Around the League: Tonight’s Matchups – October 7th
There are only two games on tonight’s schedule in the National Hockey League.
All of the teams on tonight’s schedule have at least one loss on their record, some more than others.
Let’s take a look at what is going on around the league tonight.
New Jersey Devils vs. Edmonton Oilers
Tonight, the New Jersey Devils travel to Rexall Place in Canada to go one-on-one with the Edmonton Oilers.
Neither of these two teams has managed to put a notch in the win column so far this season.
The Devils are the team that has been the closest in that venture. On Friday night, Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur was able to ward off the first five shooters in the shootout round; however, the sixth would get past the veteran netminder and lead the New York Islanders to finish it out 4-3 in the shootout.
Many expect that Brodeur will be between the pipes for the Devils tonight, as the Devils will head to Vancouver tomorrow night to faceoff with Cory Schneider’s former team, the Vancouver Canucks.
The Oilers haven’t managed to put anything together yet this season. According to ESPN.com, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will be making his season debut tonight against New Jersey. The center and number one overall draft pick in the 2011 NHL Draft was forced to miss the first two games of the season while recovering from shoulder surgery in April.
When you put together two teams that are still working for their first win, two things are for sure. One, the pressure is most definitely on. This is indeed a sport, and the ultimate goal is to win. As you have seen with the Philadelphia Flyers today, if you don’t win, changes will be made. Two, this should be a high caliber game. With the added pressure of earning their first win, both teams will be chomping at the bit and really looking to take things to the next level in order to get on the board.
Time: 9:30 p.m. EST
Network: MSG-PLUS, SNET-W
New York Rangers vs. Los Angeles Kings
Tonight, the New York Rangers travel to the Staples Center in LA to go head-to-head with the Los Angeles Kings.
Out of these two teams, Los Angeles is the only one to have a win so far this season. This is largely in part to center Jeff Carter. Carter has been able to score a goal in both games that the Kings have played thus far.
The Rangers are certainly going to have their work cut out for them tonight.
According to ESPN, the Kings have not lost a home game in regulation against the Rangers since December 29, 2001, and have gone 3-0-2 in the past five meetings there.
The Rangers look to get a boost from their offense tonight, as captain Ryan Callahan is expected to return to the lineup tonight. The Rangers have always looked to Callahan as the team’s emotional leader, and his absence has been felt during the preseason and the start of regulation.
As far as the tale of the tape goes, these two teams are fairly evenly matched.
In goals against per game, they are 4 – 3.5 in favor of Los Angeles. In regards to shots on goal per game, they are 24 – 27, again in favor of Los Angeles.
The biggest differences to be seen between these two teams are their Power Play.
Los Angeles has a Power Play percentage of 37.5% to New York’s 25%. The Kings lead the Rangers 3-1 in power play goals; however, the Rangers have a slight advantage in Power Play goals allowed as they have only allowed one compared to the Kings’ 2.
With two teams so evenly matched on paper, it will be interesting to see how things play out on the ice. As is with any team in the NHL who is just starting out this season, they are both going to be hungry for a win, and this matchup in particular should be a fight to the finish.
Time: 10:30 p.m. EST
Network: MSG, FS-W
Make sure to check back with us tonight, as we let you know how these games unfold throughout the night.