NHL New Year’s Eve 3 Game Pack

The NHL New Year’s Eve schedule is packed and features many players that have been newly named to their respective country’s Olympic teams. Player’s Olympic Roster spots and Snubs highlight Thursday night’s action in the NHL.

San Jose Sharks at Phoenix Coyotes

San Jose are winners of six straight games and boast four Canadian Olympians. The Sharks visit a Phoenix team that has won four of their last 5 games – the only loss during that span was to the Sharks at San Jose on Dec. 28 th.

The Sharks and the Coyotes depend on different factors in order to win. The Sharks utilize Top Tier fire power while Phoenix utilizes a complete team game for its success. Both teams are relatively healthy going into a game of two of the four top Western Conference teams.

New Jersey Devils at Chicago Black Hawks

The Devils visit the Hawks for a New Year’s Eve tilt on the heels of an impressive 2-0 shutout of the Pittsburgh Penguins. With all-world and newly named Goaltender Martin Brodeur looking to justify his place on the most powerful Olympic roster, the Devils will utilize their 4 lines to try and stifle the high flying Black Hawks who are winners of three of their last 4 games.

The Chicago Black Hawks have been hot of late. Goal scoring led by Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp have been solid all year. Canadian Olympians Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook have anchored the Hawks solid Defense while the goaltending of Cristobal Huet have propelled Chicago into the second seed in the Western conference.

It appears as though it’s going to be the Offense of Chicago vs. the Defensive style of the Devils tonight – the winner of the battle will likely win the game.

Edmonton Oilers at Calgary Flames

The Battle of Alberta on New Year’s Eve – what could be better? The Oilers continue their disappointing campaign on the road tonight, following up a somewhat uninspired win against Toronto last night. The Oilers, who are 3-7-0 in their last ten games will be dependant on emotion in this game. They don’t seem to have the roster to be able to compete with a top Tier team.

The Calgary Flames, on the other hand, have a lot to play for. Winners of two straight games, the Flames are only four points up on ninth place Dallas in the Western Conference and will be looking to put some distance between them and the chasers in the Conference. Add in the fact that the Flames will have three Canadian Olympic roster snubs (Dion Phaneuf, Robyn Regehr and Jay Bouwmeester) suiting up tonight, and the Flames should come out hard in an always emotional matchup.

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