The second weekend of the NHL season finally sees everyone who traveled overseas return from their long travel break, and all 30 teams will be in action between Saturday and Sunday. This obviously makes for a whole bunch of intriguing matchups, all of which can be seen somewhere, either on television or streaming live online for your viewing pleasure. The New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Buffalo Sabres and Anaheim Ducks all return to the ice after their European adventures, with the former two teams playing in two of the most intriguing games of the weekend.
NHL Schedule 2011, Weekend Games To Watch: Red-Hot Flyers Return To Action, Rangers Take On Islanders
Several teams return to action after a European trip, while the Flyers put their perfect record on the line in a loaded weekend of NHL action.
In an inter-state (and almost inter-city!) rivalry, the Rangers take on the New York Islanders on Long Island. The Rangers lost both of their two games in Europe in overtime, while the Isles currently have a win and a loss to their credit. Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan and Brad Richards have all been good for the Rangers thus far, but Marion Gaborik and their defense have been poor. Marc Staal's absence is hitting the Rangers hard, but they're also struggling to generate offense.
Elsewhere, the currently perfect Flyers put their record on the line against a Kings team that looked solid in Europe. They lost to the Sabres, but were the much better team in their overtime win over the Rangers and unlucky to need overtime. Anze Kopitar has looked fantastic since returning from injury and he's getting plenty of help from Justin Williams. Meanwhile, Claude Giroux is red hot for the Flyers, while new acquisition Ilya Bryzgalov looks like a huge upgrade over Philly's previous goalies.
Boston vs. Chicago is the only game nationally available in the United States, airing Saturday night on NHL Network. All games are available locally, and a number of games are available nationally in Canada on CBC. An entire television schedule can be found at The506.com. If you prefer to watch online, NHL Gamecenter Online streams all games legally and in high quality for a pretty reasonable fee.
Here’s the entire schedule:
Saturday
Flames vs. Maple Leafs - 7:00 pm ET
Rangers vs. Islanders - 7:00 pm ET
Kings vs. Flyers - 7:00 pm ET
Sabres vs. Penguins - 7:00 pm ET
Devis vs. Predators - 8:00 pm ET
Blue Jackets vs. Stars - 8:00 pm ET
Bruins vs. Blackhawks - 8:30 pm ET
Sunday
Blues vs. Ducks - 8:00 pm ET
For more on the entire weekend of NHL action and news from all around the league, check out SB Nation’s NHL hub.
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