7:00 pm
Colorado @ New Jersey
Brian Rolston’s loss seems to be New Jersey’s gain, as the team looks like it will finally dress a full roster - or close to a full roster - because of his placement on the long term injured reserve. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that they’re at “full strength” though, as they’ll be dressing minor league players instead of guys like Anton Volchenkov. Either way, the Avalanche will likely depend on Craig Anderson to outplay Martin Brodeur in this one.
Toronto @ NY Rangers
Win or lose, it’s still too early to know for sure if the 3-0 Toronto Maple Leafs are “for real.” Still, another win would embolden the team quite a bit. It’s probably asking a lot for Clarke MacArthur (four goals in three games) to keep it up, but the Maple Leafs might be onto something as a team. If Toronto beats the Rangers in their home opener tonight, it will be their first 4-0 start in 17 years
NY Islanders @ Pittsburgh
This one ranks pretty high on the “Something Has to Give-o-meter.” The Penguins began the season 0-3 at home (with goalie Marc-Andre Fleury sharing that same record), but Brent Johnson - the only Pittsburgh goalie with a win so far - might end up getting the start tonight. If the Penguins lose to the scrappy-but-still-seemingly-lowly Islanders, it might be time to get a little worried.
Chicago @ Columbus
The Blackhawks are probably pretty heavy favorites in this one, although the strong possibility of Patrick Kane missing this one with “an illness” increases the Blue Jacket’s chances of winning.
7:30 pm
Montreal @ Buffalo
Oddly enough, in some ways, Carey Price has been a bigger strength for Montreal (91.8 save percentage) than Ryan Miller has been for Buffalo (90.7 save percentage). Obviously it’s an incredibly small sample, though, but Price is keeping the Habs in games so far as they’ve been severely out-shot (they average 27.3 shots per game while giving up 36.6 per game so far).
10:00 pm
Atlanta @ Anaheim
The Ducks finally earned a win in their first home game of the season and might have the perfect tonic to keep that going against the Thrashers, who are 0-2 on the road so far. After going without a goal and -12 after three awful games on the road, the Ducks big three of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan produced three goals and four assists in their win against the Canucks.
10:30 pm
Vancouver @ Los Angeles
The Kings could get off to a quick start this season at the expense of their hated rivals in Vancouver, as Los Angeles already has a shootout win over the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last season. The Sedin twins are off to a nice start themselves, with Henrik producing four assists and Daniel notching up three goals and two assists in the Canucks’ first three games.
