The Boston Bruins are also apparently 0-3-0. This new season basically just started. Just have to hope the losses don't mount and snowball to where you're hopeless trying to salvage a lost cause of a season.
The Wild barely squeaked by the Yotes with a 4-3 win. They were totally in control going into the 3rd period with a 4-2 lead, but Arizona pushed hard and brought it within 1 and kept pushing to get the tying goal. There were a crazy number of penalties in the 3rd but Minnesota's PK went a perfect 7 for 7. Nate Prosser was back in the lineup tonight and and immediately proved that he deserved to be back by taking a penalty his first shift
The Wild take on the Los Angeles Kings tomorrow night in LA. Darcy Kuemper is scheduled to get his first start of the season. He could muddy the waters a bit if he has a really good night as Devan Dubnyk only has a .891% SV so far this season.
During an interview Jared Spurgeon said that the Wild have not been playing their best hockey to start the season. Given that the Wild are 3-0, having scored 12 goals in total to start the season, once they start playing their best hockey the rest of the league should watch out
Finally, give a shout to Wild forward Thomas Vanek who scored his 300th goal tonight
To be fair, I don't think that any team is playing their best hockey yet. A lot of teams are still playing with the lines to figure out the best player grouping. It's still way too early in the season to know which teams are in serious disaster mode already and know which teams will be there when it counts come playoff time.
I got my first taste of the new overtime format and must say it's rather exciting. I think the Wild need to practice more though as they looked a little sloppy.
Also, you can apparently stream home market games on the app for free, granted the quality sucks but it beats the audio-only route. Hopefully this is something they will do all season and isn't just a promotional thing.
Finally. The Wings lost a game after being badly outplayed. It should have happened the first time they played Carolina after they outshot Detroit in that game.
As of the date of this post, the following teams are unbeaten:
! = current division leader
* Montreal! (5-0)
* Minnesota (3-0)
* San Jose! (4-0)
The following teams are currently winless as of the time of this post:
* New Jersey (0-3)
* Columbus (0-5)
* Anaheim (0-3)
* Edmonton (0-4)
I doubt teams will go 82-0. I also doubt teams will go 0-82. All that matters is playing consistent, winning hockey while not losing with regularity. So you all still got a lot to play for as this season is just getting underway.
Yeah, I'm a fan of 3 on 3 although I am a bit surprised I guess at the lines Yeo put out. Personally, I have nothing against Ryan Suter but I don't believe he's the best choice for a top 3 on 3 line.
Here's some line combos I'd like to see:
Kill em with speed: Granlund-Zucker or Schoeder-Spurgeon or Dumba
Hands:Coyle-Parise-Scandella
Big and bold:Koivu-Niederrieter-Folin or Suter
The grinders: Haula-Carter or Fontaine-Brodin
Still, 3-0-1 isn't a bad start to the season. Hopefully we can keep rolling against the Ducks!
* The Philadelphia Flyers are on a back-to-back. Their game against the Dallas Stars was televised on NBCSN, and the Flyers lost 2-1 to the Dallas Stars. They'll be back on the tube tomorrow night in Boston when they take on the Boston Bruins.
* The St. Louis Blues were singing the blues in Montreal as the Canadiens beat them 3-0 in Montreal. How 'bout the Habs? 7-0 now!
* Nashville and Tampa Bay couldn't settle their differences in sixty minutes and three periods, so they needed Overtime being tied 4-4. Then, they needed a Shootout. The only Shootout goal was scored by Nashville. So the Predators won 5-4 at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
* New Jersey and Arizona also couldn't settle their differences in sixty minutes. Unlike TB at NSH, the score was settled in Overtime; and the Devils won at home 3-2 over the visiting Arizona Coyotes.
* Florida and Pittsburgh needed Overtime as well. Sidney Crosby finally got his first point of the 2015-2016 season, and his Penguins beat the visiting Florida Panthers 3-2.
* 4-0 was the score in Columbus, Ohio as the Blue Jackets remain winless when the New York Islanders came to town.
* If you play with fire, you get burned. Washington wasn't having any of that, though. The Capitals iced the Calgary Flames 6-2 in Calgary.
There was only one game on Monday (SJ at NYR: 4-0; NYR Rangers). Seven on Tuesday. Four games are on the schedule for Wednesday. Of course, Flyers at Bruins on NBCSN as part of their Wednesday Night Rivalry deal. The Red Wings will even get some action today (since it's Wednesday with this post) when they head to Edmonton to take on the Oilers.
* TOR Maple Leafs at BUF Sabres
* PHI Flyers at BOS Bruins (NBCSN Wednesday Night Rivalry)
* DET Red Wings at EDM Oilers
* CAR Hurricanes at COL Avalanche
Also... remember a guy named John Tortoella? He's now the new head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets after they canned Todd Richards. The Blue Jackets are 0-7-0.
Hopefully the Blue Jackets don't improve between tonight and tomorrow. The Wild need a big win to get their confidence back after a 1-1-1 Western road trip
Regulation solved nothing in Boston, so bring on Overtime. The Flyers took the 5-4 win in Overtime at Boston. So Philly decided to man up and make it a game again down 4-2 to start the 3rd Period. PHI later cashed in a Power Play goal to put away BOS. This was the first new Overtime format game I've seen. It just feels so much different not having extra players on the ice. Then in the event of a Power Play goal, it can seem almost too easy to knock down a goal to win for your team.
Elsewhere...
* The Toronto Maple Leafs lost in a Shootout to Buffalo 2-1. Tied 1-1 after 60 minutes of action and Overtime, Buffalo defended home turf against the Maple Leafs in a Shootout.
