Tonight's Games (Oct 21)

Buffalo at Boston - 7 pm
Colorado at Montreal - 7 pm
Carolina at NY Islanders - 7 pm
New Jersey at Ottawa - 7 pm
NY Rangers at Toronto - 7 pm
Tampa Bay at Washington - 7 pm
Florida at Atlanta - 7 pm
Columbus at Pittsburgh - 7:30 pm
Vancouver at Nashville - 8 pm
St. Louis at Chicago - 8:30 pm
Detroit at Edmonton - 10 pm
Dallas at Phoenix - 10 pm
Minnesota at San Jose - 10:30 pm

Game of the Night

Minnesota at San Jose

So far the Pacific division has been extremely competitive with arguably the three top teams in the West residing in the same division (San Jose, Anaheim and Dallas). Because of this the West Coast games have become must-see TV for hockey fans with Center Ice and tonight is no exception as the Sharks host the Wild.

Minnesota comes into this game coming off a loss to Anaheim, their first of the year. San Jose comes in with a matching 6-1 record, trying to extend a three game winning streak.

Joe Thornton is still looking for his first goal of the season but the Sharks as a team have not had goal scoring issues, putting up 4 goals a game thus far. They are lead in goals (6) and points (10) by Milan Michalek who is having a breakthrough sophomore season - last year he didn't notch his 10th point until December 2nd. The Sharks have also been getting strong goaltended from both Nabokov and Toskala and tonight it's Nabby's turn.

Minnesota will have to bounce back from their first loss of the season. This is an underrated team led by Fernandez, Gaborik, Rolston and Demitra. Fernandez is finally proving himself as a true #1 guy after splitting time with Roloson all these years. Rolston is an all-around smart hockey player who can play in all situations. He is a player who fits Lemaire's system perfectly.

The Sharks have the benefit of home ice advantage and being the more rested team, with the Wild playing last night. Due to these two factors I'm going with the Sharks to win a close one.