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The New Jersey Devils have begun to show their true skill, going 7-2-1 in their last 10, the Devils will be tough playoff contenders.

The Devils currently sit 6th place within the Eastern Conference with a point total of 65. In five of their last six games the team has won, beating the likes of Atlantic Division rivals the Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers and Eastern Conference leading New York Rangers twice. Last night the Devils lost in overtime to Western Conference St. Louis Blues who are currently in 4th place.

The Devils of old, with the names of Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Ken Daneyko and a younger netminder Martin Brodeur were known for their defensive play style. Head Coach Jacques Lemaire, with his defense first mentality and neutral zone trap style, lead the team to their first Stanley Cup Championship in 1994-1995. Lemaire moved on and the team eventually won another Stanley Cup in 1999-2000 and most recently in 2002-2003 under the late Pat Burns.

Today however, of those four divisional foe wins, the Devils outscored their competition 16 to 9. In a “new” league that is built upon speed, the Devils are showing good signs.

The team is led by a superstar cast, both young and old. Captain Zach Parise is coming off of a knee injury that took him out for the majority of last season. This year he has picked up where he left off, totaling 47 point in 53 games played. Thirty-five year old veteran Patrik Elias is on pace for 81 points this season. Last time he hit that mark was in the 2003-2004 NHL season. If that is not enough firepower up front for you, don’t forget superstar Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk came to the Devils two seasons ago at a monstrous contract. Most fans felt it was insane, turning into a NBA team who signs one star and has no supporting cast. Well, the Devils proved fans wrong and Kovalchuk has been solid. To date, he has 50 points in 48 games played and a team high 191 shots on goal. Also, he now has a Gordie Howe Hat Trick to add to his resume.

The saying, “defense wins championships” comes to mind for any team to be considered a playoff contender. In the middle of the pack when it comes to goals against, the team still has some defensive firepower in Adam Larrson and Kurtis Foster, but more importantly, the team has Martin Brodeur as goalie. Brodeur is getting older, 39 to be exact, but is a veteran and don’t you forget that. Typically starting 70+ games in a season, this year he has seen a lighter load. Currently started 35 games, backup netminder Johan Hedberg has seen 19 starts. Sure it may not seem like much for a backup, but sitting the iron-man Brodeur any amount will pay dividends come playoffs where he normally is spent.

You don’t have to take my word for it, wait and see, but the New Jersey Devils are going to be one heck of a playoff contender this season. A team that can put the puck in the net, a veteran netminder and a solid defensive core all around, the Devils are going far.

Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images

Losing back-to-back games over the weekend, the Philadelphia Flyers are in a temporary state of free-falling. This is largely do in part by the combination of struggling net-minders.

Seen here, Sergei Bobrovsky passes while being replaced by Ilya Bryzgalov after letting 6 goals in midway through the second period against the surging New Jersey Devils Saturday night. The loss was followed up by another one against the New York Rangers Sunday night. Together, the two goalies allowed 10 goals on 68 shots faced for a .853 save percentage.

Sure, the Flyers are still sitting comfortable within the Eastern Conference standings, currently in 4th place, but going 4-4-2 in their last 10 games needs to come to an end or other suitors will gladly knock them out of playoff contention.

Kovalchuk had a big three point effort with a goal and two assists en route to a 6-4 victory over the Flyers. Perhaps the biggest highlight of the night came midway through the third period, however, when Kovalchuk capped off the Howe Hat Trick and dropped the gloves with Flyers forward Brayden Schenn. This was Schenn’s second fight of the season and Kovalchuk’s first. However, for being one of the best snipers in the game, Kovalchuk is no stranger to dropping the gloves as he averages at least one fight per season according to HockeyFights.com.

The two pull away from a scrum at 11:38 of the third period and immediately drop the gloves. It doesn’t take long for the two players to engage each other to establish a dominant position. Kovalchuk appears to be the much stronger player as he throws Schenn around a bit and then lands several solid blows to Schenn’s head before finally landing a solid right hook to Schenn’s jaw that drops him for the count. Check out the full video below that highlights not only the fight, but Kovalchuk’s power play assist and dirty two-on-one snipe for his lone goal of the night. Stick around to the end of the video for a slow-motion replay of Kovi’s right hook on Schenn.

Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images

Quite a night for the Edmonton Oilers as they win 8 – 4 over the Chicago Blackhawks. The team is still a bottom dweller in the Western Conference, sadly, but they can celebrate a little bit.

