Podcast - December 10th Edition

Podcast - December 10th Edition

Between The Pipes - December 10th Edition

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In this edition Nick, Ross and Junaid go over the weeks headlines, including the Orpik/Neal/Thornton incidents in Boston and the salary cap projections from the Board of Governors meetings. We also give our picks for goals and saves of the week, and make our prediction league picks for this week. In "Four Teams" we talk about Carolina, Minnesota, NY Islanders and Vancouver. Ross gives us his "Things that happened since the Red Wings last missed the playoffs" stat.

Saves of the week

Note: Junaid's pick wasn't on NHL.com or youtube. Another save from the same goalie and same game has been put in it's place.

Nick's pick - Jonas Gustavsson - Detroit Red Wings vs New Jersey Devils



Ross' pick - Craig Anderson - Ottawa Senators vs Philadelphia Flyers



Junaid's pick - James Reimer - Toronto Maple Leafs vs Ottawa Senators



Goals of the week

Nick's pick - James Neal - Pittsburgh Penguins vs Boston Bruins



Ross' pick - Rick Nash - New York Rangers vs Buffalo Sabres



Junaid's pick - Sidney Crosby - Pittsburgh Penguins vs New York Islanders



Prediction League

TABLE

Nick - 10/18
Ross - 10/18
Junaid - 5/18

This weeks games/picks:

Tampa Bay @ Washington
Columbus @ NY Rangers
Minnesota @ San Jose
Pittsburgh @ Detroit
Boston @ Vancouver
Los Angeles @ Chicago

Nick: WSH, NYR, SJ, PIT, BOS, CHI
Ross: TB, NYR, SJ, DET, VAN, LA
Junaid: WSH, NYR, SJ, DET, BOS, LA



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

The 1st Gulf War didn't start until after the last time Detroit missed the playoffs.


NEXT WEEK....... We are ACTUALLY doing our NHL themed 12 Days of Christmas. Email or tweet us any suggestions. Our email address and twitter handles are below.

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.

Bruins vs. Penguins: A Series of Unfortunate Events

Last night in Boston, two of the Eastern conference's elite went head to head, in what was as usual a feisty affair between the Pens and B's.

The game, unfortunately, was marred by a few nasty moments. Moments the majority of hockey fans felt sick watching. I'm talking about James Neal putting his knee into the head of Brad Marchand, and the Shawn Thornton "assault" on Brooks Orpik.

Let's set the scene. First we have what I believe was the incident that got Thornton's back up. At the twelve second mark of the 1st period Orpik lays a clean hit on Loui Eriksson, clean in the sense it was a shoulder to the chest. The only questionable part of the hit is, was Eriksson able to make a play on the puck before he was hit? It looks like he didn't, and judging on the speed and direction of the puck it could be called as interference on Orpik as at no point does Eriksson control the puck. The last player in possession prior to the hit was Patrice Bergeron. Now, Eriksson missed a lot of time this season with a concussion. On this hit he ended up hitting the ice with his head, struggled to get to the bench, and has another concussion (according to several reports). So, about five minutes later when Thornton, the Bruins enforcer, is on the ice at the same time as Orpik, he decides that Orpik should be held accountable and should not get away. He tries to engage in a fight and Orpik flat out refuses. Leading to a 2-minute roughing penalty on Thornton.

Next we move to later on, still in the 1st period, around five minutes after the roughing penalty, Thornton is coming off the bench for a line change when Pittsburgh winger James Neal skates through a prone Brad Marchand. Kneeing him in the head and shakes him up. He then proceeds to get to the bench to escape any Bruin retribution. The play is whistled for a penalty on Neal. Thornton, who didn't see the play, turns around and sees a teammate stricken. He then sees Orpik and another opportunity to make him pay for what he did to Eriksson. He slewfoots Orpik, who is already engaged with Gregory Campbell, then throws a couple punches in Orpik's face. Soft punches, but enough to knock Orpik out for a couple of seconds.

