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	2	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	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)

     

Podcast - November 26th Edition

Between The Pipes - November 26th Edition

LISTEN HERE


or you can subscribe on itunes!

In this edition Nick, Ross and Junaid go over the weeks headlines, our picks for goals and saves of the week, and make our prediction league picks for this week. In "Four Teams" we talk about Calgary, Nashville, New Jersey and San Jose. Ross gives us his "Things that happened since the Red Wings last missed the playoffs" stat.

Saves of the week

Nick: Martin Brodeur vs San Jose on Logan Couture - 23/11/13



Ross: Reto Berra vs Columbus on Jack Johnson - 20/11/13



Junaid: Cam Ward vs Ottawa on Colin Greening - 24/11/13



Goals of the week

Nick: Max Pacioretty vs Minnesota (2nd goal) on Josh Harding - 20/11/13



Ross: Jonathan Toews SHG vs Edmonton on Devan Dubnyk - 25/11/13



Junaid: Alex Ovechkin vs Montreal on Peter Budaj- 23/11/13



Prediction League

TABLE

Nick - 2/6
Ross - 2/6
Junaid - 0/6

This weeks games/picks:

Anaheim @ Dallas
Boston @ Detroit
Toronto @ Pittsburgh
St Louis @ Colorado
Toronto @ Montreal
Vancouver @ New York Rangers

Nick: ANA, BOS, PIT, STL, MTL, NYR
Ross: DAL, BOS, PIT, STL, TOR, NYR
Junaid: ANA, BOS, TOR, STL, MTL, NYR

THINGS THAT HAPPENED SINCE DETROIT LAST MISSED THE PLAYOFFS
by Ross Chaplin

The Berlin Wall wasn't officially finished being pulled down until Detroit had already started the first season of their run of consecutive playoff seasons.


And finally, Nashville's ode to all things American........





Email us any questions you'd like us to answer at betweenthepipespodcast@hotmail.com and we will answer them during recording. Also you can direct anything our way on twitter, @NickVarney90, @j_hussain & @MasonCooper4.

The Night Ahead - Monday 25th November 2013

In "The Night Ahead" we take a look at a selection (well, five) of the upcoming games for the evening (early hours here in the UK) and add a preview and opinion on the match ups.
Back to a nice full plate of games tonight after a lazy Sunday. So without further ado.....

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS @ BOSTON BRUINS

The cream of the Eastern conference do battle at the Gaaaahden! This is a rematch of last seasons Conference final in which the B's swept the Pens away in four games, only giving up TWO goals in the process. This is the second meeting between the two since, the other a 3-2 home win for Pittsburgh.

The Penguins come into this game 5-5-0 in their last 10, including a 3 win streak that was halted on Saturday night in Montreal. The large majority of points being scored by Crosby, Malkin, Kunitz and Neal. The run also saw the emergence of Brian Gibbons who had a goal and an assist in the recent 3-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks.

Boston went 7-1-2 in their last 10, the regulation loss coming to the Jekyll and Hyde style Ottawa Senators. They needed a David Krejci OT winner to fend off Carolina on Saturday, and have relied on the great form of Reilly Smith, Carl Soderberg, Torey Krug, and Gregory Campbell in their last five outings.

This is going to be a heavy hitting, great watch for neutrals. I'm going with Pittsburgh on this one.

MINNESOTA WILD @ ST LOUIS BLUES

Despite the showdown above this is the big game NBCSN have plumped for tonight. Oh, and it's going to be just as epic!

A home win make St Louis the belle of the ball, the star on the tree, 1st overall in the NHL. Minnesota aim to tie Chicago as 2nd best in the league.

8-1-1 in their last 10, Minnesota's only regulation loss was a 6-2 humbling away to the Montreal Canadiens. Parise, Koivu and Pominville have been the offensive stars for the Wild with a steady helping of blue line attack from Ryan Suter. This team, bar that one ugly game, is on a roll right now and should be feared by all.

8-1-1 in their last 10, Minnesota, St Louis have found themselves with one of the leagues shiniest diamonds, polished from the rough. Alex Steen. Second in goals, third in points. Steen is slowly becoming a player that the opposition have to plan around, and with that new found attention he'll be jumping at the bit to ride this momentum so long as he has air in his lungs. But if the flame does start to flicker there's a great supporting cast in David Backes, T.J. Oshie, Alex Pietrangelo, plus 2nd year winger Vladimir Tarasenko to pick up the slack. Despite being routed by the Caps 4-1 recently, the Blues have beaten Colorado, Boston and crushed Dallas in their last game.

This game is the Western conference equivalent of the Pens @ Bruins.

I can't decide so will plump for home advantage.

NEW YORK RANGERS @ TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

The Rangers are on a two game win streak and are 6-4-0 in their last 10. The losses coming in no shame to Anaheim, Boston, LA and rivals New Jersey. Richards, Stepan, Kreider and Zuccarello have been on top form for the Blueshirts, and have been buoyed on by the return of Rick Nash who already has a goal in his three games back.

Tampa Bay have been without captain, and leading scorer Steven Stamkos for six games since he broke his leg on a backcheck in Boston. They sit level on points with Detroit and Toronto, 3rd in the division and 4th in the conference, despite going 0-3-1 in their last 4. only winning the first two games after Stamkos' injury. They beat Anaheim 5-1 with three points for Valtteri Filppula, who many said had to up his game to fill the void left. Their last 4 games were at Phoenix (6-3), at LA (5-2), at San Jose (5-1), and at Anaheim (1-0 OT).

I haven't mentioned the Rangers goaltending but that's the reason I'll take them. Whether it's Lundqvist or Talbot in nets.

WINNIPEG JETS @ NEW JERSEY DEVILS

This is a perfect game for the Devils to continue their attempt to crash the East conference playoff battle. Having gone 6-3-1 in the last 10. The losses coming to hot teams in, Minnesota, LA, San Jose and Toronto in a shootout. The six wins include a 4-1 rout over the Penguins, plus two OT wins in LA and Anaheim. Jaromir Jagr has been rolling back the years and finds himself as the teams top scorer. Followed by Elias, Zidlicky, Zubrus, Henrique and Ryder.

Winnipeg have gone 5-3-2 recently, but after their last three wins came in a bunch and were in shootouts they have lost four in a row. Two regulation, two shootouts.

New Jersey sit 4th in the Metropolitan and are outside the playoffs by a point. Winnipeg would be in that position but only behind the Rangers on the fact they've played more games. But being in the West they find themselves 3rd bottom of the conference. Little, Ladd, Wheeler, Kane and Byfuglien lead the Jets in scoring, Little and Wheeler putting down some doubters after the big contracts they signed in the offseason.

I've gotta go Devils on this. Whose fans, despite management changing the goal song, found a new way to chant "You suck!"

LOS ANGELES KIGNS @ VANCOUVER CANUCKS

LA come into tonight 6-1-3 over the previous ten outings, having lost their last two at home in OT to New Jersey and Colorado. Vancouver on the over hand are a little less steady in their form, going 3-4-3 in the last 10, six losses in their last seven games at the hands of LA, Anaheim, San Jose, Dallas, Florida and Chicago.

I've written a fair amount about these teams in the last few days. So won't bore you with re-written information. But, will send you in the direction of these posts - The Night Ahead - Friday 22nd, Stars of Friday 22nd & The Night Ahead - Saturday 23rd.

LA are my pick.


Tonight's picks: Pittsburgh, St Louis, New York Rangers, New Jersey, LA.