NHL Previews

Led by the red-hot Kirill Kaprizov, the Minnesota Wild will continue to battle toward a playoff spot when they visit the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday in Tempe, Ariz. The Wild broke a three-game skid (0-3-0) by beating the visiting San Jose Sharks 4-3 on Sunday, though it was hardly a flawless performance. Minnesota had to come back from two deficits after turnovers led to all three of San Jose goals, but Kaprizov was the difference-maker.

The game Thursday between the host Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals normally would be defined by the matchup between future Hall of Famers Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. It’s been that way for years. Oh, the two will be on the ice come Thursday. Crosby sits atop the Pittsburgh leaderboard with 32 points and 63 points, while Ovechkin ranks second among the Capitals with 45 points. However, there are a couple overriding issues this time

The St. Louis Blues and New Jersey Devils share the similarities of having changed coaches while chasing wild-card berths. Both teams have also struggled of late but are hoping to turn things around, starting Thursday night when the Blues oppose the Devils in Newark, N.J. St. Louis is 19-13-2 since Drew Bannister replaced Craig Berube on Dec. 12. The Blues initially experienced the coaching change bump by going 13-6-1 in Bannister’s first 20 games, but

The Calgary Flames and Tampa Bay Lightning will close out their two-game season series Thursday in Florida with their immediate futures heading in opposite directions. Currently grouped with the St. Louis Blues, Seattle Kraken and Minnesota Wild as contenders below the wild-card line, the Flames have not made much headway in the standings after topping the Lightning 4-2 on Dec. 16 in Alberta. Calgary general manager Craig Conroy’s three transactions — starting in January and

The Carolina Hurricanes ought to be more than ready to take on the visiting Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night — they will have had five days without a game since a frustrating home loss. “We just played a boatload of really top-end teams and managed to do pretty well,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “But now you look up to turn the page and there’s a whole bunch more coming.” The Hurricanes haven’t played since

The visiting Buffalo Sabres go for their third win in three tries over the Toronto Maple Leafs this season when the Atlantic Division teams meet Wednesday night. The Sabres defeated the Maple Leafs at Buffalo 9-3 on Dec. 21 and posted a 6-4 victory at Toronto on Nov. 4. The Sabres are coming off a 5-2 home loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday. The Sabres have won five of their past seven games, including

The Arizona Coyotes return home from a five-game road trip to face the Chicago Blackhawks in Tempe, Ariz., on Tuesday night with a much bigger smile on their faces than when they departed. The Coyotes took five of a possible 10 points on the trip including back-to-back wins at Ottawa (5-3) and Washington (5-2) to end the trek. The win over the Senators snapped Arizona’s 14-game losing streak (0-12-2). The Coyotes had been in contention

The Winnipeg Jets are one of the NHL’s hottest teams with nine wins in their past 11 games. Yet even with the recent run of success, the Jets — who will play host to the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night — had a hard time explaining how they pulled out a pair of road victories over the weekend. First was what Winnipeg fans are calling the “Rally in Raleigh” on Saturday. The Jets scored five

By winning Monday night, the St. Louis Blues also managed to help the New York Islanders. Neither team will be in the mood to be generous Tuesday night when the Islanders host the Blues in Elmont, N.Y., in a battle of teams trying to climb into playoff position. The Blues will be completing a back-to-back road set against Metropolitan Division contenders after edging the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 in a shootout on Monday. The Islanders have