This is the video on NHL.com. It focuses more on the Thornton/Orpik incident but you see Neal knee Marchand at the start.

One common opinion I've seen brandished around about Thornton is that what he did was predetermined. Now, hold on a second. Isn't what Neal did worse than Thornton? The Bruins pay Thornton and expect the enforcer aspect of his game when it is needed. Neal's knee on Marchand was completely unprovoked, aside from the usual chirping that goes on in a hockey game. He skates in a straight line fom the "X" of the Xfinity sponsor board, makes no attempt to avoid contact, and runs away like a pussy.

 

I'm not condoning what Thornton did. It's a common part of hockey. Team mate gets hit. The enforcer wants to punish the hitter. In my opinion, Orpik was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The first incident with the roughing penalty should've been the end of it. The worst part about what Neal did is that he makes his getaway rather quickly. Well, I would too considering Zdeno Chara was on the ice behind Neal and most likely saw the whole thing.

 

Eriksson picked up a concussion. Marchand's status isn't known yet. Orpik was released from hospital and flew home on the Penguins team plane.

 

Thornton now has an in person with the NHL Department of Player Safety. Neal will just have a phone hearing.

 

The way I see it both incidents are as bad as each other. The only difference is the appearance of the stretcher. The fabled stretcher, making hockey injuries look worse than they are since the dawn of time.


You can email your opinion to betweenthepipespodcast@hotmail.co.uk and you can also tweet me @NickVarney90

Stars - best of Saturday 30th November

Stars is our daily look at the previous night's action in the NHL and who stood out amongst the rest.


FIRST STAR

 

Chris Kreider - NEW YORK RANGERS vs Vancouver Canucks

Kreider scored his first career NHL hat trick against the team now coached by his favourite man the man who dropped him to the AHL for much of last season, John Tortorella. As John was run out of town by the Rangers for the 2nd time in 2013.




SECOND STAR

 

Max Pacioretty - MONTREAL CANADIENS vs Toronto Maple Leafs

Max continued his recent goal scoring form picking up two more goals and an assist. His first was from an fantastic breakout pass from P.K. Subban. His 2nd was this awesome short handed effort.




THIRD STAR

 

Evgeni Malkin - PITTSBURGH PENGUINS vs Florida Panthers

"Geno" had a goal, the game winner, and three assists in the Penguins 5-1 rout of the Panthers.




Honourable Mentions

Penguins backup goalie, Jeff Zatkoff, had 40 saves in the Pens win over Florida..... Semyon Varlamov had 37 saves in Colorado's 3-2 win against Minnesota.....

Subban had a nice goal.....



Tomas Plekanec also scored on a nice move.....



Alex Ovechkin scored, again.......




Look Away Moment of the Night

After all his brilliance recently, against Calgary, Ben Scrivens reminds us that he's just a man god damnit!!!

The Night Ahead - Wednesday 27th 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.

Twice this week we have had a night of very little games to a night of many many games.

BOSTON BRUINS @ DETROIT RED WINGS

Detroit have won two of the last three, after losing seven in a row, giving them eight losses in ten. Boston have won eight of their last ten. But, Detroit only find themselves as the Atlantic's 4th seed, only 5 points behind the division leading Bruins.

Carl Soderberg, Reilly Smith and Torey Krug continued their great form, I mentioned here, on Monday night in the B's 4-3 OT win over the Penguins.

The usual guys are doing it for Detroit right now, Nyquist, Zetterberg, Franzen, and the magic man, Pavel Datsyuk have all been picking up goals and assists. But there seems to be something missing.

The Bruins are my pick.


TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS @ PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

Toronto have navigated a difficult November admirably despite being with Bozak, Bolland and Kadri out for periods. Although with all two of the three in the team they got thumped 6-0 at home to Columbus on Monday.

After dismantling Anaheim and Washington before narrowly dispatching the Islanders, the Penguins have lost two in a row against Montreal and Boston.

