Central Division
Colorado Avalanche
Reto Berra did not see any game action this week. Starting goaltender Semyon Varlamov is expected to return after the Christmas break and Berra will again be subject to a close decision between him and competitor Calvin Pickard for the backup-job in Denver. The way it looks right now, Berra may have to sit out his three-year contract at $1.45m per year in Lake Erie in the AHL or will look for a trade closer to the transfer deadline. With 30 points in 32 games, the Avalanche trail the sixth placed Dallas Stars by one point and also see the gap to a playoff berth widen every day.
Minnesota Wild
Nino Niederreiter started off his week with a goal against Chicago on Tuesday. His 14th marker of the season came on a beautiful penalty shot, the first in his NHL career.
He saw 14:50 of ice time and had a team-high 5 shots on goal in his teams’ 3-5 defeat. He was held pointless in their other two games of the week and picked up a combind minus-3 rating and didn’t have a shot on goal in the two outings against Boston (2-3 OT loss, 14:12 TOI) and Nashville (5-6 OT loss, 14:46 TOI). Minnesota sits fifth in the Central division, already nine points behind Nashville who occupy the last spot with a guaranteed playoff berth.
Nashville Predators
Roman Josi’s Nashville Predators had a calm week with only two games. Josi posted six shots on goal and a minus-1 rating in 31:12 TOI in the Preds’ 3-2 OT win against Boston, before contributing a goal and an assist in Nashville’s 6-5 OT win in St. Paul, MN over Nino Niederreiter’s Minnesota Wild. Along with those two points (he now has 17 points this season and is on pace for a new career-high), he had three shots on goal and saw 27:20 of ice time. After their hot start, Nashville fell behind both Chicago and St. Louis but comfortably sit third in their division, four points ahead of Winnipeg and nine points ahead of Minnesota.
Pacific Division
Calgary Flames
Raphael Diaz had his busiest week in a long time, appearing in all four games this week. He was held pointless in every game, appearing for 10:32 in their 1-2 loss in Chicago, before getting 15:43 TOI and a shot on goal in a 2-5 loss to the New York Rangers. He got nearly another 15 minutes of ice time in the Flames’ loss to Dallas on Friday (14:55) and had one shot on goal. He saw his ice time getting cut short to 8:55 again the day after in Vancouver, again with one shot on goal. Meanwhile, Jonas Hiller also appeared in all four games, starting three of them. He conceded two goals to the Chicago Blackhawks on 28 shots and backed up Karri Ramo two days later, but came in in relief and kept a clean sheet in 28:10, saving all of the 9 shots he faced. He was named Calgary’s starter again on Friday, but got another “L” with two goals against on 21 shots on his goal. He also lost the second leg of his back-to-back starts on Saturday in Vancouver, when he stopped 30 of the 32 shots against. The Flames have struggled recently and slipped to fifth in their division. They have played three games more than the third-placed Vancouver Canucks, who hold the last playoff spot in the Pacific Division.
San Jose Sharks
Mirco Müller did not play this week and got the permission to join the Swiss national team for the upcoming IIHF WJC in Montreal and Toronto.
Vancouver Canucks
Luca Sbisa and Yannick Weber got off to a bad start this week at home when Kari Lehtonen shut them out in a 0-2 loss to the Dallas Stars. Sbisa had one shot on goal in 13:45, while Weber played 13:17 and did not record any action of statistical importance. The Canucks bounced back with a 3-2 overtime win over Calgary on Saturday, with Weber in the middle of the buzz over a rare own goal. Luca Sbisa was called on a delayed penalty for tripping up his opponent, which caused Jonas Hiller to leave the Flames’ net for a sixth player. Wideman’s misplaced pass bounced off the boards into the lonely net on the other end and resulted in Yannick Weber’s second goal of the season, as he was the last Canuck to touch the puck. Weber had a goal and two shots on goal in 14:18, Sbisa was a minus-1 and had one minor penalty in 15:06. Vancouver is tied with the LA Kings for the third place in the Pacific, but has played two games less.
ATLANTIC DIVISION
Montréal Canadiens
After a short time back in Hamilton, Sven Andrighetto was called up to Montreal again on this friday. He already played 9:06 and had one shot on goal in the Canadiens’ 4-1 win against Carolina on Tuesday before his demotion to the AHL. After missing the home game against Anaheim, he returned to Montreal’s lineup against Ottawa (4-1 win), when he played 7:59, recording one shot on goal and a minus-1 rating. Montreal is tied with Tampa Bay for the division lead with 44 points in 34 games, two points ahead of Detroit.
Metropolitan Division
Philadelphia Flyers
Mark Streit opened his scoring account early this week with a first-period assist in their first game of the week against Tampa Bay on Tuesday. Still, he finished the game with a minus-2 rating in 21:18 of ice time in the Flyers’ 1-3 loss. He was held off the scoresheet two days later against Florida (1-2 shootout loss) and had two shots on goal in 24:51 TOI. He bounced back on Saturday in their 7-4 comeback win against the Toronto Maple Leafs, when he had an assist on Grossman’s go-ahead goal in the second period. He had no shots on goal in 20:47.
AHL – Quick Look:
Sven Bärtschi (Adirondack Flames – CGY) had three assists and a combined plus-3 rating along with six shots on goal in four games this week. Tanner Richard (Syracuse Crunch – TBL) got one goal and one assist, a combined plus-3 rating and five shots on goal in three games this week. Joel Vermin (Syracuse Crunch) had one assist, a combined plus-1 and one shot on goal in two games.
