HOCKEY NHL ARTICLES

Pacific Division rivals meet on Wednesday night as the San Jose Sharks visit the Los Angeles Kings on NBCSN. Both teams are battling with Edmonton for first place in the division with Anaheim also in the mix. This is not a good spot for San Jose as they will be playing with no rest having hosted Arizona on Tuesday while the Kings have been off since Saturday. The Sharks have dominated this series of late, winning six of the last seven meetings.... 

The Boston Bruins will look to continue their road success against the Philadelphia Flyers when the teams meet on Tuesday night on NBCSN as the Bruins have taken four of the last five in Philadelphia. Both teams come into this game struggling a bit as the Bruins have dropped three of their last four while the Flyers are just 3-5-2 in their last ten games. The NHL odds on this game should be near a pick with the total at 5 over.... 

The Edmonton Oilers are favored at home on Tuesday night as they host the Toronto Maple Leafs. This game that features young stars Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid will be joined in progress on NBCSN following the game between the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers. The Maple Leafs are hovering around the .500 and trying to stay in contention in the Atlantic Division while the Oilers are battling for first place in the Pacific Division.... 

The Pittsburgh Penguins are road favorites on Wednesday night as they visit the New York Islanders in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. The Penguins are battling for first place in the Metropolitan Division while the Islanders have the worst record in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins have had three days to get ready for this game while the Islanders had to play on Monday against Calgary. The Penguins have won the last four meetings against the Islanders including both games this season.... 

We get some afternoon NHL action on Friday as the New York Rangers visit the Philadelphia Flyers on NBC. The Rangers have been rolling this season with a high powered offense and they lead the Metropolitan Division while the Flyers are struggling to stay in contention in the division. The Rangers have dominated this series of late taking 7 of the last 10 including the last three. Recent meetings have also been low scoring with none of the last five going over the total.... 

Two of the top teams in the Western Conference meet on Wednesday night as the Chicago Blackhawks visit the San Jose Sharks on NBCSN. The Blackhawks are leading the Central Division while the Sharks are battling for first in the Pacific Division. The Blackhawks are in the midst of their annual circus road trip where they leave Chicago while the Circus takes over the United Center for two weeks. This will be the fifth game of the seven-game road trip.... 

The Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning will meet for the second time in less than a week as they face off on Wednesday night in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. The Lightning shut out the Flyers on Saturday night in Philadelphia, winning 3-0. The Flyers will be playing the second half of a back-to-back on Wednesday as they were at Florida on Tuesday night. Tampa Bay should have the advantage as they are at home and having not played since Monday.... 

Two teams playing well meet on Tuesday night as the St. Louis Blues visit the Boston Bruins in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. The Blues have won three straight while the Bruins have won seven of their last ten. St. Louis is in second place in the Central Division while the Bruins are battling for third place in the Atlantic Division. This has been a home team series of late as the Bruins have taken eight of the last ten vs. the Blues at TD Garden.... 

We get a true rivalry game on Wednesday night as the Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Washington Capitals on NBCSN. Far too often the Wednesday night game is not even a rivalry at all but that is not the case this time around as the Penguins and Capitals despise each other. It doesn’t hurt that both teams are among the best in the NHL and that they have two superstars in Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin that can’t stand one another.... 

Atlantic Division rivals meet on Tuesday night as the Tampa Bay Lightning visit the Detroit Red Wings. Both teams have hovered around the .500 mark this season but that is good enough to be in contention for 2^nd place behind the Montreal Canadiens in the division. The Lightning beat the Red Wings last month by a score of 6-4 in the season opener for both teams. It has been almost all Tampa in this series of late as the Lightning have won seven of the last eight.... 

Central Division rivals will meet on Wednesday, November 9 as the Chicago Blackhawks visit the St. Louis Blues in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. The Blackhawks have been playing extremely well of late as they have surged into the top spot in the division while the Blues have been up and down. These teams met last month in Chicago and it was the Blues coming away with a 5-2 win as they scored three goals in the third period to break a 2-2 tie.... 

The Detroit Red Wings visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday in what is promoted as rivalry matchup on NBCSN. The reality is that these two have never really been rivals and play in different divisions but it still should be a competitive matchup. The Red Wings are 6-4 on the season and in second place in the Atlantic Division with 12 points while the Flyers are 4-5-1 and have 9 points in the Metropolitan Division. It has been nothing but misery for the Red Wings in Philadelphia of late as they have dropped the last 11 meetings having not won in Philadelphia since 1997.... 

