NHL schedule 2014: St. Louis returns to Tampa Bay, Leafs face Penguins

All eyes will be on Tampa Bay when Martin St. Louis faces his former team in Florida for the first time since last season’s trade.

by Joe Yerdon

Nov 26, 2014, 2:00 PM UTC

Abelimages/Getty Images

It's the day before American Thanksgiving and that means getting loaded up on the NHL schedule. Nine games will be there to whet your appetite and while the Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers meet on NBCSN at 7:30 p.m. ET, all eyes will be on Tampa.

The New York Rangers face the Tampa Bay Lightning in Florida for the first time since last season's deadline blockbuster that sent Martin St. Louis to the Rangers and Ryan Callahan to the Lightning. St. Louis asked to be traded and GM Steve Yzerman obliged his request much to the chagrin of fans in Tampa.

It’s expected that Lightning fans will let the franchise’s greatest player hear it with a chorus of boos all game long, but he was a key member of the 2004 Stanley Cup championship team and was team captain until he was dealt. Not a lot of time has passed, however, since the ugly parting of ways and with the holiday about to happen, fans don’t appear willing to give thanks for all the good years of service.

Elsewhere, the Toronto Maple Leafs head to Pittsburgh to face the Penguins and they hope to fare better than when they last met in Toronto. That night, the Penguins took a 2-1 decision, but it was the following two losses for the Leafs that sent things down an ugly road getting blown out by the Buffalo Sabres and Nashville Predators.

Toronto has won two in a row, however, and have played better hockey. As we've seen all season, however, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin can make anyone look bad at any time.

Here’s the schedule for Wednesday night. All games, except for Philly-Detroit, can be seen on GameCenter Live and Center Ice.

Time (ET)

Visitor

Home

Local TV

CAN Nat'l TV

US Nat'l TV

7 p.m.

Winnipeg

Buffalo

MSG-B

SN1