I know, I know, I have been dropping the ball here lately - my previews have sucked. Somebody has a job that isn't this.
Twelve games!
6 St. Louis at 12 New Jersey
Both of these have been playing well of late. They play a similar brand of hockey. Adam Henrique. will need to be big for New Jersey. Severson and Larsson can make big plays defensively. For St. Louis, I like David Backes. Watch for Martin Havlat - a fast scoring-type forward but older at 34. The Blues, because of their many injuries, have picked him up for a try. I always liked him and honestly he fits in here. He can score and he can get injured, too.
St Louis 6/4
24 Carolina at 2 New York Rangers
I always feel like the Canes can steal games. I am a slightly pessimistic fan. So I almost picked Carolina here. The Rangers should win. They are deeper. They play a fast game - which to me is the Canes' strength. The Rangers can keep up and even lead. Nash is back tonight after sitting out with back issues - I'd love to see Nash start finishing. If Jeff Skinner gets a goal, the blueshirts might be in for a long night. This kid is one of those streaky hot players. He has skills but can disappear, too.
New York Rangers 6/4
29 Colorado at 23 Philadelphia
Philadelphia. They are the best bad team in the league. On a normal night, they give up great opportunities. They have players that can score. They are tough and skilled. And they can lose to anyone. I have a friend who loves the Flyers - he believes they are cursed because of him, I am more and more convinced the older I get. Colorado isn't without talent - Landeskog, MacKinnon, Beauchemin, Barrie, Dechene and Iginla, the aged warrior that he is, is producing. But they can't keep teams from generating shots up the middle.
Philadelphia 6/4
17 Vancouver at 28 Columbus
Columbus has to win against these teams consistently in order to prove the beginning of the season was just a fluke. If not Torts won't last long here. But he will give good interviews. Vancouver is not a bad team, they just have a long way to go to be great. Columbus need Nick Foligno and Ryan Johansen to start scoring.
Columbus 6/4
4 Washington at 18 Detroit
Washington will get chances. Probably out-shoot the Red Wings. Detroit has a couple of guys that have that special skill - they don't need a lot of room to make something happen. Washington's depth should win out. Ovechkin is on a huge stage tonight - to become the highest scoring Russian in front of the current highest scoring Russian, Sergei Federov - a very silky smart forward that played most of his career in Detroit. It could be an epic moment.
Washington 7/3
22 Buffalo at 14 Tampa Bay
Jack Eichel and Tyler Ennis will be playing on a line together tonight. That could be fun to watch. The Lightning play good defense. If these two can crack that system for a couple goals, it will be impressive. I am still waiting for the Lightning to start scoring. I will try to watch this one. Ondrej Palat is injured - Tampa Bay will miss him, but maybe that will help invigorate that line.
Tossup 5/5
26 Calgary at 21 Florida
Calgary and Florida can always take one from some team that isn't sleeping. But overall neither team is playing well. On Florida's side, there are injuries. One I knew about, Alexsander Barkov - he's still out. Dave Bolland, though, I didn't know about. He is an impact player - along the leadership side of things. I am not great familiar with his style but great teams tend to have this type of player. Guys like Dustin Brown on the Los Angeles Kings. Patrice Bergeron on the Bruins. This sort of player. I don't think Bolland is that solid but if he is an impact player - he is back tonight.
Florida 6/4
16 Ottawa at 7 Nashville
Neither of these teams is as bad it seems. They win more than they lose. Both have holes though. For Nashville, I think their forward depth is suspect. Guys like Ribeiro have to score and put pressure on defenses so the first line doesn't have as heavy a load. Ottawa, it's defense. I love Karlsson and Methot. But after that, they aren't solid every night. This could be a fun game.
Nashville 6/4
11 Winnipeg at 8 Minnesota
Zach Parise is out. That hurts Minnesota. They are still a good team. Winnipeg is interesting. Overall they are not an easy win. But they give up quality opportunities. This is a hard call.
Winnipeg 6/4
30 Toronto at 3 Dallas
Dallas should have no problem winning this. But Dallas has a way of not playing for a little bit every game. If the Stars don't get 4 goals, I will be surprised. How many they let in won't ever surprise me. They might have the best playing top-9 forwards in the league. Another good game to watch. Toronto is playing with a better churn to their game. They can cause problems and they did the last time these two met - winning 4-1.
Dallas 6/4
25 Arizona at 5 Los Angeles
Another one of the games where I kinda want Arizona to win. But I don't want it to be because LA plays poorly. I believe in this LA team so I like to watch them play well.
Los Angeles 7/3
13 New York Islanders at 19 San Jose
The Isles. They have a solid group of forwards and think they will work San Jose with reward. San Jose will get chances and will have to capitalize.
New York Islanders 8/2
Predictability score: 6.25
* By the way, the ranking numbers come from ESPN.
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