Watch Dallas Stars vs Anaheim Ducks Live Online

Watch Dallas Stars vs Anaheim Ducks Live Online

Each team took three games from last year's head-to-head, the Stars winning in regulation and in overtime, the Ducks with one regulation win and two shootouts. Both teams come off frustrating losses, Dallas dropping one at home to the hard-charging Kings and the Ducks getting blanked 5-0 by the Blues at Honda Center. In the Stars' case, part of the problem was not having points leader Brad Richards on hand to get the offense going while the Ducks struggled as well, particularly on the power play, getting shut out for the second time in three games.

With four key players out, it's hard enough to maintain consistent play. The Stars have had to get by without Mike Modano, Steve Ott, Brad Richards or Jere Lehtinen, and Modano's return looked imminent until Friday when he aggravated the rib injury that sidelined him since the season opener. Lehtinen suffered a groin injury during the Nashville game on October 14. Both were placed on injured reserve Tuesday.

After two shutouts in three games, a 2.14 goals-per-game average, and an 0-for-17 drought on the power play, offense has become an issue with a team that specifically tried to upgrade in that area in the offseason. "We don't have one line right now that's playing consistently well," Joffrey Lupul told the Orange County Register at practice on Sunday. "The games we've won and played well it seems like everybody contributed. It's just a matter of everyone getting comfortable with who they're playing with, and there's a little bit more we can do as far as winning battles and giving ourselves a little bit more of a chance to play off them."

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Watch Vancouver Canucks vs Chicago Blackhawks Live Online

Watch Vancouver Canucks vs Chicago Blackhawks Live Online

This will be the first matchup between the teams since the Blackhawks eliminated the Canucks in the Western Conference Semifinals, winning Game 6 at the United Center by routing Roberto Luongo in a 7-5 win. They split their four regular-season meetings, with the Canucks taking the final one, 4-0, on March 29.

Sitting at 3-5-0 after the first eight games of the year, the Canucks are still struggling to get their feet under them. Vancouver has dropped two of its last three to divisional rivals Edmonton and Calgary, and it would serve the Canucks well to close out their brief two-game road trip with a win over the solid Blackhawks.

Prior to losing to Dallas on Saturday, Chicago had won four in a row, but that loss has proved costly for goalie Cristobal Huet, who gave up a bizarre game-winner to Stephane Robidas. The high-priced signing from a year ago is yet to display the form he had during his playoff run with Washington in 2008. Backup Antti Niemi has been strong in three appearances this season, all of them wins, and reportedly will get the nod Wednesday as he continues to make a case to be the full-time starter.

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Watch Colorado Avalanche vs Minnesota Wild Live Online

Watch Colorado Avalanche vs Minnesota Wild Live Online

This is the first of six meetings between these clubs. Last season, Minnesota won four of six contests -- twice at home and twice on the road. Pierre-Marc Bouchard (4 goals, 2 assists) and Mikko Koivu (1 goal, 5 assists) tied for the series scoring lead with 6 points apiece. Owen Nolan added 4 goals in five games, and goalie Niklas Backstrom went 4-1-1 with a 2.06 goals-against average. Since-traded Ryan Smyth paced the Avalanche with 3 goals and 4 points, and Paul Stastny added 2 goals and 2 assists in four games. Goalie Peter Budaj went 2-2-1 with a 2.53 GAA.

This is the final game of Colorado's seven-game road trip. They've gone 4-1-1 since hitting the road on Oct. 8 in Nashville. On Monday, goaltender Craig Anderson was named the NHL's Second Star for the week ending Oct. 18 -- the second time he's earned the honor this month. From Oct. 12-18, Anderson went 4-0-0 with a 2.20 goals-against average and .928 save percentage as Colorado climbed into first place in the Northwest Division.

Minnesota is playing its first home game since Oct. 6 and only its second of the season. It went 0-5-0 on a five-game road trip between games at XcelEnergyCenter, and three of those losses were by two or more goals. This game will probably see the Minnesota debut of newly-acquired right wing Chuck Kobasew, who was acquired in a trade with Boston on Sunday. He had 1 assist and a minus-2 rating in seven games with the Bruins. The Wild were in desperate need of a veteran help with a crippling rash of injuries. Kobasew told the Pioneer Press "they have a good group of guys, good players, and there's no reason we can't turn it around."

