EHEC Game Preview 11/23

[Virtual Jarmo]

(this is the start of a (hopefully) daily preview of the night's games; the beginning of the preview is on the main EHEC page with a link directing you to that day's thread on the boards) (hoping to encourage some board participation and discussion here; if you guys think doing a weekly one will be much better than nightly, just let me know)

Early season surprises and early season disappointments are starting to form league-wide in Eastside's Hockey Elite Collide. Many teams look to stay hot while others look to the right ship as this week of games begins. With a few teams in danger of being buried in the standings, every point is critical, especially in the EHEC Western Conference where the #1 seed Blackhawks are separated by just six points over the #11 St. Louis Blues. Some interesting cross-conference marquee matchups highlight this week's slate.

Monday's tilts feature a tough cross-conference road matchups for one of EHEC's admins, an Eastern Conference gem is on the slate in Canada's capital, and a potential Taylor Hall Bowl in Toronto.

Washington (16-6-0-1) @ Ottawa (11-7-2-0)

Vic Raj's suddenly resurgent Senators host the league's best team the Washington Capitals in what will be an exciting matchup of two of the most explosive power plays in the game. Since the acquisition of disgruntled forward Marc Savard, the Senators man advantage has exploded, scoring eight times in their last three games.

Tim Gaw's Capitals, meanwhile, have reeled off points in nine of their last ten games and have done so without having a single player in the league's top 20 in scoring. Simeon Varlamov leads the league in wins with 16 and looks to add one more to the column on Monday night.

Columbus (13-6-0-2) @ New York Rangers (10-8-2-2)

The Blue Jackets come in to tonight's game with points in eight of their last ten and have put together a five-game winning streak since a November 7 shootout loss to Carolina. Unhappy with the even strength play of Marek Zidlicky, GM Adam Burke recalled D Kris Russell from Syracuse and inserted him into the lineup paired with Fedor Tyutin. Since then, the Jackets have given up just five even strength goals in the four games Russell has played.

Overtime has not been kind to the New York Rangers in the month of November with all four of their extra time losses coming this month. GM Pat Webber has yet to put together the right combinations as the Rangers have points in seven of their last ten, but just three wins to show for their efforts. While the team's scoring has been balanced, no player on the Rangers has more than six goals this season. The Rangers acquired Wayne Primeau in a trade with Toronto this week to try and bolster their defense while trying to figure out their offensive woes.

New York Islanders (7-14-1-1) @ Toronto (5-14-2-0)

The Islanders have had some tough times this season so far struggling with trying to reach the cap floor and some analysts say that has contributed to their slow start. But GM Dave Gerdevich will have none of the excuses. The Islanders are tied for the second worst -27 goal differential in the league and have just one of the regular top six defensemen in the plus category. The Islanders remain a talented team, but their talent has yet to overcome their youth.

A city rich in hockey tradition, Toronto fans have had to endure a rough start to the 2009-2010 season. Winless since October 24, the Maple Leafs look to give the hometown crowd something to cheer about. GM Mike Walters has done what he can shifting around personnel, but having the worst goal differential in EHEC at -31 and the league's worst power play at 11% just screams to the unfortunate lack of talent. On the bright side, tonight's matchup may go a long way in to deciding the future home of the consensus #1 pick in the 2010 EHEC Entry Draft, Taylor Hall. The Leafs appear to be gunning for that very position as there are rumors circling that Walters may move Tomas Kaberle.


In other games, the Flyers look to solve Colorado's Craig Anderson in the Mile High City. Anderson leads the league, by far, in shots against with 596 in 22 games. Detroit looks to climb back into a first place tie in the Central Division in their game against division foe Nashville. Surprising Phoenix travels to surprising Edmonton in a battle of young, exciting teams while two division leaders full of wily veterans collide on the Left Coast with Calgary traveling to Disneyland to battle the Mighty Ducks.

[Tuo-SabresGM]

Excellent job, Adam. These quick run-throughs definitely add an interesting element. Hopefully we can carry these storylines through the season and create some fun rivalries.

[CapsGM]

Yeah, it looks great. Hopefully it inspires some more activity on the boards. And hopefully it didn't take too much time, on top of simming.

[Commish Bub(NYR)]

Very nice. It'll be interesting to see how we can build off of this as well.

[GM Office Q]

Nice work, Adam! Looks awesome.