Ten games on the NHL schedule last night, but obviously everyone’s eyes were turned to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a very….”Crosby” reason.
The Night that Was:
It was quite the night for the offense of the Colorado Avalanche, even though it didn’t start out looking so good. The Ottawa Senators opened the scoring when Milan Michalek scored on a power play just four minutes in. Milan Hejduk tied things up though, and Gabriel Landeskog’s second NHL goal put the Avs ahead going into the second. Joakim Lindstrom’s first NHL goal since 2008/09 put them up 3-1, and a four-goal third handed Colorado a 7-1 win. Ryan O’Reily finished the night with three assists, and Lindstrom (both goals), Landeskog, Hejduk, Erik Johnson, Ryan Wilson, and Matt Duchene all finished with two points. Jean-Sebastien Giguere had to make just 15 saves for the win.
On a day when the Pittsburgh Penguins got great news about one star centre, and the other (Evgeni Malkin) returned to the lineup, the Pens couldn’t make it a trifecta over rival Washington. James Neal opened the scoring with his third of the season in the first, before Mike Knuble tied it up in the second. Alex Ovechkin and Neal traded goals in the third, sending it to overtime. That was where Dennis Wideman played hero, beating Brent Johnson with the 19th shot he faced for a game-winning power play goal. Both Neal and Malkin had two points for Pittsburgh, as Nicklas Backstrom notched a pair of assists for Washington, and Tomas Vokoun stopped 39 of 41 shots for his second overtime win as a Capital, 3-2. This game was marred by the results of a fight between Jay Beagle and Aaron Asham however, as Asham one-punched Beagle and knocked him out, and then taunted his opponent. Asham did acknowledge that he was in the wrong afterwards and owned up to his actions. We’ll pass it along if there is any discipline.
The New York Islanders made a big statement last night against the Tampa Bay Lightning last night with a 5-1 win. The Islanders scored four goals in the first period and added a fifth in the second for win number two on the season. John Tavares had two goals and two assists, while PA Parenteau and Matt Moulson each ended up with a goal and an assist. Steven Stamkos was the only one to beat Al Montoya all evening, making 34 saves for the victory.
Two games in and the Winnipeg Jets are still looking for the “franchise’s” first win. Jim Slater scored two goals in the first eight minutes for the Jets before Andrew Brunette and Patrick Kane tied it up before the first frame was out. Marian Hossa and Dave Bolland doubled the ‘Hawks up over the Jets before Kyle Wellwood scored his first. That’s as close as the Jets would get though, falling 4-3 to the Blackhawks. Kane had a goal and two assists for Chicago, while Hossa had a goal and an assist and Ray Emery made 27 saves for the win. Slater and Ron Hainsey finished the night with two points each for the Jets.
The Rest of the Story:
Simon Gagne (his first as a King) and Patrick Elias traded goals in the first period, but the Kings and Devils still battled to a shootout. Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk scored to give the Devils a 2-1 win.
Rene Bourque scored a pair of goals as Chris Butler and Alex Tanguay added two assists each as Miikka Kiprusoff made 35 saves to backstop the Flames to a 4-1 win over Montreal. It was Kipper’s 263rd victory as a Flame, a franchise record.
Jimmy Howard made 25 saves for his first shutout of the season as Val Filppula and Justin Abdelkader scored to send the Red Wings on to a 2-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
The Phoenix Coyotes scored three in the first period as they rolled to a 5-2 win over Nashville. Shane Doan finished the night with a goal and an assist.
Ryan Smyth gave the Oilers an early 1-0 lead, but Matt Cullen scored in the second as Edmonton and Minnesota went to a shootout. After Cullen and Jordan Eberle scored in the first round of the shootout, Devin Setoguchi scored in the 4th round to give Minny a 2-1 win.
After the Stars went up 2-0, Brenden Morrow made it 3-0, and it’s a good thing he did: Matt D’Agostini and Chris Stewart scored to bring the Blues to within one, but that’s how this one would finish: 3-2 Dallas.
What’s on Tonight?
Go see a movie or something seeing as it is Friday night. Carolina makes their way to Buffalo, while the Sharks swim with the Ducks in Anaheim.
The Injury Bug:
-Sidney Crosby made more headlines yesterday, announcing that he had been cleared to participate in contact practices. There are some questions as to when he will get into the lineup though, as Pittsburgh has a heavy October schedule and not many practices for Crosby to get up to speed. Coach Dan Bylsma suggested Crosby might have to do extra work on team off days.
-Martin Brodeur left last night’s game against the Los Angeles Kings with an upper body injury, after playing just one period. He was on the bench for the Devils, but wasn’t in full gear.
-Tim Connolly remains out with a mysterious upper body injury. The timeline has gone from day-to-day to week-to-week, and the actual injury remains a mystery as Connolly refused to shed light on it.
-The Nashville Predators placed forward Martin Erat on injured reserve yesterday. He is also out with an “upper body injury”.
-Rick DiPietro is out of the Islanders’ lineup again. He was hit in the mask by a shot in practice the other day, and sat out last night.
News and Rumours Around the League:
-The Pittsburgh Penguins re-signed forward Chris Kunitz to a two-year contract extension yesterday. Kunitz will remain with the team through 2013/14. The cap hit is $3.725 million.
-The Nikita Filatov experiment has been short-lived. The Ottawa Senators re-assigned the forward to Binghamton (AHL) yesterday.
The Overlooked Fantasy Line of the Night:
It’s hard to ignore John Tavares on a night like this: 2 goals, 2 assists, a plus-four with four penalty minutes and four shots on goal? Sure he’s not “overlooked” per-say, but why would you want to miss out on knowing about a night like that? (If not for Tavares, Joakim Lindstrom with two goals or Ryan O’Reilly with three assists for Colorado would have gotten the nod.)
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