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Watch Buffalo Sabres vs Florida Panthers Live Online

Watch Buffalo Sabres vs Florida Panthers Live Online

It's the first meeting this season between these two Eastern Conference rivals. Last season, Buffalo won the final three games of the four-game set between these two teams. Florida won the first game, 2-1 on Dec. 1. Buffalo will be looking to put Saturday's result out of their heads quickly and can make a case that it was a mere fluke by pointing to the fact that Atlanta has had the Sabres' number for the past few seasons, as well as the fact that backup Patrick Lalime, and not red-hot starter Ryan Miller, was in goal. Still, the loss clearly rankled many of the Sabres. "You want to win every game," Lalime said. "That's what we play for. Maybe it's just a way for us to look in the mirror and say, 'We're a good team, but we've got to make sure we battle every night and come out strong.' You cannot take any time off in this League. There's so many good teams, so you've got to be on your game all 60 minutes."

Four consecutive losses were enough for Florida coach Pete DeBoer, who switched things around significantly in the come-from-behind win against the Flyers. Rostislav Olesz was moved up to the second line and had a strong game. Cory Stillman was sent to the third line and fourth-line center Shawn Matthias was sent to the minors, replaced by free-agent signee Dominic Moore. Also, Scott Clemmensen was in net for the first time, replacing a struggling Tomas Vokoun. That was a move DeBoer was hesitant to make in fear that it would send a message that Florida's early-season struggles were Vokoun's fault. "The bottom line is Tomas has played some real good hockey for us," DeBoer said. "But we have won one of our first five games. It's not Tomas' fault. It's the group of 20 and the coaches."

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Watch Nashville Predators vs Boston Bruins Live Online

Watch Nashville Predators vs Boston Bruins Live Online

This is the only meeting of the season between the Bruins and Predators. Nashville won the lone meeting between the clubs last season, 3-2 in a shootout at SommetCenter. This is only the seventh visit by the Predators to Boston since they entered the NHL in 1998-99. Neither squad is off to a particularly sizzling start, but perhaps most surprising is the Bruins' 3-4-0 showing through seven games. They didn't lose for the fourth time in regulation last season until Nov. 26.

Boston has been on a lose-one, win-one streak, but it might be time for a win considering the Bruins lost 4-1 in Phoenix on Saturday. Nashville took a point in Washington on Saturday, losing 3-2 in a shootout but is still struggling to find some offense and has dropped its last five.

They scored two goals in Washington -- only the third time this season and the first since Oct. 8 that they had at least that many in a game. The good is that Shea Weber and J.P. Dumont scored the goals, the first of the season for both players. Dan Ellis also played a strong game in goal, stopping 33 of 35 shots. The bad is that Jason Arnott was injured in the game and has been placed on IR. It's an upper body injury that should keep the captain out for a week or two.

The B's shook things up Sunday by shipping Chuck Kobasew to Minnesota for minor-leaguer Craig Weller, collegiate prospect Alexander Fallstrom and a draft pick. On Monday, they added forward Daniel Paille in a trade from Buffalo. The Kobasew deal frees up some cap space they might need now that powerful wing Milan Lucic is on long-term IR with a broken right index finger. He had surgery Monday and is out 4-6 weeks. That could be a crushing blow. Brad Marchand and Vladimir Sobotka have been recalled from Providence. The good news is defenseman Dennis Wideman (left shoulder injury) has been skating and could return tonight. He hasn't played since Oct. 10.

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Watch Carolina Hurricanes vs New York Islanders Live Online

Watch Carolina Hurricanes vs New York Islanders Live Online

This is the first of four meetings between the teams this season. The Hurricanes won every game in 2008-09, and put an exclamation point on the season series by winning 9-0 on April 7 at RBCCenter. Six games into their season, the Islanders still don't have a win. After earning points in their first three contests, New York has come up empty since and is coming off a 4-1 loss on home ice to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night.

Many were under the impression that Carolina would take the momentum gained from last season's tremendous playoff run and carry it into this campaign, but so far, that hasn't happened. The Hurricanes have won only two of their first seven games and have been outscored 22-15. They're coming off a 2-0 loss to New Jersey on Saturday.

Looking for some type of secondary scoring, Islanders coach Scott Gordon has broken up his top line of John Tavares, Kyle Okposo and Matt Moulson. Tavares will center Moulson and captain Doug Weight, while Okposo will skate alongside Sean Bergenheim and Frans Nielsen, who is set to make his season debut on Wednesday following preseason knee surgery. Gordon was planning on starting the season with that trio before Nielsen went down with a knee injury during training camp.

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