NHL Setting Tone For Second Half

The All Star break is over and the second half of the NHL season is in full swing with a top lineup of games. This week's featured game showcases the Florida Panthers at the Washington Capitals in a Southeastern Division showdown. It's been a strange year in the Southeastern Division with the Washington Capitals struggling and the Tampa Bay Lightning doing the same. Enter the Florida Panthers, led by Kris Versteeg and all of a sudden this division has been turned upside down. The Capitals had hoped to change their fortunes by changing coaches earlier in the season. But the change hasn't brought the results that Washington had expected. But make no mistake, this team still has all the tools to make a serious run at the division title behind the mighty talents of Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin. Backstrom has stepped up his play this year and leads the team in scoring. If Ovechkin can get untracked from an uncharacteristic slump, this division could get very interesting. With just a couple of points separating the top three teams, this head-to-head matchup will be important in setting the tone for the second half. All times in GMT 01:00 (LIVE) & 19:30 February 7 NHL: Detroit Red Wings at Phoenix Coyotes 00:00 (LIVE) & 16:30 February 8 NHL: Florida Panthers at Washington Capitals 00:30 (LIVE) & 15:00 February 9 NHL: Boston Bruins at Buffalo Sabres 01:00 (LIVE) & 15:30 February 10 NHL: Vancouver Canucks at Minnesota Wild 00:30 (LIVE) & 14:00 February 11 NHL: Dallas Stars at Buffalo Sabres