Central Division
Colorado Avalanche
Reto Berra’s only game this week came against a struggling Pittsburgh Penguins team. He only stopped 29 of the 33 shots coming his way though and finished the game with a .879 save percentage in a 2-4 loss.
Colorado is the last placed team in the Central Division with 27 points in 30 games.
Minnesota Wild
The Wild lost consecutive games in overtime this week. Nino Niederreiter had a minus-1 rating and a shot on goal in 17:20 TOI in a 1-2 loss to Colorado and two penalty minutes in 12:52 in the second loss to Arizona (1-2) on Friday night. He saw his ice time rise to 14:38 on Saturday, but only had one shot on goal during the game. After his recent slump, Niederreiter projects to finish the season with only about 30 points.
Minnesota’s 36 points in 28 games are good for third in their Division.
Nashville Predators
Roman Josi’s Nashville faced a tough schedule this week with four games in six nights. The Predators visited Boston to start the week, then played Chicago in a home-and-home and hosted Colorado on Saturday. Josi scored two goals and two assists through those four games, with both of his goals coming in the game against the Bruins. Josi finished the game with five penalty minutes (first career fight) and four shots on goal in 22:05 TOI. He added assists in back-to-back games against the Blackhawks (minus-1, four shots on goal in 23:57 TOI in the first game; plus-2, two shots on goal in 21:23 in the second game) on the way to a 1-4 loss and a 5-1 win. The streaky Predators dropped their next game to Colorado in a 2-3 loss. Josi had three shots on net in 25:48.
The fifth-placed Predators have 35 points through 30 games, but trail the second-placed Blues by just three points.
Winnipeg Jets
After breaking his scoring slump last week, Nik Ehlers had a rough week once again. The speedy winger just played 11:52/13:11/14:54 respectively through Winnipeg’s three games this week and couldn’t find a way on the scoresheet. He had a combined even rating, two penalty minutes and three shots on goal in those three games. (1-3 loss to Chicago, 6-4 win against Columbus and another 0-2 loss to the Blackhawks).
After 30 games, the Jets have amassed 30 points and sit fifth in the Central Division.
Pacific Division
Calgary Flames
Even though Jonas Hiller has allowed at least four goals in four of his last five starts, he won back-to-back games this week. In consecutive starts against Buffalo (4-3 win) and the New York Rangers (5-4 OT win), Hiller made 27 (on 30 shots against) and 25 (on 29 shots against) stops respectively for his just third and fourth wins of the season.
The Flames’ recent surge leaves them in the hunt for a playoff spot, their 29 points in 28 games is good for fifth in the Pacific Division, two points behind the second-placed Arizona Coyotes.
San Jose Sharks
Before getting reassigned to the San Jose Barracuda on Friday, the Sharks defenseman Mirco Mueller competed in two games this week. He had a minus-1 rating and two shots on goal in 9:50 minutes of ice time in a 2-4 loss in Calgary and one shot on goal in 12:43 TOI in a 3-4 OT loss to the Edmonton Oilers a night later.
Because the Pacific Division has been astonishingly bad this season, the Sharks find themselves fourth in a six-team race for second in the division with 29 points in 29 games.
Vancouver Canucks
With Luca Sbisa out injured (not expected back in 2015), Yannick Weber a healthy scratch in every game in the past two weeks and Ronalds Kenins shuttling back and forth between Utica and Vancouver (he got recalled once again on Saturday night), the only Swiss player featuring in a game last week was Sven Bärtschi. The forward played 11:02 minutes in a 5-2 win against Buffalo and had two shots on goal and saw 11:38 TOI in his second game of the week, a 2-1 win over the New York Rangers (one shot on goal).
30 points in 30 games is enough for third in the Pacific Division. The Canucks trail the leading LA Kings by ten points.
ATLANTIC Division
Tampa Bay Lightning
Joel Vermin’s NHL action this week consisted of a mere 8:53 minutes of ice time in a 1-3 loss to the Kings at Staples Center on Sunday night.
Tampa Bays 31 points have the ranked sixth in the Atlantic Division.
Montréal Canadiens
Sven Andrighetto skated in a top-six role in trainings, but still only saw 10:56 of ice time in a matchup against Boston on Wednesday night. He had a minus-1 rating and one shot on goal en route to a 1-3 loss. The next game in Detroit (2-3 loss), he scored his fourth goal of the season and had a plus-1 rating with two shots on goal in just 8:45. He followed up that performance with another plus-1 rating and one shot on goal in 9:13 in a 3-1 win against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.
The Canadiens still sit atop the NHL with 43 points in 31 games.
Metropolitan Division
Philadelphia Flyers
Mark Streit is back on the ice and skated for the first time after his injury, but is not yet ready for a return to the lineup.
The sixth-ranked Flyers are 6-3-1 in their last ten games and have accumulated 30 points in 30 games so far.
AHL – Quick Look:
Raphael Diaz (Hartford Wolf Pack – NYR) is still injured (upper-body) and isn’t expected back before late January. Christoph Bertschy (Iowa Wild - MIN) scored one goal in two games in the past week. He had a combined minus-1 rating with six shots on goal and two penalty minutes. Dean Kukan (Lake Erie Monsters – CBJ) contributed one assist through two games this week (combined even rating, one shot on goal). Christian Marti (Lehigh Valley Phantoms - PHI) is still out with an injury. With his sixth and seventh assists on the season, Kevin Fiala (Milwaukee Admirals – NSH) had a productive week. He had a combined minus-2 rating and four shots on goal in four games. Following his demotion to the AHL, Mirco Mueller (San Jose Barracuda - SJ) featured in one game this week-end. He had one shot on goal and a minus-2 rating. Tanner Richard (Syracruse Crunch – TBL) had an assist in three straight games and combined for a minus-4 rating and seven shots on goal in four games this week.