Center Sam Gagne had a hand in everything last night with 4 goals and 4 assists for 8 points. The feat has not been done since 1989 by Mario Lemieux against the Philadelphia Flyers in the playoffs. Lemieux also had the last regular season 8 point night which was on December 31, 1988.

If you happen to think Lemiuex is a big name, Gagne now joins the ranks of Wayne Gretzky, Paul Coffey, Peter Statsny, Bryan Trottier and Rocket Richard in having scored 8 points in a night.

A little bit of luck, a lot of skill, and crazy stuff like this happens.

A good Fantasy Hockey league setup has roster positions and bench positions so that on some nights, when most everyone on your team is playing, you have to make the tough decisions regarding who to bench and who to play. So as a Manager, how do you decide which players to play and which to sit?

Sometimes it comes down to a “hunch” or intuition. Obviously your star players will likely get spots because they are more likely to put points on the board. Players on hot streaks may also get the nod over someone that is slumping. Or you may choose to go by which team any given player is playing against that night.

For instance, if you’re trying to decide between two players, and one is playing against the New York Rangers while the other is playing against the Tampa Bay Lightning, you may want to consider playing your guy against Tampa Bay. Why? Because Tampa Bay averages 3.47 goals against per game while the Rangers average 1.98 goals against per game, meaning there is a greater probability that your player will score against Tampa Bay.

Here is a breakdown of the top five teams in the league with the lowest goals against averages per game:

New York Rangers (1.98)

St. Louis Blues (1.98)

Boston Bruins (2.02)

Los Angeles Kings (2.13)

San Jose Sharks (2.28)

Similarly, here are the worst five teams in the NHL with the highest goals against averages per game:

Tampa Bay Lightning (3.47)

Columbus Blue Jackets (3.22)

Carolina Hurricanes (3.17)

Ottawa Senators (3.08)

Toronto Maple Leafs (3.07)

The Anaheim Ducks, Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders also have averages of 3.00 goals against per game or better as well.

You can also get a good idea of how your players will fare by looking at which goalie he will face that night. And these numbers don’t always correlate with the team average.

Boston has a low enough team goals against per game average, but backup netminder Tuukka Rask actually has a lower goals against average than starter Tim Thomas. This means that your player is more likely to score on Thomas than on Rask, but the likelihood that he will score against Boston at all is slim.

Consider the Colorado Avalanche as well. As a whole, the team averages 2.85 goals allowed per game. However, goaltenders Semyon Varlamov and J.S. Giguere have basically split time, but Varlamov’s goals against average is much higher at 3.00 goals against per game than Giguere’s 2.12 goals against per game. So if Varlamov gets the start, play against him with confidence.

The Philadelphia Flyers have a similar issue with Ilya Bryzgalov (3.00) and Sergei Bobrovsky (2.42). Thankfully for Fantasy Managers, Bryzgalov gets the majority of the starts with 30 this season compared to Bobrovsky’s 14.

It doesn’t happen often when you have a full slate of games and have to make the tough choices as a manager on whom to bench and whom to play, but knowing the odds can help you make the right decision in the future. It’s not fool-proof by any means, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Teemu Selanne, quit playing games with the fans Sir. Commit to a year or don't, no in between.

Rick DiPietro – New York Islanders goalie at the age of 30 has seen better days. Playing only 47 games dating back to the 2008-2009 NHL season, and now out for most of the rest of the season with surgery to repair a sports hernia, how much play does he really have left? DiPietro signed a 15-year, $67.5 million dollar contract before the 2006-2007 season. If the Islanders can opt-out of the agreement because he is unfit to do the job, maybe then they can continue with their youth movement and start winning some games.

Chris Pronger – Pronger has had a good run of being one of the dirtiest, biggest and toughest defenseman in the league to go up against. Nowadays though, he has turned into that old guy at drop-in who can’t really skate anymore so he slashes the heck out of you. That is of course until his concussion like symptoms after taking a stick to the eye from Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mikhail Grabovski. The snow-ball effect kicked in and eventually Pronger had knee surgery that is seeing him sidelined for the remainder of the season. His age has set in and everyone would respect him for retiring, knowing that Pronger is Hall of Fame bound, won Gold medals as well as the Stanley Cup and that he could kick the crap out of you and me with one hand tied behind his back.