Both teams have issues at the moment and I'm picking Pittsburgh.


ST LOUIS BLUES @ COLORADO AVALANCHE

Two of the best go head to head. Alex Steen, David Backes, T.J. Oshie and Alex Pietrangelo go against Matt Duchene, Paul Stastny, Gabriel Landeskog and Nate MacKinnon.

The Blues are on a four game winning run, 8-1-1 in the last ten. Colorado are 6-4-0, on a three game win streak.

I've got the Blues.


PHOENIX COYOTES @ MINNESOTA WILD

Phoenix are enjoying life under new ownership, and steady management leads to steady performances on the ice. Currently 14-6-4 on the year and 5-3-2 in the last ten. It's not surprising that the foundation for this form starts with Mike Smith in net and impressive defenseman, Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The scoring leaders for the team are Vrbata, Doan, Hanzal and Ribeiro. 

The Wild are very quietly going about their business recently. Whilst other teams in the West get all the headlines, Minnesota have found themselves in a lower seeding position but have pulled away from the teams behind them. Josh Harding has a .939 SV%, and Parise, Koivu and Pominville lead the way offensively. The Wild young players have emerged as great talents too. The quartet of Brodin, Coyle, Granlund and Niederreiter accounting for 40 points.

I'm taking Minnesota.


LOS ANGELES KINGS @ SAN JOSE SHARKS

LA come into this game having won five of the last seven. The only defeats coming in OT to Colorado and New Jersey. The injury to Jonathan Quick hasn't been the hinderance many thought it would be. Ben Scrivens has stepped in and has a .947 SV% in 12 games.

San Jose aren't doing too shabby either. They've won six of the last seven. The defeat coming at the hands of Chicago with a score of 5-1. Along with the big names, players like Vlasic, Wingels and Demers have really impressed me. Combining for 10 goals and 27 assists.

I like San Jose in this game.


Tonight's picks: Boston, Pittsburgh, St Louis, Minnesota, San Jose.

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.

The Night Ahead - Saturday 23rd 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.

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS @ MONTREAL CANADIENS

Both teams picked up wins last night. Sidney Crosby picked up his 250th NHL goal on the game winner against the Islanders whilst the Habs won in Washington. A win that included a first goal in 26 regular season and playoff games for David Desharnais.

It's the first meeting between the two this season. Back in March they fought out an epic 7-6 OT game at the Bell Centre with Pittsburgh coming out on top thanks to a Chris Kunitz goal.

The in form Penguins look amazingly strong right now. The Habs win last night was only their 4th in November.

I'll go Pens win.

OTTAWA SENATORS @ DETROIT RED WINGS

Daniel Alfredsson welcomes his former team to his new home in first meeting since free agent departure.

Alfie signing with Detroit and then saying he has a better chance at glory now probably takes silver for "departure that really hurt the fan base" in the 2013 offseason. Ilya Kovalchuk, I'm looking at you buddy. Alfie is doing fine in "HOCKEYTOWN" with three goals and two assists in 19 games this season. The Red Wings, like the aforementioned Canadiens, are having a November to forget. They narrowly beat the Carolina Hurricanes to snap a SEVEN game losing streak. Luckily for them five of those were either in overtime or a shootout which means despite the dip they still find themselves in a playoff spot, five points (see) ahead of the New York Rangers, currently the best team looking up in the East.

Ottawa are also on the outside looking in, which is strange when you consider what they did with so many injuries last year. Now Karlsson, Michalek and Spezza are all having solid minutes and playing every night they seem like they can't click. Is that the effect of the Alfredsson loss? They also lost veteran defenseman Sergie Gonchar to the Dallas Stars. Can two veterans leaving usurp the progress of the "pesky" Sens?

I'm taking Detroit in this one but should be wary that back in October the Sens routed them 6-1 at The Joe.

