnesota is Martin Havlat. Havlat’s got points in five of his last six games and is coming off a three assist night against Tampa Bay.
9:00 pm
San Jose @ Colorado
The Avs are playing about as well as you can when you’re down as many defensive players as they are. They’re on a streak of winning one then losing one that stretches back to October 30th, a span of seven games. If the trend continues, they’re due to lose tonight and playing a hot Sharks team won’t help their chances. The Sharks are coming in winners of three straight including a thumping of the Kings in their last outing.
9:30 pm
Phoenix @ Calgary
The struggling Flames have lost six of their last seven and dealing with a Coyotes team that’s on a three-game win streak likely isn’t going to help the Flames get their act together. At least they’ll have home ice to keep them warm (cold?) tonight.
Chicago @ Edmonton
Do we think that maybe once the Blackhawks can beat the Oilers this year? Chicago is already 0-2-0 against Edmonton this season with both losses coming in Chicago, all while the Oilers have been able to score at will on the Hawks. Perhaps home ice will treat Edmonton as well as it did Chicago in their previous meetings.
10:30 pm
Columbus @ Los Angeles
The Jackets look to get Mike Commodore back in the lineup tonight and while they’ve been playing well, they’ve lost two of their last three. The Kings, meanwhile, saw their win streak snapped the other night against the Sharks and will be hoping to get back on top of things against the Jackets as they begin their three-game swing through California.