Teemmu Selanne – When you think of Selanne you can’t help but be amazed that the 41 year old put up 80 points in 73 games last season. Absolutely amazing. But, with every great thing comes something bad. Selanne is bordering the Brett Favre of the NHL. (besides that of Peter Forsberg) Selanne continues to go year by year, not letting the Anaheim Ducks or any team know if he plans on playing. That’s great when he does play, but what happens when he just retires when the Ducks are leaving a roster spot open for him? Leaves them high and dry. Time to hang ‘em up or quite playing games in the off-season.

To Detroit.

In five Winter Classic games, the Western Conference has only hosted one. That came in 2009 when the Detroit Red Wings bested the Chicago Blackhawks 6-4 at Wrigley Field. The other four games have all been intra-conference matchups with Eastern Conference teams. Logically, the NHL and NBC should go back West. And Detroit would be the perfect spot to do it.

Cold, gray, and one of the most successful NHL franchises of the past two decades, Detroit would be the perfect setting for the next NHL Winter Classic. Plus, the NHL would have their pick of venues for the annual contest. If they wanted to stay within the confines of the city, Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers, would be a perfect place to set up shop. However, if the NHL really wanted to go big and continue to raise the stakes, they would move west just down the freeway and take the game to Michigan Stadium where they could cram in more than 100,000 spectators while playing the game on one of the most storied football fields in college football history.

So now you have the Detroit Red Wings involved, one of the most popular NHL franchises in recent history, along with one of the biggest venues in the nation. So who does the NHL choose to bring in as an opponent for this event? While the NHL certainly has their pick of the litter, two teams immediately come to mind: San Jose and Toronto.

The Sharks have been a thorn in the side of the Red Wings for several seasons now. The teams have met in the playoffs in each of the past two seasons and both times the Sharks defeated the Wings. Both teams are highly skilled, puck-possession teams with big name talent on their rosters. Plus, finally bringing in a West-coast team could garner the game more attention from West coast fans that have thus far had no reason to really tune into the game.

The other opponent could be the Toronto Maple Leafs and, all things considered, this is the most likely. Not only would a Toronto-Detroit matchup bring together two Original Six teams for one of the biggest NHL events of the year, but it would also finally get a Canadian team involved in the matchup. Plus, Toronto is a four-hour drive to Detroit and tons of fans would be willing to make the trek. The arena would easily be just as many Maple Leafs fans as Red Wings fans.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman refuses to tip his hand as to whom the next host city and opponent could be, but what he has said might indicate that Detroit could be in the running for the game.

“My guess is it will be played in a place we have not been before,” Bettman said. “So, therefore, in the U.S., you’ve eliminated five locations. You can play with the other 25, play with geography and understand that temperature is a factor…You can eliminate some of the warmer climates. We are not probably going to go back to where we have been.”

That statement also leaves Minnesota, Winnipeg, Toronto, Columbus, New Jersey and several other cities in the running for the game as well. But none of those teams would be as big of a draw as the Red Wings, and none of those host cities could offer a location like The Big House where they could cram in more than 100,000 spectators – something that even Leafs forward Nazem Kadri wants to be a part of.

I think at the Michigan stadium — what does it hold, like 100,000-plus?” said Kadri. “That would be a ridiculous game to be a part of. It would be a dream come true.”

What do you think? Which matchups do you most want to see for next year’s NHL Winter Classic?

Entering the game was the questionable goal by Flyers bench boss Peter Laviolette to start Sergei Bobrovsky instead of Ilya Bryzgalov. While both players are solid in their own right, it was Bryzgalov who played the most entering the contest.

The players and teams did not disappoint the 46,967 who attended the game. Most of the crowd was pro-Philadelphia and they were loud and rowdy near the midway point of the game when the first goal of the game was scored by Brayden Schenn when he found the back of the net off a rebound from Matt Carle. Schenn’s first career NHL goal came at 12:26 of the middle period. The Flyers soon took a multi-goal advantage 1:55 later when Claude Giroux scored his 18th goal of the reason. He tied Henrik Sedin for the NHL lead with the lamplighter and was assisted by Scott Hartnell and Max Talbot.

The lead didn’t last long as the Rangers were able to storm back with wrist shot goals from Mike Rupp. Rupp wishes every game was played outdoors as he scored twice in the annual NHL showcase and one time this season coming into the game. The first goal Rupp scored came when he took a pass from Brandon Prust near the player benches, skated into the zone fired a shot from between the circles that beat Bobrovsky with 5:09 to play in the period.

Rupp was gutsy to celebrate with a salute after the goal- something opponent Jaromir Jagr has done throughout his career as well as this season. Jagr didn’t see much ice time in the Winter Classic for unexplained reasons. In the first two periods he played two shifts for a total of 68 seconds.