ANAHEIM DUCKS @ PHOENIX COYOTES

With the Ducks OT win against Tampa Bay last night they moved into 1st place in the West and the entire league. Phoenix have quietly gone about their business as the one of lesser covered teams in the league. Led by Martin Hanzal, Shane Doan, Radim Vrbata and Keith Yandle, on 19, 17, 17 & 17 points respectively, they have gone 8-1-2 in their last 11, the one regulation defeat? 5-2 to Anaheim......

This is the sort of game that screams overtime and I'm taking the Ducks.

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS @ VANCOUVER CANUCKS

The reigning Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks go into enemy territory tonight. A rivalry born from recently intense playoff match ups. They head to the Pacific Northwest on shaky form. Sweeping away most teams that come their way, led by Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa, they have also suffered thrashings at the hands of division rivals Nashville and Colorado.

Vancouver had an impressive win when they welcomed the Blue Jackets last night but before that it's not been a great time for them losing five in a row.

The Canucks might be back on form and depending on how the Blackhawks play this could be a tight fought classic or a rout. I'm going with the champs here.

COLORADO AVALANCHE @ LOS ANGELES KINGS

LA go into tonight having gone 7-1-2 in their last 10. The losses coming in regulation to Nashville, in a shootout to Buffalo, and in overtime in their last game at home to the New Jersey Devils.

It's the first meeting between the two this season. Colorado have been one of surprises this year and under new coach Patrick Roy, have enjoyed great defensive play and fantastic performances from their goalies.

They both have over 30 points this season and find themselves amongst the lower seeds in the playoff picture. A testament to the sheer strength of that conference this year.

Colorado's attack is led by Matt Duchene, Paul Stastny and captain Gabriel Landeskog. Number one draft pick Nathan McKinnon has also contributed well with three goals and ten assists. You wouldn't be surprised to here Anze Kopitar, Justin Williams, Mike Richards and Drew Doughty lead the way in goals and assists for LA.

Gotta take a home win in this one. Unless they get a stellar goalie performance Colorado seem to come unstuck against some of the leagues better teams.


Tonight's picks: Pittsburgh, Detroit, Anaheim, Chicago, LA.

Stars - the best of Friday 22nd November

Stars is our daily look at the previous night's action in the NHL and who stood out amongst the rest.

FIRST STAR

 

Chris Kunitz - PITTSBURGH PENGUINS vs New York Islanders

Kunitz had a brilliant night at the Consol Energy Center last night. Picking up two goals and an assist. He had his hat trick goal waived off for a high stick penalty on Evgeni Malkin that shouldn't have been called a penalty. He went on to continually harass the Isles D and with 1:16 left in the game, tied at 3-3, he crashed Radek Martinek into the boards behind the Isles goal, tapped it off to Pascal Dupuis who slid it to Sidney Crosby for the game winner. Also Crosby's 250th NHL goal.

SECOND STAR

Daniel Sedin - VANCOUVER CANUCKS vs Columbus Blue Jackets

Daniel picked up three points in this 6-2 Canucks win, one goal and two assists. His goal tied the game at 1-1 after some nice work behind the net he skated to the front and let rip towards Bobrovsky. He had his shot saved and brother Henrik put in the rebound for 3-1. Then midway through the 3rd he had a shot from the blue line tipped in for Henrik's 2nd of the night.

THIRD STAR

 

Sidney Crosby - PITTSBURGH PENGUINS vs New York Islanders

As mentioned above, Sid had the game winner which was also his 250th NHL goal. He also assisted on Kunitz's first goal and would have had the primary assist on Kunitz's hat trick goal if the refs didn't make the "high stick" call on Malkin.

Honourable Mentions

Henrik Sedin had a two goal night off his brother Daniel's rebound and then tipped in one of Daniel's shots.

Thomas Vanek also had two goals in the Islanders loss to Pittsburgh. With Kyle Okposo picking up as assist on each.

Alex Ovechkin scored two against the Canadiens. He isn't amongst the stars as he routinely scores on the Habs. He now has 34 points in 32 games against them.

