Saturday's action

I'm still frazzled by the Penguins winning a game, so the following preview is not going to be very in-depth or interesting.

Ottawa (8-7-1) at Boston (8-4-1), 7 p.m. ET, CBC

Tim Thomas blanked the Senators two weeks ago. Boston's defense has been a little shaky, being out-shot in six straight games but Thomas was good enough to get wins in three of those. Can the Bruins figure out how to win at home?

Pascal Leclaire helped end Ottawa's four-game win streak, which is unfortunate since he's a member of the Senators. Expect Brian Elliott back in the net.

Boston 3, Ottawa 1

Washington (12-4-0) at Buffalo (5-9-3), 7 p.m.

The Capitals' offense is back, and the Sabres suck. So, yeah. Ryan Miller's back, but I sure as hell ain't playing him.

Washington 6, Buffalo 2

Pittsburgh (8-8-1) at Atlanta (7-6-3), 7 p.m.

Best part about Pittsburgh's tight, defensive win Friday was my two idiot friends saying, "Yeah, Fleury will start sucking again soon." I thought I was a pessimist. I hate my friends sometimes. Typical fatalistic effing Pittsburghers. Can't even be happy after an effing win. Let's move on before my blood pressure rises any more.

Pittsburgh 4, Atlanta 3

Colorado (8-6-1) at Detroit (10-3-1), 7 p.m.

Peter Budaj, don't let me down. All you're going against is a Red Wings team that is 6-1-1 at home. Hoo boy.

Detroit 5, Colorado 2

Carolina (8-8-0) at Montreal (10-5-1), 7 p.m., RDS

The Hurricanes won a game 7-1. They lost the next one 8-1. They won a different game 7-2. They lost another game 7-4. That about sums up their season so far. Not even they can figure out if they're good or bad.

The number of times Montreal has scored more than three goals: Two. Thank the spirits of Jacques Plante and Ken Dryden for Carey Price.

Carolina 3, Montreal 2

Florida (7-7-0) at Philadelphia (10-4-2), 7 p.m.

The Panthers have won a couple games in a row but now they travel outside the friendly confines of the state lines, where they're not good. And the Flyers are pretty good playing in front of a bunch of orange-clad, ah, supporters.

Philadelphia 5, Florida 2

Vancouver (9-4-2) at Toronto (5-7-3), 7 p.m., NHL Network

I saw someone else cite this stat, and it was so mind-boggling I'm sharing it: Toronto scored more goals in its first four games (16) than it did in the next 10 combined (15). Now it's as many goals in its first four games as in the last 11 (16 each.) Vancouver has given up 12 goals in its last six games.

Vancouver 4, Toronto 1

St. Louis (9-2-3) at Phoenix (6-5-5), 8 p.m.

The Blues lost T.J. Oshie for a long time, making an already-struggling offense worse off. St. Louis hasn't needed to score much but will need to at some point. Fortunately for the Blues, Phoenix hasn't been very good at stopping goals. Or scoring them.

St. Louis 2, Phoenix 1

Chicago (8-9-1) at Nashville (6-5-3), 8 p.m.

I guess the Marian Hossa injury has been pretty significant for the Blackhawks, who have lost four of their last five and are struggling to score goals. Three of those games were at home, the last two being against Edmonton and Phoenix. Yikes. Nashville completed a five-game road trip by going 1-4.

Chicago 3, Nashville 1

Calgary (7-8-0) at San Jose (7-5-2), 10 p.m., CBC

The Sutter boys will be the first NHL executives to be filing for unemployment benefits, right? Even John MacLean has injuries as an excuse at this point. The Sharks need to uh, start winning some games soon. They've been rather ordinary so far.

San Jose 4, Calgary 2

Islanders (4-9-3) at Los Angeles (11-3-0), 10:30 p.m.

I'm not rooting against New York, but we're one loss away from seeing the rare "Lost 10" in the "Streak" column in the standings. Meanwhile, we have the Kings, who are 7-0-0 at home and have allowed only eight goals. In six of those games, LA opponents have been held to one goal or fewer.

Los Angeles 3, New York 0