NHL Previews

The New York Islanders spent two weeks flirting with the possibility of falling well out of contention in the Eastern Conference wild-card race before delivering one of their best performances of the season on Saturday. The Islanders know their strong performance will be rendered meaningless if they cannot produce another similar effort to start getting on a roll. Their next chance at a victory will occur Sunday when they host the New Jersey Devils in

Cole Harbour has been good to the NHL the past 20 years, producing two No. 1 overall draft picks who have lived up to their expectations. Those two No. 1 picks from the Canadian community in Nova Scotia square off Sunday afternoon when Sidney Crosby’s Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Nathan MacKinnon’s Colorado Avalanche in Denver. Crosby, the top pick in the 2005 NHL Draft, has led Pittsburgh to three Stanley Cup championships and is a

The Vegas Golden Knights have experienced enough playoff races in their short history to know when it’s time to step on the gas. The Knights seem to recognize they’re at the starting line heading into their matchup Saturday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Las Vegas. After playing sub-.500 hockey since mid-December, Vegas (37-25-7, 81 points) has won four of its past six games to maintain its four-point lead over the St. Louis Blues

The teams with the NHL’s worst records square off Saturday night when the Chicago Blackhawks finish up a three-game California road trip against the San Jose Sharks. It’s also a matchup of the team with the NHL’s worst road record in the Blackhawks (5-28-1) against a Sharks team with the fewest home wins (10). Chicago (19-46-5, 43 points) is last in the Central Division and brings in a two-game losing streak after a 4-0 loss

Nearly three weeks ago, the Florida Panthers were in the midst of another lengthy winning streak after a 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers. The victory gave them a four-point lead in the race for the most points in the Eastern Conference and now the Panthers are seeing their quality of performance take a dip while the Rangers are ascending. Two teams vying for the most points in the East get together Saturday night

The Edmonton Oilers know that they will need to play a more complete game when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. It will be a matchup between two of the league’s two most dynamic players in Toronto’s Auston Matthews and Edmonton captain Connor McDavid. There is an extra element to the game in Edmonton’s Zach Hyman. The former Maple Leafs forward has 48 goals this season, nine fewer than the league-leading Matthews.

The New Jersey Devils will look to build off recent performances and stay in the mix for a playoff spot when they host the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. The Devils (34-32-4, 72 points) have won two straight after a 4-1 victory against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday and a 5-2 triumph against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. In each outing, New Jersey delivered a complete and consistent effort to skate away with the two points.

The St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild will try to pick up two crucial points in their pursuit of the playoffs when they face off Saturday afternoon in St. Paul, Minn. St. Louis (37-30-3, 77 points) enters the game as the first team on the outside of a wild-card berth in the Western Conference. The Blues are chasing the reigning Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights, who have 81 points and sit in the final

A six-game winning streak seemingly vaulted the New York Islanders into a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Now, a six-game skid (0-5-1) is undoing all of their progress. Inconsistent all season, the Islanders (29-25-15, 73 points) attempt to avoid a seventh straight loss on Saturday afternoon when they host the Winnipeg Jets in Elmont, N.Y. The Islanders moved into the second wild-card spot when they rolled to a 6-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks