Only three games are going on in the NHL tonight with two sets of rivals going at it and a pair of Canadian teams battling it out in Alberta.
Here are some of the storylines we’re keeping our eye on.
FLAMES HOPING TO HEAT UP AT HOME
Home-ice advantage is something that most teams covet, but not the Calgary Flames — at least this season.
The Flames have played very poorly at the Scotiabank Saddledome, winning just three times in 10 games.
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A lot can be chalked up to the poor goalie performances from Brian Elliott, but their offence has only managed 56 goals (17th in league) and it too shoulders some of the blame.
On the bright side, Sean Monahan finally found the back of the net on Monday, only his second goal in a month and just his sixth of the season. If he is ready to start scoring like he did in 2014-2015 when he put up 31, the Flames could start to turn their season around.
And they couldn’t have asked for a better opponent than the Toronto Maple Leafs whom they host on Wednesday night.
The Leafs have been as bad on the road as the Flames have been at home. They have just two wins in 11 road games this season, but the most recent came just last night against the Edmonton Oilers.
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The Flames have a golden opportunity to punish a poor road team that should surely be tired from chasing down Connor McDavid less than 24 hours before puck drop.
However, the Flames will have to find a way to shut down Auston Matthews, who recently broke out of his own scoring slump and has six points in his last five games.
MURRAY OR FLEURY?
On Tuesday, Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford came out and said that his goalie tandem isn’t working as well as he thought it would.
Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray have been splitting games since Murray came back from injury, and since then Murray has lost only once and Fleury has yet to win.
It seems as though the Penguins are leaning towards giving one of them the reins and letting them run with it.
On paper, Murray is the obvious choice for this role. His stats (.939 save percentage, 1.75 goals-against average) are better than Fleury’s (.901 save percentage, 3.38 goal-against average), and just a couple of months ago he led the Penguins to their second Stanley Cup since 2009.
Regardless of whether or not one is playing better than the other, the Penguins are going to have to choose which goalie to go with. The expansion draft is coming up in June, and Pittsburgh is only going to be able to keep one of the two from possibly moving to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Murray has good numbers, but his sample size of only 21 games may be too small of a basket to throw all the eggs in. On the other hand, his contract is smaller and the Penguins have enough costs against the cap already.
The Penguins visit the New York Islanders tonight and their choice of goalie could tip us off as to what they plan to do moving forward.
If Murray gets the nod, it will be back-to-back starts for him and his ninth start in 15 games. Also, the Islanders currently have the worst record in the entire NHL, a prime opponent for Fleury to take the crease against to get confidence back, so, if Murray gets the start it could be an indication that we will be seeing a whole lot more of him in the coming weeks.
TIGHT BATTLE IN CALIFORNIA
The Los Angeles Kings host the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night and, on paper, the two are evenly matched.
The Kings currently sit in fourth place in the Pacific Division with a 12-9-1 record, while the Sharks sit in first with one extra win and a game in hand (13-9-1).
The Kings have 56 goals for and 53 goals against. The Sharks have scored 54 and allowed 49 pucks in their net.
Jeff Carter leads Los Angeles with 10 goals and nine assists, and Brent Burns leads San Jose with nine goals and 12 assists.
Between the pipes, Peter Budaj has a .917 save percentage coupled with a 2.04 goals-against average in relief of the injured Jonathan Quick, while Martin Jones has manned the blue paint for the Sharks with a .919 save percentage and 2.09 goals-against average.
The table is set for a back-and-forth battle between the two western teams with the only edge coming to the Kings on home ice.
L.A. has only lost two games at home this season and San Jose is 5-6-1 on the road.
These two teams are no strangers to each other, and San Jose took the first meeting between them 2-1 at home on Oct. 12.
