Saturday: Tampa Bay at Phoenix (8 p.m. ET)
The Lightning are a perfect 2-0-0 since Steven Stamkos broke his tibia, including a 5-1 destruction of the Ducks Thursday night. But now they’re facing a four-game trip to Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Jose, and Anaheim. That slate of games would test any team, let alone one missing an elite player like Stamkos. As for the Coyotes, they’ve been outshot by a whopping margin, 91-49, in their last two games. The results? A win in St. Louis and a shootout loss in Chicago. Could’ve been worse.
Sunday: St. Louis at Washington (6 p.m. ET)
A tough test for the Caps. St. Louis is just so good at controlling the puck and, as a result, limiting total scoring chances. In fact, the Blues have kept opponents to 24 or fewer shots in each of their last four games. They absolutely destroyed Colorado Thursday, exploding for seven goals against an Avs side that had been one of the NHL’s stingiest. We still wonder if GM Doug Armstrong should go out and get a Jaroslav Halak insurance policy (possibly Ryan Miller), but there’s plenty of time to decide that before the March 5 trade deadline.
Sunday: San Jose at Chicago (7 p.m. ET)
The Sharks finish their current five-game road trip at the United Center against the defending champs. It’s been an OK trip so far, with a shootout loss in Winnipeg and wins in Calgary and Vancouver. But despite the five points out of a possible six, they’re still not playing the way they’re comparable of. San Jose was lucky to get last night’s game versus the Canucks to overtime...
...and afterwards head coach Todd McLellan admitted, “We weren’t the better team tonight.” Before traveling to Chicago, San Jose has to play Friday in Edmonton against an Oilers side that hasn’t scored in its last three home games. The Sharks were dominant earlier this season. They’ll likely need to get back to that level to get a win against the ‘Hawks.
Sunday: Los Angeles at NY Rangers (7 p.m. ET)
The Kings escaped Long Island Thursday evening with a 3-2 victory over the Islanders, thanks to some questionable goaltending from Kevin Poulin and a bonehead penalty by Colin McDonald. For L.A., it was the first of what could be quite a few games without star goalie Jonathan Quick, and fans are rightly wondering how backup Ben Scrivens will fare. But here’s the thing: Quick hasn’t even been that good this season. His .905 save percentage is right down the near bottom of the regular-starters list. You could even argue the Kings had been winning in spite of the 2012 Conn Smythe Trophy recipient.
Sunday: Dallas at Vancouver (8 p.m. ET)
If you haven’t heard of the Roxy Flu, read this first. After you’re done with that, consider that the Dallas Stars have two nights off before Sunday’s game at Rogers Arena. Now consider they’ve won five of their last six, including a huge 7-3 victory Thursday in Calgary. They deserve to have some fun, right? In a related story, Lindy Ruff just locked Tyler Seguin in his hotel room.