Back by popular demand, here are your Puck Previews: Spotlighting the key games in NHL action, news and views as well as general frivolity. Make sure to stop back here for the nightly Three Stars when the games are finished.
Preview: Buffalo Sabres at Winnipeg Jets, 8 p.m. EST. Not just the game of the night, but the national game in NBC in the U.S. The Jets are two points up on the Sabres as play begins. Robyn Regehr should be back for the Sabres. Mark Stuart said the Jets are going to roll with the homecookin': "Just to be home, sometimes it's just a little easier sleeping in your own bed and having that time at home, not getting on a plane all the time. … And playing in front of our fans is nice, it helps.
Preview: Phoenix Coyotes at Pittsburgh Penguins, 7 p.m. EST. The Coyotes are trying to shake a two-game losing streak after winning everything in sight in February. Deryk Engelland is expected to miss the game for the Pens, along with Kris Letang. But they'll get Tyler Kennedy back, so that's something. Expect the 'Yotes to come out playing with an edge in this one.
Preview: Edmonton Oilers at Anaheim Ducks, 10 p.m. EST. Are the lowly Oilers the panacea for the stumbling Ducks? From Anaheim Calling: "The Ducks are looking for a sucker of a team to allow them to score a few goals and get on a roll to finish out this final month of hockey. Which is exactly what we need tonight - someone, preferably the guys who get paid the big bucks, to score some damn goals." Taylor Hall's left shoulder is A-OK and he'll play in this one.
Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page. For tonight's starting goalies, check out Left Wing Lock.
Evening Reading
• Jay Rosehill is back to defend his teammates' honor! (And because the Toronto Maple Leafs now have a coach that'll play him.) [National Post]
• The Leafs Death March begins. [PPP]
• The end of the "but you have Matt Cooke!" argument. [Pensburgh]
• Ken Campbell: "The difference between Steven Stamkos and Alex Ovechkin? Stamkos has changed his game, has developed a power forward's mentality and is now getting goals from all over the ice, including the dirty areas. Ovechkin, meanwhile, hasn't changed one thing since he entered the league." [THN]
• Chances Robin Lehner is destroying something in anger as we speak: high. [Senators]
• No Mike Cammalleri for the Flames on Tuesday. [Flames]
• Minnesota's "Ontario" problem. [Wild Puck Banter]
• Rod Stewart might attend his son's Spokane Chiefs game. Hide yer ice girls! [Buzzing The Net]
Puck Daddy Reader Comment of the Day: Archbishop Krejci on the Don Cherry/Leafs/Ontario players thing:
In the Bruins post-Cup celebration, the amount of time I spent lamenting the fact that no Bostonians or players from Massachusetts were on the 2011 Stanley Cup Champions was less than the amount of time Marchand spent clothed and/or sober. It doesn't matter where a player comes from, as long as the team wins.
Rational people should be more concerned if Burke was purposefully ignoring talent coming out of the OHL (regardless of where the player was born) as that is probably the best feeder league of high quality NHL talent. But his draft record hasn't born this out. This time where there are no Ontarians (Ontareos? Ontaromatopeas?) is more statistical aberration than anything. Like that time when Minnesota was first in their conference.
Ouch.
Bold Prediction: The Sabres keep rolling and win in a very tough place to win. Winnipeg ... not, like, the high-stakes poker room at the Borgata.