With a short slate of games tonight, there’s a couple that grab our attention and one of them because there just might be some bad blood on the ice. If you’re looking for fisticuffs, Atlanta is the place to be as the Bruins come to town with ill will towards Freddy Meyer still on the mind of Milan Lucic. This one’s got enough heat on it to almost make us forget about San Jose and Chicago getting ready to dance again. Almost. All times listed are Eastern.
7:00 pm
Boston @ Atlanta
Sure the Bruins beat Atlanta around last week 4-1, but they still weren’t happy about it and Milan Lucic might be hoping Freddy Meyer is back out on the ice to get some revenge. A better idea for Boston might be to just worry about beating Atlanta again. Then again, if that’s what it takes for Boston to get motivated, they’ll get right back to it. Expect some shenanigans to go down in this one now that Boston’s got a bit of their swagger back.
Columbus @ Toronto
Did the Jackets put bad times behind them after getting a shootout win over Minnesota? Beating the Leafs would go a long way towards getting back in shape and show that they’re moving past their issues. Of course, the Leafs are hoping the bad Steve Mason or Mathieu Garon shows up in goal instead. The Leafs are hoping to bounce back after a tough loss to Carolina on Tuesday. If the right Blue Jackets team shows up, they might be able to pull that off easily.
7:30 pm
Montreal @ Tampa Bay
Montreal gets to face their double-secret rivals in Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay, of course, is coached by former Habs farm team coach Guy Boucher and the Habs are in need of a win badly. The Habs have lost four of their last five games and seven of their last nine and the fans in Montreal are getting antsy again. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, has won six of their last eight games and are looking to bounce back after losing to Boston on Tuesday. The upside for Tampa Bay is that Vincent Lecavalier is scoring goals again. The bad news is that their goaltending hasn’t gotten any better.
8:30 pm
San Jose @ Chicago
Last year’s Western Conference finalists renew acquaintances again and the Sharks might want to give Antti Niemi the start again. Niemi was solid last time out against Chicago and after Antero Niittymaki’s lackluster effort last night, Niemi makes a lot of sense. Of course, the Blackhawks would like to catch a break health-wise as they’ll be without Jonathan Toews for two weeks with a shoulder ailment. A grumpy San Jose team won’t make for a pushover on this night.
9:30 pm
Colorado @ Edmonton
Someone’s slide will end in this one. Colorado comes in having lost three in a row while the Oilers are losers of four straight. For Edmonton, things are tougher defensively now with Ryan Whitney out for an extended period. What could help both of these teams is some better defense and goaltending as they’re both in the bottom five in goals allowed.
10:30 pm
Philadelphia @ Los Angeles
A rough couple of games for the Flyers only grows harder as they move along to L.A. After a beating of a loss against Vancouver on Tuesday and an equally poor effort against the Panthers last week, the Flyers could stand to have a breakout game. Doing that against a Kings team that doesn’t give up a lot of goals and got stomped on for six goals against last night could mean the Flyers are in for tough night. The Flyers have to keep opponents off the board because they’ve given up 11 goals in their last two games.