HOCKEY NHL ARTICLES

The St. Louis Blues are road favorites on Sunday night as they visit the Colorado Avalanche on NBCSN. The Blues are in a battle for the last Wild Card spot in the Western Conference while the Avalanche are in last place in the conference. This is simply a game that St. Louis can’t afford to lose against a very bad Colorado team. The Blues have won six of the last ten meetings in this series, including the last three.... 

The Washington Capitals are solid home favorites on Monday night as they host the Dallas Stars in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. The Stars are on the fringe of playoff contention in the Western Conference while the Capitals have the top record in the Eastern Conference. This series had been completely dominated by Dallas until earlier this year when the Capitals broke a nine-game losing streak in the series by winning 4-3 in Dallas.... 

The Philadelphia Flyers are big favorites on Tuesday night as they host the Colorado Avalanche in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. It has been a lost season for Colorado, as they are in last place in the Western Conference with the worst record in the NHL. On the other side, the Flyers are currently outside of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and it is hard to see how the team will be able make up ground with so many teams ahead of them in the standings.... 

Two of the top teams in the NHL meet on Wednesday night, as the Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Chicago Blackhawks in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. This is rivalry night on NBCSN, and although this is a great matchup, it is not a rivalry. The teams play in different conferences and meet only twice per season. The Penguins are battling for second place in the Metropolitan Division while the Blackhawks are in second place in the Central Division.... 

The Minnesota Wild will try and do something on Monday that very few teams have done this season, and that is win coming off their bye. Teams coming out of their bye are a pathetic 4-16 in the first game back. You might think that playing at home would help but that is not the case, as teams are 2-12 at home in their first game after the bye. Minnesota has been very good at home this season with a record of 21-9 and they will be favored in this game on Monday night against the Los Angeles Kings.... 

The Boston Bruins visit the Dallas Stars on Sunday afternoon in a game that can be seen on NBC. Both teams are battling for a playoff spot in their respective conferences with Boston very much in the race in the Eastern Conference, while the Stars are already in a must-win situation in the Western Conference. This series between Boston and Dallas has been a road team series, as the road team has won the last six meetings.... 

Heinz Field, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, will be the site for NHL action on Saturday night as the Philadelphia Flyers visit the Pittsburgh Penguins on NBC. This Stadium Series game could be affected by the weather but it won’t be snow and cold that is the problem, but rain. The Northeast has been unseasonably warm lately and rain is possible for Saturday night. This is just the second meeting of the season between these two rivals, as it was the Penguins winning 5-4 in Philadelphia in October.... 

The top two teams in the Central Division meet on Tuesday night, as the Chicago Blackhawks visit the Minnesota Wild on NBCSN. The Blackhawks are nine points behind the Wild, so realistically it is looking like Chicago is going to finish in second place in the division.

The Blackhawks broke a six-game losing streak in the series by winning 4-3 at Minnesota two weeks ago. Minnesota will be listed as a slight favorite for this contest on Tuesday night.... 

The NBCSN rivalry game on Wednesday night has the Washington Capitals visiting the Philadelphia Flyers. The Capitals have the best record in the Eastern Conference while the Flyers are fighting just to make the playoffs. These teams have met twice this season with each team winning at home.

The Flyers have done well in this series in Philadelphia, winning 7 of the last 10, but they will still be listed as home underdogs on Wednesday night.
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A busy Hockey Day in America on Sunday includes a late game on NBCSN as the Boston Bruins visit the San Jose Sharks. The Bruins have played well under new head coach Bruce Cassidy winning three straight, but this is not a good spot for Boston as they are coming off their bye week, and teams this season have struggled in their first game after the bye. On the other side, the Sharks are in the second half of a back-to-back as they were at Arizona on Saturday.... 

Hockey Day in America on Sunday has 11 games on the schedule including the Chicago Blackhawks visiting the Buffalo Sabres in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. The Blackhawks are in second place in the Central Division while the Sabres are fighting to stay in Wild Card contention in the Eastern Conference. It has been nothing but misery for Buffalo in this series of late as they have lost the last ten games. Buffalo has not beaten Chicago since 2009.... 

Two of the top teams in the NHL meet on Sunday on NBC as the Washington Capitals visit the New York Rangers. It is a huge slate of games on Sunday, which is Hockey Day in America and the day starts with the league’s top team, the Capitals visiting the Rangers. The four best teams in the Eastern Conference just happen to reside in the same division with the Capitals leading the Metropolitan Division while the Rangers are battling with the Penguins and Blue Jackets for second place.... 

The second game on a busy Hockey Day in America on Sunday has the Detroit Red Wings visiting the Pittsburgh Penguins on NBC. It is looking more and more like the Red Wings 25-year streak of making the playoffs is going to come to an end this season while the Penguins are battling for second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Red Wings did break a four-game losing streak in this series by winning 6-3 at home last month.... 

