The Monday 5 Pack
By Ray Calder HockeyObserver.com
Here are 5 games that top my list for viewing this week ;
Detroit at San Jose (Saturday Jan. 17) - The superpowers in the West hook up for what should be a great game on Saturday evening .Detroit schooled the Sharks in their previous meeting this season 6-0 . Detroit is tied for the top offense in the NHL (with Boston) and the Sharks are 4th .Pretty good bet these two will play again in the Postseason tourney come May .
Montreal at Boston (Tuesday Jan. 13) - An original six battle in a rivalry that at least for the moment trumps Toronto/Montreal . No Carey Price, Saku Koivu, or Phil Kessel in this one which tempers our expectations a bit, but I still expect lots of hard hitting and some end to end action .
Blues at Hawks (Saturday Jan. 17) - St. Louis is a fun, competitive team to watch and aspires to be what the Hawks are now ...a team on the rise with plenty of young talent leading the way . I'm a big Patrick Berglund fan, and the chance to see Kane and Toews battle a division rival will have me toss the remote during this one .
Anaheim at Pittsburgh (Friday Jan. 16) - The Pens are a struggling team and you can also make the case that the Ducks have been a disappointment this season (currently 6th in the West). The Ducks seem to be getting more contributions from deeper on their roster and the Pens will be coming off a Wednesday night contest against their biggest rival (outside of Philadelphia ) the Capitals .
Capitals at Penguins (Tuesday Jan. 13) - The opportunity to see Crosby and Ovechkin on the same ice surface means that this one automatically makes the list . The Caps are finally fielding their full healthy lineup, while the Pens appear to be frustrated with their coach and each other after a subpar first half . After seeing Crosby have a couple of meltdowns in the last couple of weeks it's probably not going to take much to see some emotions bubble to the surface in this one .