Monday 2 December 2013

The Night Ahead: December 2nd 2013

In "The Night Ahead" we take a look at the upcoming slate of games in the National Hockey League tonight. The NHL had a few games played last night, with the standout fixture of note being Daniel Alfredsson returning to Ottawa to face the Senators.

Eastern Conference


Home Away Last 10 Eastern Western

Team GP W L OTL Pts GF GA W L OTL W L OTL W L OTL W L OTL W L OTL Streak
1 Boston Bruins 27 18  7   2 38 75  55 12  3   2 6 4   0 7 2    1 16  6   0 1   2 Won 2
2 Pittsburgh Penguins 28 18  9   1 37 86  64 11  3   0 7 6   1 7 2    1 14  7   1 4 2   0 Won 3
3 Detroit Red Wings 28 14  7   7 35 78  73  5  4   6 9 3   1 5 2    3 10  3   4 4 4   3 Won 4
4 Tampa Bay Lightning 26 16  9   1 33 76 66 10  3   0 6 6   1 4 5    1 9  6   0 7 3   1 Lost 1
5 Washington Capitals 27 14 11   2 30 82 78 9  6   0 5 5   2 5 4    1 8  5   1 6 6   1 Won 2
6 New York Rangers 27 14 13   0 28 60 66 5  5   0 9 8   0 5 5    0 10  7   0 4 6   0 Won 1
7 Montreal Canadiens 27 15  9   3 33 73 57 8 5   2 7 4   1 7 1    2 9 3   2 6   1 Won 1
8 Toronto Maple Leafs 27 14 10   3 31 75 73 9 4   0 5 6   3 3 4    3 8 6   2 6 4   1 Lost 4
9 New Jersey Devils 27 11 11   5 27 59 64 5 4   2 6 7   3 6 4    0 8 5   2 3 6   3 Won 2
10 Philadelphia Flyers 26 12 12   2 26 57 63 7 7   0 5 5   2 7 2    1 9 9   1 3 3   1 Won 2
11 Carolina Hurricanes 27 10 12   5 25 57 78 6 6   4 4 6   1 4 5    1 8 7   2 2 5   3 Lost 2
12 Ottawa Senators 27 10 13   4 24 78 90 4 8   2 6 5   2 3 7    0 9 5   2 1 8   2 Lost 2
13 Columbus Blue Jackets 27 10 14   3 23 67 80 5 7   1 5 7   2 4 4    2 7 9   3 3 5   0 Lost 1
14 New York Islanders 27 8 15   4 20 72 93 5 6   4 3 9   0 2 7    1 5 11   3 3 4   1 Lost 6
15 Florida Panthers 27 7 15   5 19 59 91 4 6   3 3 9   2 4 5    1 2 9   2 5 6 3 Lost 2
16 Buffalo Sabres 28 6 20   2 14 48 85 3 11   1 3 9   1 3 6    1 4 11   2 2 9 0 Lost 1

