NHL Previews

After stopping a five-game skid with Friday’s overtime victory, the Chicago Blackhawks will vie for consecutive victories for the first time this season when the St. Louis Blues visit on Sunday afternoon. Chicago is confident a newfound surge can carry over to the second contest of a three-game homestand. The Blackhawks tied Friday’s contest against the Toronto Maple Leafs 15 seconds into the third period when Jason Dickinson completed a natural hat trick. Rookie defenseman

The Calgary Flames and Colorado Avalanche traveled on a similar path over the past week. Both clubs had disappointing losses at Nashville and big victories at Dallas, and each won on the road on Friday night. Something will have to give when the Flames play at the Avalanche on Saturday night in Denver to complete a back-to-back set. Calgary likely is feeling good following its 7-4 win over the Stars on Friday night. The Flames

As the NHL’s highest-scoring team, the Vancouver Canucks have received plenty of production from their top-end players. The Canucks head into Saturday’s road clash against the cellar-dwelling San Jose Sharks having received a major boost from the lesser-known players who contributed offensively in their most recent victory. The Canucks are coming off Friday’s 5-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken in which Teddy Blueger, Dakota Joshua and Nils Hoglander scored. Quinn Hughes extended his point streak

A three-game winning streak for the New York Islanders is salvaging what had been a disastrous November. The Philadelphia Flyers hope their current two-game skid isn’t going to undo the progress they made over the first half of the month. The Islanders and Flyers will meet for the second time this week on Saturday night in Elmont, N.Y. Both teams will be completing a back-to-back set. The Islanders continued their well-timed surge Friday with a

It’s hard to know which team might have a more sour attitude on Saturday night when the Toronto Maple Leafs visit the Pittsburgh Penguins. Both teams are coming off a disappointing loss on Friday. The Maple Leafs held a two-goal lead in the second period against the Blackhawks in Chicago but lost 4-3 in overtime. The Penguins led 2-0 after two periods against the Sabres in Buffalo but allowed three straight goals in the third

November likely can’t end soon enough for the New Jersey Devils. After a 5-2-1 run in October, the Devils are 3-7-0 this month with three games remaining, including Saturday night’s matchup against the Buffalo Sabres in Newark, N.J. The Devils have lost three in a row — including 2-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday — and have won only once in their past seven games. “That was just a tough result,” forward Jack

The Montreal Canadiens, off to a 2-1-0 start on their five-game road trip, continue the trek with a Saturday matinee against the Los Angeles Kings. After dropping the first game of the trip 5-2 against the Boston Bruins, coach Martin St. Louis’ group responded with a 4-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday and a 3-2 victory against the San Jose Sharks on Friday afternoon. It’s the first road trip of more than three

Faced with the rare challenge of bouncing back from a regulation loss, the Boston Bruins hit the road to face another division leader, the New York Rangers, on Saturday afternoon. The game will be the second in a back-to-back set for both teams, but Boston will look to resume its winning ways a day after losing 5-2 to the visiting Detroit Red Wings. It was an all-around off game for Boston, which never held a

Coming off a loss at Seattle on Wednesday that head coach David Quinn called “embarrassing,” the San Jose Sharks open a three-game homestand Friday afternoon against the Montreal Canadiens. The Sharks enter the contest with the fewest points (seven) and wins (three) in the NHL, and their minus-55 goal differential is easily the worst in the league. The low point of the season that began with a 0-10-1 start was back-to-back losses to Vancouver and