NHL schedule: Five questions for Monday's six-game slate

1. Luke Schenn and James van Riemsdyk go head-to-head with their new teams. Who gets the upper hand?

Schenn has been a solid defender for the Flyers and JvR has found chemistry on Toronto's top line alongside Phil Kessel. With Schenn on the top pairing with Kimmo Timonen in Philly, it's likely the two will face each other head-to-head a bit on Monday night as well. So, who has the better game?

2. Can the Sharks get back on track?

From our Brandon Worley this Monday morning:

The Sharks remain near the top of the Western Conference with 16 points in 11 games, yet are just 2-2-2 since that hot start and have now lost four games in a row after a 1-0 shootout loss to Phoenix on Saturday night. The Sharks have scored just five goals in their last five games, with the scoring woes continuing to build with each passing game.

3. Will Colorado score some goals already?

From Avs blog Mile High Hockey:

The Avs offense has been unimpressive so far this season with 3 shutouts against and a league-worst 9.1% conversion rate on the power play and they will be looking to turn it around against a defensive minded Coyotes team. Fortunately for the Avs, this traditionally stingy Coyotes defense has been allowing more goals (2.67 per game) than usual and their goaltending tandem has looked suspect at times.

4. Rick DiPietro makes just his second start of the season. How does he perform?

I mean, we don't need to expand upon this too much. DiPietro has played like four games since 1996 thanks to injury (might be an exaggeration) and number five will be played tonight.

5. Jaroslav Halak returns. Can he get the Blues back to winning?

The Blues have had an extremely tough February, and with Brian Elliott playing like ... well, crap ... and Jaroslav Halak out with injury, things looked even more bleak. But Halak returns to the lineup and should help the Blues on the backend. Can he get support on the offensive end and can the Blues get back to the win column?