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Game 1 Preview: New York Islanders at Philadelphia Flyers
The Islanders are coming off a 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, the only team in the East with a worse record than the Toronto Maple Leafs. That on the heels of a massive 7-2 beating at the hands of the Washington Capitals. Still, a playoff berth for the Islanders isn’t a mathematic impossibility, but they’ll have to show improvement during their current four-game road swing.
That won’t be easy for New York; they’re 9-13-6 away from Nassau Collesium this season.
After a dismal start to the season, the Flyers have picked it up huge and sit in the top-8 of the Eastern Conference. A portion of their success has to do with the re-emergence of Jeff Carter. Since December 26th, Carter has 10 goals and 9 assists.
The Flyers are 10-5-1 in that span. The return of Ray Emery in that span gives the Flyers a solid 1-2 punch in Emery and waiver-wire pickup Michael Leighton. The Flyers are finally playing as well as everyone expected them to do, and that’s a dangerous sign for the rest of the East.
NHL Pick: Philadelphia Flyers
Game 2 Preview: Colorado Avalanche at St. Louis Blues
The Avalanche lost a six-game win streak when they fell 1-0 to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. The Avs have been heavily outshot in that span, so naturally the accolades for the win streak fall on goalie Craig Anderson; and he was brilliant during that stretch. Anderson recorded two shutouts and allowed only 3+ goals once.
The Avs showed at the beginning of the season just how good they can be, and their recent play shows they’re back at that level. For a team left for dead before the season even started, that’s quite the accomplishment.
St. Louis has been playing some good puck recently, winning two of three on their Western Canada road-trip. Their latest, a 2-1 win over the hapless Oilers, wasn’t anything to write home about, but the ability to win against bad teams can sometimes be a lot harder than it seems. January was the best month for goaltender Chris Mason, who sported a 5-3-2 record and got his first shutout of the season. Blues are only five-points out of a playoff spot, but realistically, they’re behind a lot more talented teams.
nhl-hockey/free_picks/”>NHL Pick: Colorado Avalanche
Game 3 Preview: New York Rangers at Phoenix Coyotes
The Rangers are coming off an embarrassing 5-1 loss to the bottom-feeding Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday. The Rangers have faded quickly after their strong start to the season. Marion Gaborik has been ice cold, scoring only once in his last 10 games. The Rangers were already offensively challenged when he was scoring; they’re pretty much useless when he’s not. Even Henrik Lundqvist has gone cold. He’s mired in a four-game losing streak, allowing 14 goals on 89 shots.
The Phoenix Coyotes had one of their biggest wins in years on Tuesday, coming back from a two-goal deficit with 90 seconds to play against Detroit before winning 5-4 in OT. Not only was it big because it is in Detroit, an arena where the Coyotes have had trouble winning, but it truly solidified the Desert Dogs as a playoff threat. They now have to be taken seriously if they weren’t already.
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