7:00 p.m.
Boston @ NY Islanders
Chris Kelly won’t make his Bruins debut tonight thanks to visa issues which means he gets to make his first Bruins appearance against... Ottawa. Oh, fun! Meanwhile the Bruins have fallen into a first place tie with Montreal for the Northeast lead. Any chance we could get these two to keep losing to get Toronto and Buffalo in the mix with them? Having a division the exact opposite of the Pacific would be a load of fun while being very bad hockey. The Islanders are hoping to keep the train rolling along as they’ve been playing very solid hockey of late thanks to Michael Grabner.
Los Angeles @ NY Rangers
The Kings are rolling along their road trip and have gotten points in ten straight games. After a shootout win over Columbus last night the Kings have won three in a row and five of six. Sure they’re in last place in their division but they’re just one point behind the five-team cluster tied for fourth in the West. The player sneakily helping them out? Andrei Loktionov with two goals and two assists in their last five games. It might not seem like much, but goals have been at a premium lately for the Kings. The Rangers look to keep winning. They last played on Sunday beating Pittsburgh and stringing together some wins would help keep them out of the mix hovering around the last couple spots in the Eastern Conference race. They’ll be without Wojtek Wolski tonight though.
7:30 p.m.
Detroit @ Tampa Bay
Lightning GM Steve Yzerman faces off against his old team for the first time as an executive and he’s got the Lightning in a position he was always familiar with as a player in Detroit sitting near the top of the Eastern Conference. Detroit gets Brad Stuart back in their lineup tonight helping the Wings continue to get healthy, something which has helped them out of late winning two in a row over Boston and strengthening their hold on the Central Division lead. Ruslan Salei will be out for Detroit in this one tending to a family matter. The Lightning hope to get more consistent once again after losing two of their last three games.
8:00 p.m.
Vancouver @ Nashville
It’s a western showdown in Nashville as the defensively battered Canucks come to town. With the Canucks now being without Kevin Bieksa thanks to a broken foot, a game against the aggressive Predators should make for a good test to see if their largely untested and green defensive unit can handle bigger minutes. For the Preds, they’re still hoping to catch up to Detroit in the Central race and after a tough overtime loss to San Jose on Tuesday, they’ll be anxious to get a piece of the battered Canucks.
9:00 p.m.
Montreal @ Edmonton
The Habs get warmed up for the Heritage Classic on Sunday by dealing with the forever slumping Oilers tonight. Montreal could use the boost after losing three of their last four, two via shootout. The Oilers have been the cure to what ails struggling teams of late and Nikolai Khabibulin will get the nod in goal for the Oilers. The Habs are hoping to overtake Boston in the Northeast Division but a loss to the Oilers leading into Sunday’s big event would really be a shot to the confidence.
Atlanta @ Phoenix
Thankfully the Thrashers are on the road after the crazy talk about the team potentially being moved someday that fired up yesterday was sure to be a distraction. Coincidentally enough, they’re facing the Coyotes tonight in a battle of teams plagued by relocation talk. Atlanta is in a battle for the playoffs while the Coyotes are now on top of the ever perilous Pacific Division holding a one point lead on Anaheim, San Jose, and Dallas and two ahead of L.A. The Thrashers have lost five of their last six games while Phoenix has won five in a row. If Atlanta doesn’t get their act together soon the playoffs are going to be an afterthought for them.
10:30 p.m.
Washington @ San Jose
After a defensively-starved game last night against Anaheim that saw the Capitals win in a high-scoring thriller 7-6 over Anaheim, they’ll get to run headlong into the streaking Sharks. The Sharks are winners in 10 of their last 13 games and after the Caps offensive blowup last night you have to wonder if they’re capable of doing it again. A goal from Alex Ovechkin and a hat trick from Alex Semin sure helped make the Caps look like the team we got accustomed to seeing over the last few seasons, but if they go back to getting shut down for the night, the inconsistency they’ve shown all year will be back in effect. For the Sharks, coming off a big overtime win against Nashville will have them hoping to continue their rise in the west.