Western Conference


Home Away Last 10 Eastern Western

Team GP W L OTL Pts GF GA W L OTL W L OTL W L OTL W L OTL W L OTL Streak
1 Chicago Blackhawks 28 20  4    4 44 102 76 9 1    3 11 3    1 8 2    0 7 0    2 13  4    2 Won 6
2 San Jose Sharks 26 18  3    5 41 92 60 10 1    2 8 2    3 8 1    1 7 1    1 11  2    4 Won 5
3 Anaheim Ducks 29 18  7    4 40 91 77 10 0    1 8 7    3 3 4    3 9 5    3 9  2    1 Lost 1
4 St. Louis Blues 25 18  4    3 39 89 57 11 1    2 7 3    1 7 2    1 8 2    0 10  2    3 Lost 1
5 Colorado Avalanche 25 19  6    0 38 76 52 10 4    0 9 2    0 6 4    0 8 3    0 11  3    0 Won 2
6 Los Angeles Kings 27 16  7    4 36 70 58 8 4    2 8 3    2 5 1    4 8 2    2 8  5    2 Lost 2
7 Minnesota Wild 28 15  8    5 35 68 67 10 3    2 5 5    3 5 4    1 8 3    2 7  5    3 Lost 4
8 Phoenix Coyotes 26 15  7    4 34 85 84 9 2    2 6 5    2 4 4    2 7 1    1 8  6    3 Lost 1
9 Vancouver Canucks 29 14 10    5 33 77 77 5 5    3 9 5    2 3 4    3 10 4    2 4  6    3 Won 1
10 Nashville Predators 27 13 11    3 29 62 75 6 4    2 7 7    1 5 4    1 6 5    1 7  6    2 Lost 2
11 Dallas Stars 25 12  9    4 28 70 73 4 3    4 8 6    0 5 3    2 5 3    0 7  6    4 Lost 2
12 Winnipeg Jets 28 12 12    4 28 73 80 7 6    3 5 6    1 5 3    2 6 2    1 6 10    3 Lost 1
13 Calgary Flames 26 9 13    4 22 70 93 4 5    3 5 8    1 3 5    2 5 2    2 4 11    2 Won 1
14 Edmonton Oilers 28 9 17    2 20 73 95 3 8    0 6 9    2 5 5    0 6 10    1 3  7    1 Won 1

There are four games tonight in the NHL, so lets get into them starting with......

Winnipeg Jets @ New York Rangers

The Rangers have been playing better as of late, being in nearly every game they played, winning more than their fair share against the eastern conference, and on Saturday night played the first game of eleven games in the next twelve at Madison Square Gardens, they come into the game off the back of a 5 to 2 victory over the Canucks, On the back of Chris Kreider's first NHL hattrick.  The Rangers are also injury free, and are set to start Henrik Lundqvist against an injured Winnipeg Jets, missing  Zach Bogosian who is on IR at the moment, alongside Paul Postma and Jim Slater there. Young Star Evander Kane is day to day with a lower body injury.

My pick for  tonight is the Rangers.

New Jersey Devils @ Montreal Canadiens

New Jersey come into this game having to have put Adam Larsson onto Injured Reserve with a lower body injury, joining Brian Gionta, Bryce Salvador, and Ryane Clowe, compared to just Davis Drewiske for the Habs. That right there is a little edge to the Habs, the Devils are missing some serious quality compared to the Habs.

For the Canadiens, Max Pacioretty is an inform man and may be the difference tonight. His battle with Martin Brodeur will be critical to the outcome of the game tonight. Carey Price will still need to have a big night as the Devils, and brodeur are still in some good form, going 6 and 4 over their last ten.

For once, (for those who listen to the podcast) I am picking the Canadiens at home, purely based on the injuries to the devils.

Philidelphia Flyers @ Minnesota Wild

The Flyers are hot going seven, two and one over their last ten. Problem is, Josh Harding has been outstanding this season. Since ditching their coach, (nick's pick for coach of the year) The flyers have been on a tear and upward curve, and now they sit just two points out of the playoffs, and if results go their way, potentially depending on tiebreakers, they could take the Rangers for the 6th seed.

Chris Pronger and Marc Andre Bourdon for the Flyers are both on ir with post concussion Syndrome. Mikael Granlund is the only Wild out with an upper body injury.

The Wild ideally need a win to keep up in the playoff race. Currently they are a wildcard, and would like to move ahead in the standings. Besides that I reckon The metro division will be going 2 and 1 tonight, somehow i see the flyers winning, He might not be liked/loved, but Claude Giroux is one skilled Son of a gun, and his skill set will be one of the many Keys to victory.

St Louis Blues @ Los Angeles Kings

 Go ahead, get comfortable, get ya popcorn and relax. This should be a cracker. The two teams that have faced off in the playoffs the last two years face again tonight and if previous games are any indication, its going to be all out war between these two.

L.A are missing Johnathan Quick but Ben Scrivens has performed admirably in relief so far. Jordan Leopold is the stand out injury for the blues.

This will go to overtime, if not penalties. This is really a close well matched teams, after tossing a coin, I am picking the St Louis Blues, why, because it isn't the playoffs, (lemme check the calendar, nope I can say it isn't the playoffs yet)


     

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