Josh Gorges had two assists in the Habs 3-2 win at the Verizon Center, including on Briere's game winner and on the Habs 2nd which was David Desharnais' first goal in 26 regular season and playoff games.

Ben Bishop. 41 saves for the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Anaheim Ducks remarkably wasn't enough for the toothless Bolts. He unfortunately had a big gaff too. Letting a Ryan Getzlaf shot sneak under his glove and bounce goalwards. No thanks to defenseman Richard Panik who lived up to his name and in the heat of the moment used his stick and inadvertently stopped Bishop making a routine goal line glove grab and giving Anaheim the win with 5 seconds left in OT.

MY PICKS

Last night I went 3-2 in my picks with Calgary and Montreal pulling out wins.

The Night Ahead - Friday 22nd November 2013

In "The Night Ahead" we take a look at a selection of the upcoming games for the evening (early hours here in the UK) and add a preview and opinion on the match ups.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS @ PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

The recently tumbling Isles face the Penguins for the second time this season. They won the first meeting, in Pittsburgh, 4-3 in regulation. Frans Nielsen, 1 goal & 2 assists, including an assist on the game winner, and Radek Martinek, 2 assists, had a big hand that night. They also had a large contribution from Evgeni Nabakov, who recorded 39 saves. The win put the Islanders comfortably in the Metropolitan top three places (a guaranteed playoff berth), but since then the Isles have accumulated just EIGHT points in the twelve games since and dropped to bottom in the division.

Pittsburgh on the other hand were top of the division back then and that loss didn't do much to halt their season. They've gone 6-5-0 since and are joint second in the conference at the quarter way point of the season. In no surprise it's yet again Crosby, Malkin, Kunitz and Dupuis who are amongst the Pens top scorers this year combining for 24 of the teams 55 goals, and 48 of the teams 97 assists. Marc Andre Fleury is also back to his regular season best. Posting a .924 save percentage and a 1.90 GAA.

I'm taking the Penguins in this one. There's been a lot of shocks recently with Vancouver, Colorado and other early leaders falling to bottom feeders, but this one has to be a home win for one of the East's perennial best teams.

MONTREAL CANADIENS @ WASHINGTON CAPITALS

The Montreal Canadiens march in to the Verizon Center tonight to face a side who were blown away by the Penguins on home ice Wednesday night, so expect some sort of response from the Caps.

After a difficult October, the Capitals entered the second month of the season 5-7-0. In November they've won all but three games and currently sit 12-9-1 in second in the Metro behind Pittsburgh. Alex Ovechkin has continued his hot form from last term notching up 17 of the teams 69 goals. They also have Backstrom, Grabovski and Johansson putting up 19, 11 and 16 assists respectively.

Montreal come into tonight on a somewhat opposite track to Washington. They enjoyed a very successful October but haven't kept it up this month only recording 3 wins so far. But might have once again pushed up a gear after beating Minnesota 6-2 in their last outing. Carey Price, like Fleury, has returned to form after a playoff meltdown last spring and has a .935 save percentage and a 2.05 GAA. It's hard to pinpoint a true dangerman in the Habs ranks as none of their 13 goal scorers have scored more than eight.

This is probably the toughest game of the night to call as the case for both teams is that you never which version will turn up.

I'll go for a narrow Caps win.

FLORIDA PANTHERS @ CALGARY FLAMES

This is one of those games that will probably get ignored by the casual fan. To put it in Premier League terms this would be like watching Reading vs QPR last season.

The Panthers changed coach after going 3-9-4 in their first 16 games and have limped to 6-13-4 since, although those three wins did come against Anaheim, Colorado and Vancouver. The latter two on the road. Similar to the Canadiens, none of their goal scorers have topped the 8 mark but it's the back end that suffers the most. They have Stanley Cup winner Tim Thomas between the pipes, ahem, and despite him being in better form than most expected it's still not his Boston Bruins cup winning form. He could be playing that well but with the players in front of him they'd still be in a similar position because with Thomas, Markstrom and Clemmenson combined the Panthers have shipped 76 goals in 23 games this season.

