Welcome to the NHL daily picks where hockey writers Adam Gretz and Chris Peters make their selections for all of the day's games.
Montreal Canadiens vs. Florida Panthers, 7 p.m. ET
Thanks to the Montreal Canadiens' recent slump, the NHL's Atlantic Division is a jumbled mess at the top with five teams (Montreal, Florida, Detroit, Boston and Ottawa) separated by just three points.
The Panthers, surprisingly, moved into first place on Sunday and for one day sat on top of the division until Montreal moved back into the top spot with a 4-3 shootout win in Tampa Bay on Monday night.
On Tuesday, the Canadiens and Panthers meet for first place in Florida.
The Panthers are an exciting team that is worth watching every night because of the way their roster is constructed and the players they have.
Their two veterans, Roberto Luongo and Jaromir Jagr, get most of the attention out of this group, and for good reason. Jagr is one of the best players of all time and Luongo has been one of the best goalies of his era and even as they continue to close in on the end of their careers both remain among the most productive players in the league at their positions. But what is so fascinating about this team is that along with a few of the oldest players in the league (Jagr, Luongo, Brian Campbell, Willie Mitchell) they also have some of the best young players in the league with Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Nick Bjugstad, Vincent Trocheck, and defenseman Aaron Ekblad, the No. 1 overall pick in 2014.
They take a six-game winning streak (as well as wins in seven of their past eight) into Tuesday's game.
Montreal, meanwhile, has been trending in the opposite direction and helped to create this madness at the top of the division with only two wins in their past 12 games. They finally snapped a six-game losing streak on Tuesday with their shootout win in Tampa Bay. They are probably playing better than their recent record would indicate, but because they're not getting the type of goaltending they are used to getting, and are currently mired in a scoring slump thanks in large part to a terrible shooting percentage that is eventually going to reverse course, they are not getting the results for their play.
That said, Florida is playing pretty well lately and it can be very difficult to pull off a back-to-back sweep on the road against the two Florida teams, especially when the visiting team (Montreal) played the night before while the other team had the night off. Pick: Florida Panthers 4, Montreal Canadiens 2
The rest of Tuesday's scores
Ottawa Senators 4, Boston Bruins 3
New York Islanders 3, Toronto Maple Leafs 1
New Jersey Devils 2, Carolina Hurricanes 0
Dallas Stars 5, Columbus Blue Jackets 1
St. Louis Blues 3, Nashville Predators 2
Detroit Red Wings 4, Winnipeg Jets 2
Calgary Flames 3, Anaheim Ducks 1
Los Angeles Kings 4, Edmonton Oilers 3
Chicago Blackhawks 5, Arizona Coyotes 4
