Each Wednesday throughout the regular season, Kevin Weekes will be offering his pluses and minuses for the teams competing in the NBCSN Wednesday Night Rivalry game in his Weekes on the Web blog. Weekes also will assist fans with three must-watch elements of the game.

The Montreal Canadiens against the Pittsburgh Penguins is must-see TV.

There's been no slowing down the Canadiens, who continue their amazing start. They are playing like the fastest team in the NHL. They are so fast right now, and are just getting that speed and that pace not only offensively but defensively as well. They are rushing into position of coverage to close out the opposing players or counter on them.

Each Friday throughout the season Kevin Weekes will be bringing you his Friday Four. He will be blogging about four players, teams, plays or trends that have caught his eye.

1. Dale Weise

Ever since Weise arrived to the Montreal Canadiens, he has improved so much. He is a tremendous skater and has better hands and skills than people recognize. He scored a goal in a 4-1 win against the New York Islanders on Thursday and leads the team in goals with eight, which is one more than Max Pacioretty. Weise has a higher shooting percentage (22.2) than Pacioretty (14.0) as well. For someone who is supposedly a third-line player, that's pretty amazing.

Each Wednesday throughout the regular season, Kevin Weekes will be offering his pluses and minuses for the teams competing in the NBCSN Wednesday Night Rivalry game in his Weekes on the Web blog. Weekes also will assist fans with three must-watch elements of the game.

The Chicago Blackhawks are where the St. Louis Blues want to be, having won the Stanley Cup three times in six seasons. The Blues always play well during the regular season but have faltered in the playoffs in recent seasons. This will feel like a playoff game and will be a good test for both teams.

From the Blackhawks side, they just feel it. The record isn't indicative of how well they've been playing, and they just have the ability to arise any time which is impressive. And the Blues have won eight of their 12 games this season despite a ton of injuries.

Coach Joel Quenneville is the best coach in the world right now, and a lot of his coaching goes back to his time in St. Louis. He had a long career with the Blues and has had an unprecedented run with the Blackhawks.

The Blues (8-3-1) visit the Blackhawks (7-5-0) at United Center Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN). Here's my breakdown of the game:

Each Friday throughout the season Kevin Weekes will be bringing you his Friday Four. He will be blogging about four players, teams, plays or trends that have caught his eye.

1. Nashville Predators

The Predators (7-1-1) are off to an amazing start, their second-best start following an 8-0-0 run to begin the 2005-06 season. It starts with Pekka Rinne in net, but general manager David Poile, assistant general manager Paul Fenton, and former coach Barry Trotz when he was there, have done an amazing job drafting and developing talent. Having Peter Laviolette come in as coach and have their team be more offensive is fun to watch. But they haven't compromised how they defend. They have a very deep defensive corps. A lot of their defensemen are interchangeable. Shea Weber is one of the top players in the world. They bring in Barret Jackman for stability. Forward Filip Forsberg became a star; that was an amazing trade by Poile, acquiring him from the Washington Capitals in 2013.

I talked to Poile last week about his team and he spoke about how they played, the style that they play and how they have evolved as a franchise and a team. It's a big year for them. They are hosting the 2016 NHL All-Star Game. It's going to be off the charts. They have a lot of good things going on in Nashville right now and there are a lot of good resources in place for that team to be successful. Those are all the reasons how and why they are having success.

Each Wednesday throughout the regular season, Kevin Weekes will be offering his pluses and minuses for the teams competing in the NBCSN Wednesday Night Rivalry game in his Weekes on the Web blog. Weekes also will assist fans with three must-watch elements of the game.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals have become rivals over the past decade thanks in part to Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. Two of the best players in the game have made this a must-watch every time the teams play.

Pittsburgh (4-4-0) comes in having won four of its past five games; the Capitals (6-1-0) have won their past five. Washington has won three of the past four in the series; before that, Pittsburgh won eight in a row.

The Penguins visit the Capitals at Verizon Center on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN). Here's my breakdown of the game:

Each Friday throughout the season Kevin Weekes will be bringing you his Friday Four. He will be blogging about four players, teams, plays, or trends that have caught his eye.

1. Changes for the Columbus Blue Jackets

One of the main hallmarks of their team is in their name, Columbus "Blue Jackets." They are a blue-collar team and they have the ability to play the game any way you want. There are guys that are tough. There are guys that play hard, that can play power hockey, but right now I don't know which people on their team are doing that consistently. To me, the effort and intensity are nowhere were they need to be for this group. Defensively, they're not winning a lot of battles. They're giving up the middle of the ice in all three zones. Any coach I've talked to in the past few years said it was always tough to play Columbus, but I haven't seen that so far this season. And I don't really think that falls on Todd Richards (who was fired on Wednesday).

Each Wednesday throughout the regular season, Kevin Weekes will be offering his pluses and minuses for the teams competing in the NBCSN Wednesday Night Rivalry game in his Weekes on the Web blog. Weekes will also be assisting fans with three must-watch elements of the game.

The Boston Bruins began the season 0-3-0, losing each game at home but have won their past two on the road scoring 11 goals. Now they return to TD Garden to host the Philadelphia Flyers (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVA Sports).

Philadelphia has a new coach and is a team in transition with little depth both offensively and defensively.

Here's my breakdown of the game:

Each Friday throughout the season Kevin Weekes will be bringing you his Friday Four. He will be blogging about four players, teams, plays, or trends that have caught his eye.

1. Blue Jackets feeling blue

I've said on the record, I expect the Columbus Blue Jackets to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I love what president of hockey operations John Davidson and general manager Jarmo Kekalainen have done. The pieces they've gotten on that team. The blue line still has to be improved, but Ryan Johansen and Nick Foligno were amazing last season.

Each Wednesday throughout the regular season Kevin Weekes will be offering his pluses and minuses for the teams competing in the NBCSN Wednesday Night Rivalry game in his Weekes on the Web blog. Weekes will also be assisting fans with three must-watch elements of the game.

My, my, my. What a difference six years makes.

Led by an incredible commitment to greatness starting with their owner Rocky Wirtz, their president John McDonough, their general manager Stan Bowman and their coaching staff led by coach Joel Quenneville, the Chicago Blackhawks continue to be the standard for a dynasty and excellence in the modern salary-cap era.

It also helps when you have a collection of potential Hall of Famers in Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith.

The Philadelphia Flyers, who lost to the Blackhawks in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, are in a rebuild mode. It's being led by the captain Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds and Jakub Voracek. After that, their lack of depth both up front and on the back end make this challenging not only for owner Ed Snider but also for the passionate Flyers fan base.

The Blackhawks visit the Flyers (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN) on Wednesday. Here's my breakdown of the game:

Each Wednesday throughout the regular season Kevin Weekes will be offering his pluses and minuses for the teams competing in the NBCSN Wednesday Night Rivalry game in his Weekes on the Web blog. Weekes will also be assisting fans with three must-watch elements of the game.

The 2015-16 season is finally here, and what better way to begin than with an Original Six rivalry game at United Center between the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks and the New York Rangers?

The Blackhawks begin their quest to repeat as champions and win the Cup for a fourth time in seven seasons while the Rangers are looking to take the next step having reached the Eastern Conference Final in each of the past two seasons.