What's on tap

Only two games on Tuesday night.

Colorado (1-1-0) at Detroit (2-0-0), 7:30 p.m. EDT, Versus

I long for the days when this kind of thing happened in this series. Or this. Good times. Sigh.

Anyway, the Red Wings are looking pretty good this season. An easy win over Anaheim then a solid road victory at Chicago. Valtteri Filppula (still had to look his name up to spell it right) could be Detroit's next big star, though they still have some pretty talented players. Filppula scored twice against the Blackhawks last time out and Chris Osgood earned his 397th career win. Jimmy Howard is still this team's No. 1 goalie though.

The Avalanche battled hard against Philadelphia last time out before two late goals, one into an empty net, doomed them to their first loss of the season. Few goalies made more starts last season than Craig Anderson so, on the second of back-to-back road games, it'll be interesting to see if Anderson gets the nod.

Atlanta (1-1-0) at Los Angeles (1-1-0), 10:30 p.m.

Most thoughts concerning the Thrashers revolve around goalie Ondrej Pavelec these days. Pavelec seems to be recovering. Despite the presence of veteran Chris Mason, Pavelec is the player the Thrashers hope to build around in goal. Hopefully he can get back on the ice soon.

In the meantime, Evander Kane is emerging as the team's leader among skaters. Expect him to be the centerpiece of this team. As long as he doesn't end up pulling a Kovalchuk. A season-opening win against the Capitals was tempered by a loss to Tampa Bay.

The Kings are struggling to score goals, with only two through their first two games, despite talented individuals in Anze Kopitar, Ryan Smyth, Dustin Brown and Drew Doughty. Jonathan Quick's goaltending allowed them to get a shootout win against Vancouver before Jonathan Bernier lost a close decision to Calgary. Newcomer Alexei Ponikarovsky, a bust after being traded to Pittsburgh at the 2010 trade deadline, hasn't found his place yet.