The Good, The Bad, The Ugly as Arthur Kaliyev nets debut goal for LA Kings

Let’s go over The Good, The Bad & The Ugly from Tuesday’s NHL action which featured a debut goal for LA Kings rookie Arthur Kaliyev.

It was a busy night in the National Hockey League on Tuesday with eight games in total, although it could have been 10 but both the Buffalo Sabres and the New Jersey Devils had their games postponed due to COVID-19 issues. However, there was still plenty of action to digest, including Patrik Laine‘s debut for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Tyler Toffoli lighting it up for the Montreal Canadiens and Arthur Kaliyev enjoying a remarkable debut with the LA Kings.

We also saw the Ottawa Senators lose yet another game, a couple of firsts, a huge and incredibly special milestone for veteran defenseman Shea Weber, the Colorado Avalanche getting the job done without their franchise cornerstone and a whole lot more on what was an incredibly eventful night in the NHL. So, without further ado, let’s delve right into The Good, The Bad & The Ugly from Tuesday night in the National Hockey League.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly from Tuesday’s action

The Good

Arthur Kaliyev & the LA Kings – Currently sitting sixth in the West Division, the LA Kings are starting to look to the future and it is expected that they will soon begin to introduce the next wave of Kings stars from what is a loaded and incredibly talent-laden farm system.

That process began on Tuesday night when the Kings gave an NHL debut to Arthur Kaliyev, who was taken with the 33rd overall pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. And it was a hell of introduction for the right winger who crashed the net at 14:28 in the second period to finish off a nice passing play between Drew Doughty and Michael Amadio to record his first NHL career goal in his first NHL game.

Granted, it was the lone bright spot for the Kings who lost a tough one 3-1 to the Anaheim Ducks, but it was a special moment for Arthur Kaliyev who is one of the more highly-regarded prospects in LA’s pipeline and, with No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft Quinton Byfield still to make his NHL debut, the future looks incredibly bright for the LA Kings even if this season proves to be a tough one.

LA Kings get stylish – Okay, so apart from Arthur Kaliyev’s debut NHL goal, it was a night to forget for the LA Kings who dropped a 3-1 loss to a fellow rebuilder in the Anaheim Ducks. However, while it wasn’t a great game, the Kings sure as hell looked good.

Debuting their Retro Reverse Jerseys, the LA Kings paid homage to the 1989-1990 season when The Great One, Wayne Gretzky broke the NHL record for most points ever, passing the legendary Gordie Howe’s total 1,850 points.

These are absolutely beautiful jerseys in every single way and they looked absolutely sublime out on the ice, easily going down as one of the best, if not the best, Reverse Retro jerseys out there so far. These really are something special and it was pretty cool to see them in action on Tuesday night.

Shea Weber – It was a special night for Montreal Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber on Tuesday, who played in his 1,000th career NHL game which put him in elite company. The 35-year-old marked the milestone by helping the Canadiens to beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-3 at the Bell Centre.

Weber, who boasts one of the hardest and most lethal shots in the entire NHL, was selected with the No. 49th overall pick at the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Nashville Predators, and the Canadiens Captain tallied an assist against the Canucks in what was a truly incredible night in his distinguished career.

Tyler Toffoli – We’ll stick with the Montreal Canadiens who continue to battle with the Toronto Maple Leafs at the top of an ultra-competitive North Division with a hugely-impressive 7-1-2 record, and they impressed yet again on Tuesday by beating the Vancouver Canucks 5-3.

It was a big night for forward Tyler Toffoli who scored twice against his former team, and it has been a red-hot start to the 2020-21 season for the winger. Toffoli scored his eighth and ninth goals of the year last night, and he now has 13 points on the year as he continues to light it up for his new team, including this highlight-reel goal:

Montreal signed Toffoli to a four-year, $17 million contract in the offseason because they needed a scoring punch, and the 28-year-old has certainly provided that in the opening weeks of the 2020-21 season, while he also tallied a primary assist on Jeff Petry‘s third-period goal last night to complete what was an impressive three-point night.

Joe Pavelski – Starting the 2020-21 season without goalie Ben Bishop and forward Tyler Seguin, coupled with having to deal with the NHL’s first COVID-19 outbreak, the Dallas Stars have defied expectations by carving out a stellar start to the year, and they improved to 5-1-1 on the year on Tuesday after beating the Columbus Blue Jackets.

A lot of their early success is down to the elite play of veteran forward Joe Pavelski, who has recorded seven goals and seven assists for 14 points through his team’s first seven games of the year. Pavelski was outstanding against Columbus against last night, tallying a four-point night with two goals and two assists and his hot start has been instrumental in Dallas overcoming a boatload of adversity already this season.

Colorado Avalanche – Despite being without franchise star Nathan MacKinnon, who is week-to-week with a lower-body injury, in addition to also being without a host of other players, the Avs continued to roll on last night by beating the Minnesota Wild to improve to 7-3-1.

It wasn’t always pretty but goals from Logan O’Connor and Valeri Nichushkin, coupled with 27 saves by Philipp Grubauer, ensured that it was a smooth start to life without Nathan MacKinnon and their ability to roll with the punches is testament to the job done by General Manager Joe Sakic, who has put together one hell of a roster in Colorado that is deep in both talent and in depth.

The Bad

Patrik Laine – A couple of weeks after a blockbuster trade that sent seismic waves through the hockey world, Patrik Laine finally made his debut for the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night. Granted, it wasn’t a night that went to plan as the Blue Jackets lost 6-3 to the Dallas Stars, but Columbus fans would no doubt still have been excited to see their shiny new toy in action.

Laine logged 20:54 minutes of total ice time and did finish with a -2 rating but, having just recovered from injury and having little time to practice with his new team, the best is yet to come for the superstar forward and it will be fascinating to see how big of an impact he makes for the Columbus Blue Jackets. This was a tough debut but there will be better days ahead for Patrik Laine, who was playing in his first game in 19 days.

The Ugly

COVID-19 – We warned you in our earlier edition of ‘The Good, The Bad & The Ugly’ that COVID-19 was going to crop up consistently in this space, and that is already proving to be the case. With 10 New Jersey Devils players hitting the NHL’s COVID-19 Protocol list on Monday, a couple of Buffalo Sabres players joined them on Tuesday.

With the two players having played each other twice in two days over the weekend, it was almost certain that was going to be the case and, as a result, two games were postponed on Tuesday night while both the Buffalo Sabres and the New Jersey Devils will now be shutdown for at least a week. We’re only a few weeks into the 2020-21 season but we are already closing in on 20 postponed games, and that is just the new reality we are all going to have to get used to in a post-Pandemic world.