* Edmonton handled the Red Wings quite well to a 3-1 victory in Edmonton. Detroit never led. Tatar broke up the shutout for DET.
* Neither Carolina nor Colorado scored in regulation. In Overtime, the visiting Carolina Hurricanes scored the only goal to win 1-0.
As a lighthearted note, I still think Tuuka Rask has one of the coolest-looking helmets of any NHL goalie I've seen. The black and the gold look great with the designs on the helmet. Only other goalie helmet I like from ones I've seen was this TRON-like designed helmet worn by Ben Bishop of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
I happen to have a big gripe with Philly. No, it isn't the fact that they lost 2-1 against my Stars a couple of nights ago, but it is rather the game that was televised, wasn't really national TV at all. It was regional.
To explain, NBCSN only has one team that does the high market games, the Caps, the original Six teams, and so on. However, their other game's coverage that is on National TV is relied on who can pay a "National Toll" (as Dallas Color Commentator "Razor" puts it). The league average on National TV games is 11-12.
Guess how many games the Philadelphia Flyers have on National TV? Anyone?
Try 30! Thirty Games on NBCSN!
That answer is on average per season since Comcast bought out NBC Universal from GE in 2013. But that still doesn't answer the question though, how can the Flyers get away with having three times the league average in National TV games?
The answer lies with a man known as Ed Snider. He is the Chairman of Comcast - who owns NBC. He is also an NHL owner. What team though?
The Philadelphia Flyers!
So that Dallas/Flyers game that you saw on TV? Yeah, that was really Philly's coverage of the game.
To add to your point, NBCSN mentioned the television schedule *on CSN Philadelphia* for Flyers games. I was actually a bit surprised to see that Stars at Flyers game on NBCSN. Usually, I think of FOX Sports Southwest that cover Dallas Stars games. I probably wouldn't see such games on FS Southwest, especially the Dallas Mavericks, the San Antonio Spurs, or the Texas Rangers.
Eighth straight loss for Columbus. Their trip to St. Paul, MN didn't do them too many favors as RedDragon's Wild won 3-2 tonight. The Columbus Blue Jackets can't buy a break, seems like.
12 games tonight! Only one game completed as of this post, and that one was in St. Paul, MN. It was 3-0 at Minnesota as the Wild took down the visiting Anaheim Ducks.
Plenty other games either in progress or haven't yet started as of this post. Such games include Toronto at Montreal (an NHL Canadian Original Six match), New York Rangers at Philadelphia, New Jersey at Buffalo, Florida at Dallas, Tampa Bay at Chicago, Columbus at Colorado, and Detroit at Vancouver among other games.
Red Wings defeated the Canucks 3-2 in OT last night .Petr Mrazek (the goalie) had the assist on the game winner as he passed it to Gustav Nyquist who shot the puck past Ryan Miller. Nyquist was pretty much wide open because Mrazek passed it to him while Vancuver was making a change.
Mike Green of the Detroit Red Wings suffered an upper body injury and will miss about 2-3 weeks. I'm pretty sure this will be a rather big hit to the Red Wings' lineup.
Mike Green of the Detroit Red Wings suffered an upper body injury and will miss about 2-3 weeks. I'm pretty sure this will be a rather big hit to the Red Wings' lineup.
Are you ready for some hockey? Tonight features three games, two of them on NBCSN, making for one awesome night. 3-2-1. See what I did there? Anyhow, check it out:
* CGY Flames at OTT Senators
* PIT Penguins at WSH Capitals (NBCSN)
* NSH Predators at SJ Sharks (NBCSN)
* The Dallas Stars tripped up the San Jose Sharks 5-3 in Dallas.
* After winning 5-4 at home hosting the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks last night, the Minnesota Wild lost in Overtime at the St. Louis Blues 3-2.
* Toronto couldn't contain the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins, falling 4-0 to the Pens.
* The Washington Capitals escaped Sunrise, FL in Overtime with a 2-1 win at the Florida Panthers.
* Columbus loses again. This time, the Blue Jackets lost 3-2 at home to the Winnipeg Jets.
* Sixty minutes and Overtime weren't enough in New Jersey. So to settle the score, they needed a Shootout; and it was a 3-2 victory for the New Jersey Devils hosting the New York Islanders.
There were 10 games played today, so congrats to all other winners, including the Detroit Red Wings as our AnthonyD1993 reported on.
Two games have concluded, both 4-3 wins by the road team. Those games include the San Jose Sharks winning 4-3 at the Colorado Avalanche, and the Tampa Bay Lightning winning 4-3 at the Carolina Hurricanes.
Other games in progress have the Montreal Canadiens leading 5-0 against the visiting Winnipeg Jets at the 2nd Intermission. The New York Islanders lead the Buffalo Sabres 1-0 with about 3:40 left in the 2nd Period. It's 3-0 in Anaheim as the Ducks lead the Nashville Predators after one period.
As of tonight, the Western Conference and especially the Central Division are making a statement for beung the toughest division in the entire league. Of the top 10 teams OVERALL in the NHL right now, 5 are from the Central Division: Dallas, St. Louis, Minnesota, Nashville and Winnipeg. Of the other 2 teams, Chicago is right behind Winnipeg in 16th overall, while Colorado is pulling our division down with only 7 points and 26th in the league.
Mark Stone of the Ottawa Senators got hit with a two-game suspension for an illegal check on Landon Ferraro of the Detroit Red Wings. OTT's next two games are at Montreal on Tuesday and home against Winnipeg on Thursday.