It's fair to say that Calgary are the Western conference equivalent to the Panthers. Both sit 2nd bottom in their respective conferences, and at 7-11-4 Calgary have given up 81 goals, 2nd to Provincial neighbours Edmonton on 84. In a hard to watch season for Flames fans they do have hope in the form of Jiri Hudler and rookie Sean Monahan. The teams top contributors with 21 and 14 points.

There's not much to say about these teams. They are terrible. I would usually go for the home team in this scenario but as mentioned above Florida have beaten Colorado and Vancouver on the road already.

I'm going for a Panthers win.

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS @ VANCOUVER CANUCKS

This season has been a coming down to Earth with a bump for Columbus. Last season's surprise package they nearly made the playoffs for the first time in their history, on the back of some excellent goalie play from Sergei Bobrovsky. Now in the Eastern conference and, like many suggested towards the end of the last season, they are having rather a hard time. The player they made a huge "win now" trade for, Marian Gaborik, is out for the foreseeable future and big free agent acquisition Nathan Horton has yet to even play after having shoulder surgery in July. They currently sit on a 8-11-3 record that puts them four points off of a playoff place. With Gaborik out they still have four skaters who are ahead of him on the scorers list. Wisniewski, Dubinsky, Johansen and Umberger on 16. 15. 13 and 12 points.

The "struggle after realignment" tag was also lumped on the Vancouver Canucks. Coming out of a Northwest Division that they yearly won at a canter, and entering the fiercely contested Pacific Division. A bigger change some might say has been adapting to the style of John Totorella, and his more defensive game plan compared to previous coach Alain Vigneault. The Sedin twins have racked up huge minutes this year and have struggled immensely in the last couple of weeks. Daniel more than Henrik. One positive from the new style is the resurgence of Ryan Kesler who has 9 goals and 6 assists, but like the Sedins is playing an awful lot of minutes. At 11-8-4 they have dropped out of the playoff spots in the significantly stronger West.

The Jackets beat the Canucks on home ice a month ago, in a 3-1 win with goals coming from Gaborik, Johansen and Umberger. With backup netminder Curtis McElhinney putting up 38 saves. The Canucks goal was scored by Henrik Sedin and an assist awarded to Kesler.

Despite the recent struggles I'll go for a Canucks win.

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING @ ANAHEIM DUCKS

This is another potentially great match up tonight. Both have very similar records. Tampa 14-8-0, Anaheim 15-6-3, and both are amongst the top scorers in their conferences.

A big moment came when Tampa's star and leading scorer, Steven Stamkos, broke his leg in Boston 11 days ago. But Tampa have pressed on unfazed and one of the seasons big surprises are continuing to go on well despite fears the Stamkos injury would derail the team. Martin St Louis continues to put up good numbers season after season, and the void left by Stamkos has been filled nicely by free agent signing Valtteri Filppula adding 9 goals and 7 assists to the teams totals.

Anaheim are coached by perennial regular season great Bruce Boudreau. They won the Pacific last year and looked good in a seven game series lost to Detroit. As of now they're tied for the divison lead with California rivals the San Jose Sharks. You wouldn't be shocked to see Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf lead the way for the Ducks, and despite trading away 30 goal a year man Bobby Ryan, they have enjoyed excellent play from Dustin Penner, Nick Bonino, Matthie Perreault and Andrew Cogliano.

Tampa beat Anaheim 5-1 in Florida last week but on their current West road trip have suffered three straight losses. Anaheim have also lost their three games since these sides last met but once in a shootout to Carolina, once in OT after scoring an own goal to win it for the Devils, and only once in regulation to the brilliant Penguins.

I'll go for a high scoring tight home win.



Tonight's picks: Pittsburgh, Washington, Florida, Vancouver, Anaheim.