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

Around the rink - Friday, October 22nd

St. Louis Blues v Chicago Blackhawks

CHICAGO - OCTOBER 18: of the Chicago Blackhawks of the St. Louis Blues at the United Center on October 18, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois. The Blackhawks defeated the Blues 3-2 in overtime. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Jonathan Daniel

Congratulations to everyone reading this, you’ve made it to Friday. Your reward for making to the weekend? An evening filled with hockey, five games worth. As always, here’s the schedule with all times Eastern.

7:00 pm

Calgary @ Columbus

I don’t suppose too many folks will be eyeballing the attendance in Columbus will they? After pulling in their smallest crowd in team history the other night, it’ll be interesting to see how many folks come out for a Friday night affair against the Flames. Meanwhile, lost in this is that Columbus got a win over Anaheim and the Flames come in smarting from a 4-2 loss to Detroit last night.

7:30 pm

Ottawa @ Buffalo

Buffalo always has their issues with the Senators, but so far they’re 1-0 against them, beating them on opening night. Ottawa will send the bane of the Sabres existence against them in goal in the form of Brian Elliott who is 8-0-0 with a 1.87 goals against average against Buffalo. Meanwhile, Buffalo comes in after getting a road win against Atlanta as they look to rebound from a slow start.

Tampa Bay @ Atlanta

Speaking of the Thrashers, they’ll get the chance to bounce back against a Lightning team looking to make up for a hard-luck loss to the Islanders last night. Count on Mike Smith getting the start in goal for Tampa Bay after Dan Ellis took the loss last night. With the Capitals reeling a little bit, Tampa Bay and Atlanta are locked in an early struggle to try and take control of the Southeast Division. Keep in mind, we’re just a handful of games into the season.

8:00 pm

Chicago @ St. Louis

What can the Blues do to try and keep Marian Hossa in check? They’ll have to figure that out or else Hossa will find a way to run wild on them the way he has of late. With seven goals and four assists, Hossa’s 11 point start to the season is quite the revelation for a Hawks team that sees plenty of attention paid to Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Hossa reemerging as the scoring threat is just what they need to remain dangerous in the West. Meanwhile, the Blues would just like to try and avoid overtime. In their five games this year, they’ve gone to overtime/shootout three times, winning just once in their first game of the year in OT over Philly. They’ve since lost in a shootout to Dallas and in overtime to Chicago back on Monday.

10:00 pm

Minnesota @ Vancouver

It’s taken a while for Canucks coach Allain Vigneault to learn his lesson, but Roberto Luongo and his history of terrible games against the Wild will get to ride the pine this time around and Cory Schneider gets the start against Minnesota. Meanwhile, the Wild come into the game riding the high of a 4-2 win over Edmonton last night. That said, if they play the same way they did against Vancouver the way they did against Edmonton, the Sedin twins will tear them to shreds and make life miserable for the Wild.