NHL Schedule: Predators and Blackhawks lead national television games

Welcome to Top Shelf TV, a preview of the week’s national NHL schedule and television listings. We comb through the schedule on NBC, NBCSN, and NHL Network to tell you which games are worth your time and which ones to skip.

This week The Mighty Scheduling Gods have thrown us a bit of curveball. While there are no doubleheaders, there are games on five of the next six days.

That’s about it for the good news. There are some really tough matchups this week, as we get another appearance from the moribund Montreal Canadiens and a definite non-rivalry on Wednesday night.

Fret not, Puck Prose readers! There’s still a gem or two as we head toward the weekend. The action starts tonight, so let’s hop to it.

Tuesday

Detroit Red Wings at Buffalo Sabres (7:30 P.M. ET/ 4:30 P.M. PT on NBCSN)

Why you should watch: If Buffalo’s Jack Eichel had come out in, say, the 2012 NHL Draft, he’d be hailed as a star. He came out in 2015 behind a guy named Connor McDavid, and the rest was history.

Eichel is fun to watch, and along with teammate Evander Kane (6-5–11 in 9 games) is carrying the Sabres offense right now.

Detroit is 4-1-1, which is not as terrible as we expected.

Skip it if: These two teams are bad.

Despite their aggressively mediocre start, the Red Wings are rotting from within. Even worse, their cap sheet is just scary moving forward. We’re entering a moribund period for Detroit’s NHL team.

The Sabres notched their second win of the season on Saturday against the Boston Bruins. For Buffalo, this was supposed to be the year they took a step forward. Despite some sterling play from their franchise center, they enter the week seventh out of eight in the Atlantic Division.

Verdict: Skip it. Catch the Eichel highlights on Instagram later.

Wednesday

Buffalo Sabres at Columbus Blue Jackets (8:00 P.M. ET/ 5:00 P.M. PT on NBCSN)

Why you should watch: Columbus has built on their franchise-best 108-point season last year with a slightly cooler 10 points in eight games so far.

Artemi Panarin is above a point per game pace (1-8–9); he actually has more points than Brandon Saad, the man he was traded for this offseason.

Skip it if: It’s a light Wednesday with just one other game scheduled, but it’s hard to buy into this matchup as part of NBCSN’s Rivalry Night.

Every reason to not watch this 2-5-2 Sabres team still stands, only they’ll be on short rest after a trip to Columbus.

I’m also not convinced the Blue Jackets are actually playing this season. I went looking for a highlight or whimsical GIF to post, and the internet just shrugged. The Blue Jackets are at home, which means their scary cannon will make an appearance. Or two. Or three.

Also, the Sabres are on for a second consecutive night. That’s more of that team than any sane person outside of Buffalo can bear.

Verdict: Another skippable game. Bear with us, readers. We have a night off from the national games on Thursday, but the weekend holds some promise.

Friday

Nashville Predators at Chicago Blackhawks (8:30 P.M. ET/ 5:30 P.M. PT on NHL Network)

Why you should watch: If you watch one game this week, make it the matchup between these two Central Division heavies.

The last time these two met, Brandon Saad put up a game-winning goal in overtime off a beautiful Patrick Kane dish.

These two have plenty of recent history, with Nashville sweeping Chicago out of last year’s playoffs. They enter the week on the fringes of the playoff race; it’s early but two points between division rivals are always valuable.

Skip it if: Don’t. Even up against the World Series, it’s hard to at least not keep an eye on this one.

Verdict: Must watch.