A busy Tuesday night in the NHL includes the Tampa Bay Lightning visiting the New York Islanders. The Lightning got off to a hot start to the season but they have cooled off of late while the Islanders are still trying to get going this season. The Lightning are hoping that two of their injured players, Nikita Kucherov and Ryan Callahan return for this contest while the Islanders are healthy but not everyone is happy.... 

The San Jose Sharks will look to stay hot as they visit the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. The Sharks have won their past three games overall while the Coyotes come in off a loss. Not much has gone right for Arizona as they are 2-6 on the season and in last place in the Pacific Division. They will be at home on Tuesday night but it may not matter as they have lost six of the last ten at home against San Jose.... 

The New York Rangers will look to stay hot as they host the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. The Rangers have won their last two games to take over first place in the Metropolitan Division. They will be facing a Boston team that won three of their first five games but comes into this contest in a tough spot as they had to play on Tuesday night against Minnesota. The Rangers won two of the three meetings against the Bruins last season including both games at MSG.... 

The Buffalo Sabres will try and break a two-game losing streak as they visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night on NBCSN. Not much has gone right for the Sabres this season as they have been hit hard by injuries and they come into this contest in last place in the Atlantic Division. On the other side, the Flyers have played a little better of late but they face a tough scheduling spot playing with no rest.... 

Pacific Division rivals meet on Tuesday night as the Anaheim Ducks visit the San Jose Sharks on NBCSN. Neither team has played that well to start the season but at least the Sharks are at .500 while the Ducks come into this game with a losing record. It had been nothing but misery for the Ducks at the Shark Tank recently but they broke an 8-game losing streak in San Jose with a 1-0 win last November.... 

The New York Rangers are favored at home on Wednesday night as they host the Detroit Red Wings on NBCSN. This game is billed as one for “rivalry night” on NBCSN but the Red Wings and Rangers are really not rivals as Detroit plays in the Atlantic Division while New York is in the Metropolitan. The Red Wings come into this game at 1-2 while the Rangers are 2-1. The Rangers will be solid home favorites in this contest with the total at 5 or 5.5.... 

The Chicago Blackhawks will try and break a three-game losing streak to the Philadelphia Flyers when the teams meet on Tuesday night in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. The Flyers will be finishing up a three-game road trip that has gone pretty well as Philadelphia has a win and an overtime loss for a total of three points. The Blackhawks are 1-2 but they are coming off a 5-3 win at home against Nashville on Saturday night.... 

The defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins will raise their banner on Thursday night as they host the Washington Capitals in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. This is a rematch of last season’s playoff series that the Penguins won in six games in the second round. The Capitals and Penguins are expected to challenge for the Stanley Cup again this season as they are co-favorites to win the Cup at odds of +750. The Penguins may be without their top player for this game as captain Sidney Crosby has been diagnosed with a concussion. Let’s look at Thursday’s game and NHL picks.... 

One of the best series in last year’s playoffs was when St. Louis and Chicago met in the first round of the playoffs. The Blues grabbed a 3-1 lead, but the Blackhawks stormed back to force a Game 7 and many thought the defending champs would rise to the occasion in the deciding game. However, the Blues hung tough and were able to survive and ended up making the Western Conference Finals before bowing out to the San Jose Sharks.... 

The Chicago Blackhawks will open up the regular season against the team that ended their season a year ago as they host the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday, October 12^th on NBCSN. The Blackhawks lost in 7 games last season to the Blues in a hard fought series with six of the seven games being decided by a single goal. The Blackhawks have virtually the same team they had a year ago but the Blues do not as St. Louis lost Brian Elliott, David Backes and Troy Brouwer.... 

Pacific Division rivals meet on Wednesday, October 12^th as the Los Angeles Kings visit the San Jose Sharks in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. These teams met last season in the playoffs and it was the Sharks taking out the Kings in five games. San Jose is coming off their best season in team history as they made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals before losing to Pittsburgh and the Sharks proved they are now the team to beat in California; not the Kings.... 

San Jose just wasn’t ready to let its first trip to the Stanley Cup Final come to an end. And they won’t be the only team flying back to California. Though they were outplayed in nearly every aspect of Game 5, the Sharks were better where it mattered – on the scoreboard. They were also better in net with goalie Martin Jones standing on his head to force a Game 6.... 

Pittsburgh won for just the second time in its past 15 visits to SAP Center, grabbing control of the Stanley Cup Final with a 3-1 victory on Monday. The Penguins have a chance to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup on home ice for the first time and it’s an opportunity they don’t want to let slip away....