NHL Preview Roundup (Part II)
Continued from part I...
Winnipeg at Philadelphia (7:00 p.m. ET)
The Winnipeg Jets are five points behind in the race for a playoff spot and that gap is set to increase when they visit Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday.
Winnipeg has lost three games in a row and do not look in any shape to win over the in-form Philadelphia Flyers.
The Jets' offence has been torrid of late and was shutout the last time they took to the rink against New York Rangers to lose 3-0, bringing their record down to 22-22-6.
Jets' Captain, Andrew Ladd could not comprehend his team’s lack of goals after scoring only four in their previous three losses.
"I can't put my finger on it," Jets' captain, Andrew Ladd said.
"We came out with a pretty spirited effort. We were battling, did a lot of good things. It's not the easiest thing. One of the top teams in the league was sitting there waiting for us."
Philadelphia, on the other hand, is sitting tight at fourth position in the Eastern Conference, with a 29-14-5 record, just three points behind the table topping New York Rangers.
Flyers responded to their epic 6-5 shootout loss to the Boston Bruins with a closely fought victory, as they beat Florida Panthers 3-2 in another shootout.
Philadelphia will be favourites at home as they welcome a Jets side which has a poor 7-14-4 away record.
Toronto at Pittsburgh (7:00 p.m. ET)
The Toronto Maple Leafs have been perennially stuck at ninth in the Eastern Conference for most of the season as they failed to take multiple opportunities to move into a playoff berth.
The Leafs are on a two game winning streak with both coming against the New York Islanders. Toronto won the first of the two with a 3-0 shutout at home and held on to win 4-3 in overtime in the return fixture to maintain their playoff challenge.
Leafs' captain and the only non-Senator voted in my fans for the All-Star game, Dion Phaneuf said that both wins were like playing in playoff games and the experience will help improve confidence in the locker room.
"These were two playoff-like games, They played their game really well and we came back well. We played a pretty solid road game.”
The Pittsburgh Penguins, however, are totally opposite of the New York Islanders and will be a tough nut to crack for Toronto.
Pittsburgh has not lost once in its past seven games and in their last game defeated St. Louis Blues who have the best home record with a 3-2 shootout victory.
Their resurgence could not have come at a better time and the Penguins will look to move up the table with an eighth straight win on Tuesday.
Evgeni Malkin has played a vital role in the Penguins resurgence in the absence of captain Sidney Crosby and Pittsburgh will hope that his brilliant run of form continues against Toronto.
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