Your morning shot of hockey to go with your coffee.

LAST NIGHT’S SCORES:

Quick Hits Today. Here are my picks in case you missed them. Asterisk indicates who I picked:

Islanders blast Stars* 7-3 – Dallas give the puck away 15 times and the Islanders took it away 12 times. Put that with one of the best young stars in John Tavares and you get a hat trick and two assists. The big stat for the Islanders was that they converted 3 of 6 power play opportunities. Goalie Evgeni Nabokov went down with a groin injury during the first period.

Blue Jackets edge Rangers* 4-3 (SO) – The Rangers had to rally after being down 3-1 and poor play to tie up the game at 3. The Blue Jackets took seven penalties on this game. The Rangers had more penalty minutes, but that’s because Chris Kreider took a boarding major that resulted in a game misconduct. Kreider isn’t expected to be suspended but we’ll have to see what the league says. Congrats to Sergei Bobrovski on stopping 40 shots in his return to the Blue Jackets’ lineup.

Canadiens* edge Panthers 2-1 – This was a pretty evenly played game up in Montreal last night. Ultimately the difference was that the Habs outshot the Panthers 35-27. The Law of Large Numbers supports that claim. I’m interested to see if the rumors of Montreal’s Max Pacioretty, who got an assist last night, potentially getting traded. The Flyers are one of the teams on that list.

Calgary scores late, down Avs* 4-3 – Nathan MacKinnon had two goals night, he now has 14 on the season. Colorado looks extremely bright with this young superstar. Nevertheless, Colorado blew this game. They gave away the puck too many times and lost because of an over the glass penalty.

1-3 last night. 42-37 on the season now.

Highlight of the Night:

GAMES  TONIGHT:

The Flyers wrap up their road trip in New Jersey tonight against the Devils. This will be the third game between these two teams. The Flyers won the only other game in New Jersey while the Devils won the only game in Philadelphia. A lot has changed since the 3-0 loss in Philadelphia. The Flyers have gone 17-7-3 since then while the Devils have gone 13-11-4 in that same time frame. The Flyers’ skaters have started scoring more and since then and they’re holding on to the puck much better as well. The key for tonight’s game will be to get the Devils early. The Flyers have done a good job on this road trip rallying but Martin Brodeur knows how to shut down the Flyers. He’s 4-1 in his last five starts against the Flyers and has recorded three shutouts.

Nine other games around the league. Three games to keep an eye out for are: Penguins @ Canucks at 10, Bruins @ Ducks at 10, and Wild @ Kings at 10:30. Penguins over Canucks: The Canucks’ scoring isn’t what it has been in the past. Part of that is from playing in John Tortarella’s system but it’s still uncharacteristic of them. The Penguins have the best offense in the Eastern Conference that is also great on the road. Ducks over Bruins: The Bruins’ defense is still the best in the league but Anaheim still hasn’t lost at home in regulation. A big reason for that is their offense, it’ll overpower Boston’s defense tonight. Kings over Wild: Minnesota is a good team, but they’re horrible on the road (6-12-3). Jonathan Quick is back and is at home. Boom.

LET’S GO FLYERS!!!