The Buffalo Sabres are big favorites at home on Thursday night as they host the Colorado Avalanche on NBCSN. The Sabres are on the fringe of playoff contention in the Eastern Conference while the Avalanche are hopelessly out of the race. It is getting to the point with Colorado where they are almost an automatic go-against in every game they play. The franchise is a mess, the coach is in over his head and the players are discouraged.... 

The Minnesota Wild are favored at home on Sunday afternoon as they host the Detroit Red Wings on NBC. The Red Wings have made the playoffs in each of the last 25 seasons but that streak is in serious jeopardy this season as Detroit currently is outside of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. It won’t be easy for the Red Wings on Sunday as they visit a Minnesota Wild team that has the most points in the Western Conference.... 

The New York Rangers visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. These teams are battling for second place in the Metropolitan Division along with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Rangers have surged lately to get within striking distance of both Columbus and Pittsburgh while the Blue Jackets have treaded water in recent weeks. These teams have played three high scoring games this season with Columbus winning two of the three.... 

The Tampa Bay Lightning visit the Minnesota Wild on Friday night in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. The Lightning have struggled for much of the season with injuries a big part of the problem while the Wild are competing for the best record in the NHL. Minnesota will be listed as a solid home favorite in this contest with the total at 5 over or 5.5 under. The teams have split their last ten meetings overall with Tampa winning 3-2 earlier this season at home.... 

Two low scoring teams meet on Tuesday night as the Los Angeles Kings visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on NBCSN. The Kings are currently in one of the two Wild Card spots in the Western Conference while the Lightning are currently outside of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Los Angeles is scoring just 2.5 goals per game while Tampa is scoring just 2.7 goals per contest so this should be a low scoring game on Tuesday night.... 

You can start your Super Bowl Sunday with some NHL action as the Los Angeles Kings visit the Washington Capitals on NBC. The Kings are battling just to make the playoffs in the Western Conference while the Capitals have the best record in the Eastern Conference. This has been a good series for the Kings as they have taken 8 of the last 10 meetings and they have won 6 of the last 9 in Washington.... 

Two teams on the playoff bubble in their respective conferences meet on Monday night on NBCSN as the St. Louis Blues visit the Philadelphia Flyers. The Blues recently fired head coach Ken Hitchcock and gave Mike Yeo the job a little early as he was the coach in waiting but unless St. Louis gets better play on defense and in goal it won’t matter the coach is. On the other side, the Flyers have been inconsistent and really don’t look like a playoff team, but the Eastern Conference is so top heavy that they are still very much in contention.... 

The Buffalo Sabres will look to win their fourth straight game against the New York Rangers when the teams meet on Thursday night on NBCSN. The Sabres beat the Rangers 4-3 in New York last April and this season they have beaten the Rangers twice, 4-3 in Buffalo and 4-1 in New York. The Sabres are a much improved team this season as they are very much in the playoff race in the Eastern Conference but they will probably still be listed as home underdogs in this contest against New York.... 

The Los Angeles Kings are big favorites on Wednesday night as they host the Colorado Avalanche on NBCSN. It has been ugly for the Avalanche this season as they have the worst record in the NHL and they came out of the All-Star break on a 7-game losing streak. On the other side, the Kings are battling for one of the last two playoff spots in the Western Conference. Surprisingly, the Avalanche have won the last three meetings in this series.... 

It is a back-to-back for both the Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals on Wednesday night as Boston visits Washington on NBCSN. The Bruins were in Tampa on Tuesday night while the Capitals were in New York. The edge should be with Washington as the travel is easier plus they are playing at home where they are 19-6 this season. It also helps that the Capitals have owned the Bruins recently, winning each of the last seven meetings.... 

The NHL All-Star Game takes place on Sunday in Los Angeles on NBC with the popular 3-on-3 format returning. There will be three 20-minute games with the Atlantic taking on the Metropolitan while the Central battles the Pacific. The winners of those two games will battle in the final. Last year the two semifinal games were high scoring as the Atlantic beat the Metropolitan 4-3 while the Pacific outscored the Central 9-6. The final was totally different as the Pacific beat the Atlantic by a score of 1-0.Don't miss the ice action from Staples Center at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, January 29, 2017. Catch every moment of the three games live on NBC.... 

The last action before the All-Star break takes place on Thursday night with 26 teams in action including the St. Louis Blues visiting the Minnesota Wild on NBCSN. The Blues have really struggled of late and fallen out of contention in the Central Division and there are now real questions as to whether or not this team will even make the playoffs. On the other side, the Wild are neck and neck with Chicago for the lead in the division and the best record in the Western Conference.Don't miss the ice action from the Xcel Energy Center at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, January 26, 2017. Catch every moment of the game live on NBCSN....