Tonight's NHL Action

Predicted winners in bold


Toronto @ New Jersey
Montreal @ New York Islanders
Washington @ Carolina
Tampa Bay @ Atlanta
Columbus @ Chicago
Nashville @ St Louis
Detroit @ Minnesota
Pittsburgh @ Ottawa
Phoenix @ Dallas
Edmonton @ Vancouver
Anaheim @ Los Angeles


Notes of the day:


Anaheim center Nick Bonino is hopeful for tonight's game. Aaron Voros is out with a fractured orbital bone. 


Atlanta forward Nik Antropov is day to day with a hip injury and defensemen Zach Bogosian is day to day with an undisclosed injury. Atlanta has dropped the last 2 contests.


Carolina's dropped 2 straight since since their 4 game winning streak. The power play is warming up again, going 23.5% in their last 5 games.


Columbus is coming off of an embarrassing loss to the Vancouver Canucks and will be looking for redemption against the Chicago Blackhawks tonight. Derek MacKenzie is on IR with a groin injury.


Chicago placed Marion Hossa back to active status, but put Patrick Kane on the IR list in his place. Chicago also recalled G Hannu Toivonen from Rockford.


Dallas looks to rebound from a loss to the Calgary Flames before the break.  Loui Eriksson looks to extend his point streak to 6 games.


Detroit will be without Pavel Datsyuk for the next 4-6 weeks (wrist). He joins Mike Modano on the IR. Nicklas Lidstrom has 6 points in the last 5 games.


Edmonton will be without Ales Hemsky, Gilbert Brule and Jim Vandemeer, but they are all expected back in the lineup within the next week.


Los Angeles defenseman Willie Mitchell is week to week with a lower body injury, and defenseman Matt Greene is day to day with an upper body injury. G Jonathan Quick is sporting a 1.96 GGA this month, going 6-2-1 in that span.


Minnesota is on a 3 game win streak, winning a huge game against Colorado before the break. Nick Schultz is questionable for tonight's game.


Montreal has won every meeting with the Islander's so far this year, and have not lost to the Islanders since Feb.  24th, 2007. 


Nashville defenseman Ryan Suter has 1G, 7A in the past 7 games. Matthew Lombardi is out indefinately with a concussion. David Legwand is probable for tonight's game, and both Sullivan and Erat are questionable.


New Jersey's first game with Jaques Lemaire back behind the bench should prove interesting. Mattias Tedenby is the latest Devil down, out tonight with food poisoning.


The New York Islander's list on injuries keeps getting longer, with Radek Martinek and Matt Moulston both questionable for tonight's game. Out indefinately are Rick Dipietro, Mark Streit, Kyle Ogposo and Trent Hunter. They still have John Tavares though who is on a 4 game point streak.


Ottawa G Pascal Leclaire is not expected to play tonight, out with a groin injury.


Phoenix will be without Ilya Bryzgalov and Taylor Pyatt for tonight's game. Ray Whitney has 16 points in the last 17 games.


Pittsburgh forward Sidney Crosby looks to extend his point streak to 24 games. Jordan Staal is not expected to play tonight.


St. Louis has been hammered by injuries, and will be without Dave Scatchard, Andy McDonald, T.J. Oshie and David Perron for tonight's game. Look for Alex Steen and Alex Pietrangelo to lead the way for the Blues.


Tampa Bay forward Steve Downie is out with a sprained ankle and Mike Smith is out with a sprained knee. Tampa is 6-1-1 against the Southeast Division this year.


Toronto G Jean-Sebastien Giguere is out with a groin injury.  Mikhail Grabovski has 4 goals in the past 4 games for the Leafs.


Washington is coming off of a loss to the Penguins before the break. They have scored 8 goals against Carolina this year - Nicklas Backstrom has 4 of those 8 goals. The Caps are 7-8-1 away from the Verison Center this season.


Vancouver looks to sit first in the Western Conference with a win against Edmonton tonight. The Canucks have only lost twice this December, going 10-2-1 so far. Daniel Sedin has points in 13 of the past 14 games while Henrik Sedin leads the league in assists with 35. G Cory Schneider will get the start tonight.