First Screen Viewing
Sharks vs. Sabres – 6pm
It’s the expected favorite versus the upstart. The Sharks swing out east and the first team they’ll see is the shock leaders of the Atlantic, the Buffalo Sabres. It’s going well for the Western New Yorkers, who finally have two scoring lines and at least one competent defenseman, as well as two goalies pretty much killing it. Their metrics aren’t that great, and I don’t know how long you want to ride Carter Hutton and Linus Ullmark, and in fact I’m not sure you should ever trust anyone named “Linus,” but here we are. With the Bruins rolling out players they just made up and the Canadiens already beginning their fade, there is room in the division for them. Things haven’t fired fully yet for the Sharks, but they’re still on top of the Pacific. A little more listless play and this seems like a perfect landing spot for Quenneville, although I’d pay to watch him try to explain to Karlsson and Burns why they can’t carry the puck out of the zone. Or a trade for a goalie.
Second Screen Viewing
Avalanche vs. Predators – 7pm
It only feels like these two have played eight times already. One features the best line in hockey right now, and the other features the best defense and goalie. This is where I’m contractually obligated to say, “SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE!” Given the watered down levels of talent around the league, you can get pretty far with one line doing what Rantanen-MacKinnon-SapsuckerFrog are doing, and they just might take the Avs farther than we would have guessed. Those of us wanting to see the Predators crash and burn are hoping for one of Rinne’s hips to give out, and even that would only give way to Juuse Saros, whom they wanted to give the job to anyway. It won’t be slow.
Other Games
Senators vs. Flyers – 6pm
Hurricanes vs. Canadiens – 6:30
Ducks vs. Lightning – 6:30
Coyotes vs. Wild – 7pm
Penguins vs. Jets – 7pm
Stars vs. Oilers – 8pm
Kings vs. Canucks – 9pm
