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Around the rink - Friday, December 10th

Nashville Predators v Detroit Red Wings

of the Nashville Predators of the Detroit Red Wings at the Joe Louis Arena on December 8, 2010 in Detroit, Michigan.

Bruce Bennett

It’s a Friday night and there’s an Original Six match-up on the schedule. Life is good, isn’t it? All right so if that doesn’t do it for you perhaps there’s something else on the menu to get you fired up. As for us, we’ll be keeping an eye on Detroit to see how the Wings handle the Canadiens. As always, all times listed are Eastern.

7:00 pm

Montreal @ Detroit

Montreal rolls into Detroit on a three-game win streak. Coincidentally, Detroit is reeling on a three-game losing streak of their own. Coincidences are fun like that. Detroit’s looked out of sorts during their slide and the Habs have been playing great. Doesn’t seem to bode well for the Wings does it? We smell a potential trap game for the Habs.

More coincidences here: The Habs are 3-0 since sitting P.K. Subban in the press box as a healthy scratch in favor of Yannick Weber. Meanwhile, the Wings are 0-3 since Chris Osgood has returned from injury. Of course, Osgood is responsible for just one of those losses.

7:30 pm

New Jersey @ Ottawa

Nothing says excitement like two teams that are playing miserable hockey coming together to see who stinks less. For the Devils, they’ll get Martin Brodeur back in goal to start and that’s the best bit of good news they’ve had in a while. As Ilya Kovalchuk is busy taking the heat for the Devils losing ways, the Senators poor defense and equally suspect offense is dooming them. After losing to the Rangers last night, the Sens have lost five of their last six games. They have to hope that Mike Fisher snapped out of his season-long funk after scoring two goals last night.

Colorado @ Atlanta

There’s only going to be one Stewart brother on the ice for this one as Atlanta’s Anthony will play while Colorado’s Chris is still out with a broken hand. Atlanta has won eight of their last nine games while the Avs are losers of four in a row. Colorado’s east coast swing through the Southeast Division has not gone well dropping all three games they’ve had. The Avs dropped a game to Atlanta in overtime back on November 30th in Denver. Ondrej Pavelec has been the man for Atlanta and he’ll get the chance to show that off again tonight.

8:30 pm

Carolina @ Dallas

We have to assume that Stars coach Marc Crawford is still steaming over the lack of call in their favor against Chicago and by that measure, so are the Stars themselves. With Carolina rolling into town playing their first game since Saturday, they’ll be well rested. For Dallas, they’ll be looking to snap their two game slide. Whether or not Kari Lehtonen is healthy to play is up for debate. Luckily for Dallas, Andrew Raycroft has been outstanding in relief. The Stars will need him to be solid if Lehtonen is again having nagging issues.

9:30 pm

Tampa Bay @ Edmonton

Can the Lightning get any goaltending at all? The Lightning have allowed the most goals in the NHL and lately, both Mike Smith and Dan Ellis have been so bad that teams are snapping out of their offensive slumps against them. Since November 24th, the Lightning are giving up an average of nearly 4.6 goals per game. Even in the 1980s that would leave you hard pressed to win games.

As for the Oilers, they’ve been hot of late winning four of their last five games and dropping their last game to Anaheim in a shootout. You have to think that unless either Smith or Ellis show up for Tampa Bay the young Oilers are going to be able to do some more damage. Youngster and shootout superstar Linus Omark will make his NHL debut. We’re not rooting for a shootout in this game, but if it happens and Omark gets to do his thing, we won’t be too upset about it.

10:00 pm

Calgary @ Anaheim

It’s possible that Calgary could be without one of their leading goal scorers in Rene Bourque after Bourque speared Kings defenseman Drew Doughty late in last night’s 2-1 loss to L.A. Calgary’s been on a spell of alternating between wins and losses so that bodes well for them. Playing the Ducks in Anaheim, however, doesn’t sound so fun. The Ducks are coming off a shootout loss to Vancouver and appear to be back in a streak of scoring goals. If the Ducks can keep the Flames from scoring too many on them they might be able to survive. Expect this one to be a feisty affair regardless.