A Wednesday night NBCSN doubleheader will close out the symbolic first half of the season for the NHL before All Star Weekend from Columbus will fill the weekend lineup. Let’s take a look at this week’s top three games.
–Tuesday–
Nashville Predators vs. Montreal Canadiens: Faceoff from the Bell Centre is set for 7:30 PM ET. The immediate concern for Nashville Predators fans is surviving the next month while goaltender Pekka Rinne recovers from a knee injury. The Predators were leading the Central Division race over heavyweights St. Louis and Chicago with upstart Winnipeg lurking close behind. The Predators have responded well to first-year head coach Peter Laviolette’s call for a full 200-foot game after years of playing a strong, but boring, defensive structure type of game.
Now the question is if Laviolette asks for even more offense or will he have the Preds sag back into a defensive shell to protect fill in goalies Carter Hutton and Marek Mazanec?
Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year) candidate, center Filip Forsberg, and left wing James Neal, led the team with 15 goals. Center Colin Wilson added 14 goals while center Craig Smith added 13 to demonstrate the Preds scoring depth. Defensemen Shea Webber, Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis, Seth Jones, and Mattias Ekholm formulate one of the strongest blue line corps in the game. The Preds may have enough here to keep their heads above water while Rinne is out.
Left wing Max Pacioretty had 21 goals to lead the Montreal Canadiens. 2013 Norris Trophy winner (NHL’s Top Defenseman) P.K. Subban added 10 goals and 19 assists. Subban alone is worth the attention of fans for this game. Subban can hit, is a fine playmaker, and has a nuclear bomb blast of a shot that is electrifying for fans and terrifying for goalies. Montreal goaltender Carey Price was proving to be an elite class with a .927 save percentage.
–Wednesday–
Chicago Blackhawks vs. Pittsburgh Penguins: Coverage on NBCSN Rivalry Night from the Consol Energy Center is set for 8 PM ET. While this is not a true rivalry, it is a potential preview of the Stanley Cup Final in June. There will be plenty of star power on the ice for a must see TV matchups.
The up and down Blackhawks were in a 5-5 stretch and fell to third place in the Central Division. The Hawks still flashed powerful metrics as they ranked seventh in the NHL for goal scoring and tops for goals against. Right wing Patrick Kane is the man to watch on Chicago with a team high 20 goals. Center Jonathan Toews was in full Captain Serious mode with 13 goals and 26 assists with a +16. Goaltender Corey Crawford had a .923 save percentage.
Pittsburgh was also slumping with six losses in ten games to fall to fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings. The Penguins also had strong metrics, however, as they ranked fifth in the NHL for goals scored and seventh for goals against. Centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are the top center ice tandem in the game. Crosby had 14 goals and 36 assists while Malkin had 19 goals and 31 assists. Goaltender Marc Andre Fleury was sharp with a .924 save percentage.
Los Angeles Kings vs. San Jose Sharks: Coverage on NBCSN Rivalry Night from the SAP Center is set for 10:30 PM ET. This is a rematch of last year’s unforgettable and epic San Jose playoff collapse in which they blew a 3-0 lead to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Kings. The Kings were in an eighth place tie with Calgary for the final Western Conference playoff spot. The Kings are coming off a wasted six game homestand in which they blew five out of six games. LA’s number three and four defensemen, (Slava Voynov and Robyn Regehr), remain out. Center Tyler Toffoli is out until mid-February with illness and left wing Tanner Pearson is on injured reserve.
Still, this is a heated rivalry matchup with playoff implications that should be appointment television. The Kings are often at their best and most dangerous when their character is tested. Norris Trophy candidate Drew Doughty and centers Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter make the Kings worth watching. Exciting San Jose center Joe Pavelski had 22 goals to lead the team.
