The Night that Was:
The Boston Bruins secured a 6-2 win over the New York Islanders last night, but it was at the cost of a player in a chilling scene. Benoit Pouliot opened the scoring with his first for the B’s 1:32 in to the game, and after Matt Moulson tied it, two goals 30 seconds apart from Nathan Horton and Tyler Seguin put the Bruins up 3-1, chasing Evgeni Nabokov. Michael Grabner made it 3-2 before the end of the first, and that was all the scoring until the third. In the final frame the Bruins exploded for three goals when Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton scored just five minutes in, and David Krejci would add an empty-netter, capping the four-goal advantage. Horton and Krejci finished with three points, Lucic and Zdeno Chara with two, and seven other Bruins had one as Tuukka Rask made 24 saves for the win.
The scary moment came in the third when a Steve Staios slapshot caught Dan Paille square in the face. Paille (who wears a visor) immediately went down and was in a heap next to the Bruins bench with blood pooling from his face. He would eventually get up and make his way off the ice under his own power, and thankfully the injuries are thought to be more cosmetic than anything although nothing can really be known until the area is cleaned up and specialists can see Paille.
It was a West Coast tilt between the Kings and the Sharks in San Jose last night, and after a scoreless first period, the teams made sure to change that in the second. Jack Johnson opened the scoring with his fourth on the power play six minutes into the second frame, but then Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Dan Boyle all scored to put San Jose up 3-1. Logan Couture would strike next for the Sharks, potting his sixth at the 6:40 mark of the third, before Anze Kopitar cut the lead in half. The 4-2 count is as close as L.A. would get though, as Antti Niemi made 29 saves for the victory and Patrick Marleau finished the night with three points. Boyle, Thornton, and Joe Pavelski all finished with multiple points as well for San Jose, who were tied with L.A. with 15 points at the beginning of the night. Kopitar and Drew Doughty had multi-point nights for the Kings.
What’s on Tonight?
If you were bored Monday, the NHL will try to make up for that tonight. Winnipeg visits Buffalo, Florida stops by in Toronto, and the Dallas Stars and Washington Capitals tangle in a battle of division leaders. Carolina heads to New Jersey while Montreal welcomes Edmonton in an all-Canadian showdown and Colorado meets up with the Red Wings in Detroit for another installment in the rivalry. St. Louis welcomes Chicago in a Central Division clash, Minnesota and Calgary make it two with a Northwestern faceoff, and Los Angeles hosts Nashville.
The Injury Bug:
-Sidney Crosby put it best yesterday. Crosby said that playing November 11th “is a possibility. As much as any of the other remaining games are.” How…revealing.
-The Toronto Maple Leafs revealed yesterday that they will be without Tim Connolly for 10-14 days. It is an upper-body injury, unrelated to his last one that delayed the start to his season.
-Jeff Carter skated at Blue Jackets practice yesterday. He has been out of the lineup with a broken foot and could return by Thursday.
-The Anaheim Ducks will be missing George Parros for a month after he had to have surgery to repair a torn retina on Monday. The injury happened last Friday in practice when he was hit in the eye by a puck.
News and Rumours Around the League:
-The Florida Panthers re-assigned Jacob Markstrom to San Antonio of the AHL yesterday as Scott Clemmensen is prepared to return from injury. Markstrom went 2-2-1 in the NHL with a 2.05 GAA and a .944 save percentage, so how long this lasts is anyone’s guess.
-Ottawa also returned Nikita Filatov to Binghamton of the AHL. This is far less controversial or surprising. Filatov was held scoreless in his most-recent NHL stint.
The Overlooked Fantasy Line of the Night:
Dan Boyle made it count in a lot of different categories last night. In 26:25 of ice time, Boyle had a goal (on the power play) and an assist, a plus-one rating, and an eye-popping seven shots on goal. The seven shots were the highest individual total of any one player last night.
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