The second goal occurred when Rupp took a wrist shot near the goal line and was able to sneak it between the hip of Bobrovsky and the goal post. The goal that tied the game came at 2:41 of the third period.

The goal that turned out to be the game winner was scored by Brad Richards at 5:21 of the third period. Happened to be at the right place at the right time, Bobrovsky made the mistake of directing a Brandon Dubinsky rebound into the slot as a streaking Richards was approaching the net. Also assisting on the goal was Ryan Callahan.

The biggest save of the match came in the final minute when Henrik Lundqvist turned away a Danny Briere penalty shot with 19 seconds left. The penalty shot came when a Rangers player appeared to cover the puck inside the goal crease with his hand. The save by Lundqvist was his 33rd of the game. Bobrovsky made 30 saves in the losing effort.

The win by the Rangers gives the away team a 4-1 record in the Winter Classic. Ironically, the only home team to win was the Boston Bruins in 2010. They defeated the Philadelphia Flyers at Fenway Park.

Check out the finale of 24/7: Flyers- Rangers Wednesday night at 10:00 p.m. EST on HBO.

I don’t know if the NHL is done this on purpose with the scheduling, but having the teams meet at the other teams barn prior to the Winter Classic is a genius move. Similar to last year when the Penguins and  Capitals met at Verizon Center, the game between the Flyers and Rangers brought a lot of intensity and is able to set the table for the Winter Classic.

But before we recap the game, let’s hit on what happened in the episode.

The Rangers did some holiday-related team activities. We got to see the team, as well as children and WAGs, skate at Bryant Park. We got to see the return of Landon Girardi take his first steps on ice. He had prettier looking skates as a 2-year-old than I ever had. In addition to his first time on the ice, the camera pans over to other kids before he was able to play 3-post with his one-timer that we saw in Episode 2.

The greatest moment so far that didn’t involve Ilya Bryzgalov was the Rangers’ team Christmas party. In typical form, the attire of the night was ugly sweater. Hockey players do know how to throw a theme party better than just about any athlete out there. Feel free to watch the video, courtesy of Yahoo!’s Puck Daddy blog. Pause it at 1:26 and check out Michael Del Zotto’s reindeer sweater. I can’t describe it at family-friendly Hockey World Blog,  but to quote a fellow Ranger “Twice the fun for Rudolph.”

There was also a cool moment when Marian Gaborik went to buy a Christmas tree not far from his home in Tribeca. He looks about as lost and confused as us regular Joe’s when it comes to buying a natural tree.

Over on the Flyers side of things, they are in the middle of a road trip to the middle part of the country. The game was at Colorado while the second was at Dallas. The Dallas game is where we saw Claude Giroux return after a concussion suffered earlier in the series. While Giroux is back on the ice, Sean Couturier isn’t yet. Couturier took a puck to the ear in a December 17 game. He told the HBO camera crew that he passed all the concussion tests but doesn’t have hearing back in one of his ears yet. That’s very scary because you still need your hearing after you’re done playing hockey.

Onto the moment we have been waiting for all night. Flyers vs. Rangers at The Garden. As usual between rival teams, a lot of hitting. A lot of chirping (including from recent AHL-call up Tom Sestito chirping the Rangers bench) and a couple fights. The hockey geek moment of the night was another visit to the NHL War Room in Toronto, where Mike Murphy watches games on several screens every other hockey fan envies. He got a call from MSG, watches tape and reviews it with the officials. Standard procedure with the calls he receives every night. The Rangers go on to win the game 4-2 and New Yorkers make their feeling towards the Flyers known by chanting “FLYERS SUCK!”.

This week’s Top Stars:

1. Scott Hartnell inviting Claude Giroux and others to his condo for Christmas. He takes things into his own hands and attempts to operate a camera (ugh) and has a several coin-op games including Buck Hunter.

2. The Flyers taking the Amtrak back to Philadelphia from New York. You don’t see many teams traveling by any other way other than charter flight. It would be pretty cool to stand at the train station and all of a sudden you see Bryzgalov, Giroux, and Wayne Simmonds.

3. Brad Richards for putting the kibosh on Sestito and his chirping when he said “One day in the NHL for you. Fantasy camp for you.”

Check out the finale of 24/7 Wednesday night at 10:00 p.m. EST on HBO.

But enough chit chat about the game, the picture of the sticks are below. Not certain if these will become available to the public or possibly a special purchase for only a select period of time, but take a look and let us know what you think.