Only Nashville is in action tonight, taking on the Ducks in Anaheim. A win would push the streaking Predators to a season-high four games. The win would also bring Nashville even with Columbus for third place in the division and two points out of the playoff picture. Nashville is .800 or above when leading at the end of a period (.800 first, .933 second) but is struggling coming back from a deficit. A quick Predators start should keep Anaheim running, but two or three goals may sink the Ducks. With the conference tightly packed, every game matters.
Tomorrow, the whole division takes to the ice. Nashville moves on to L.A., Detroit faces the rival Avalanche at home, Chicago travels to Montreal, and Columbus heads south for a division match-up in St. Louis. With four points seperating second from fifth as of this morning, this divisional game will be key. With a win, Columbus would leap ahead of St. Louis by a point, into second, but St. Louis would start to distance themselves from the rest of the division. Star Columbus goaltender, Pascal Leclaire left the Blue Jackets' last game due to illness and is not available in St. Louis. The Blue Jackets added emergency recall Steve Mason to their roster. Mason was tournament MVP at the World Juniors Championship this past week.
Pacific-
The defending Stanley Cup champs face the Nashville Predators on home ice. The series has been split between the two teams thus far this season. The Ducks are 2-3 in their last five games and are returning home after a 3-2 loss in Phoenix. This team is point hungry following the return of Niedermayer and has been climbing the standings. A win would put the Ducks in a tie for fourth place in the conference and second in the division.
Also on ice tonight are the Stars. This team's run has come to dead stop recently, losing a first place lead in the division to the San Jose Sharks. Dallas faces their longest losing streak in four years. Beating the Minnesota Wild, strong with the play of Marion Gaborik, is essential to keeping the Stars in the hunt for first place in the division. Scoring for the Stars needs to start with the power play, which has all but vanished in recent games. The Stars lost four days ago to Minnesota 6-3 on the road. This game will be a struggle but if Dallas goaltending rises to the challenge, the Stars may be able to regain a first place slot (albeit tied with San Jose).
Tomorrow, Phoenix and L.A. are in action. Phoenix heads north to Northwest Division leader, Calgary. And L.A. sits at home against the Nashville Predators. L.A., still bottom-dwellers in the League, will be in last place no matter what the outcome of this game. I cannot see this team pulling it out of the sewer to make the playoffs.
Other News-
St. Louis goaltender Manny Legacy lead the NHL's Three Stars this week with two shutouts in three appearances.
Detroit's Chris Osgood leads the league in save percentage and goals against average.
San Jose's Evgeni Nabokov still leads the league in wins with 23.
Detroit's Nick Lidstrom leads the league in season +/- ratings.
IR Reports-
Anaheim- Brad May, Samuel Pahlsson
Chicago- Kevyn Adams, Dave Bolland, Ben Eager, Jonathan Toews, Jason Williams, Brent Sopel, James Wisniewski
Columbus- Fredrik Modin, David Vyborny
Dallas- Jere Lehtinen, Phillipe Boucher
Detroit- (As of December, 22...) Henrik Zetterberg (day-to-day, back spasms), Tomas Holmstrom (day-to-day, right knee), Kirk Maltby (day-to-day, lower back)
Los Angeles- None
Nashville- Shea Weber
Phoenix- Daniel Carcillo, Shane Doan (day-to-day, hand, as of January 3)
San Jose- Ryane Clowe, Brad Norton, Alexei Semenov
St. Louis- Martin Rucinsky
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment