Let’s take a look at the news of the day and get you up to speed on day one.
St. Louis RW Vladimir Tarasenko made his NHL debut with a bang. He scored twice in the Blues’ 6-0 rout of the Red Wings and is available in 81% of leagues on ESPN. Watch that number drop dramatically by his next game Monday at Nashville.
Detroit RW Damien Brunner is one lucky guy. He’s going to get the call to start on a line with Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg according to Mlive.com. Brunner is going to be one of those guys who will pick up points by being out there with those two studs. He got snapped up in most leagues on this news so run to the wire before breakfast and check if he’s there. Sunday’s first game is at 12:30 ET.
Multiple Goal Scorers (all two-goal games unless noted)
Heatley-MIN;Vrbata-PHX;Jagr-
You’re So Special!
On opening night Florida and Tampa Bay each scored three power play goals but the Blues led the way with four tallies on the man advantage.
You’re So (Not) Special!
The Rangers (5), Flyers (5), Bruins (7), Hurricanes (6), Red Wings (4) and Devils (2) went a combined 0-for-29 on the power play in their season openers.
Amsterdamn!
This heading is to spotlight the goaltenders who didn’t have a great night and two big names had poor performances on day one.
Jimmy Howard of Detroit gave up 5 goals on 28 shots against the Blues in a 6-0 loss. After he gave up Chris Stewart’s second of the night 1:15 into the third, Howard got yanked. It was a tough night for Detroit as the Blues rang up 4 power play goals in 5 chances.
Carolina’s Cam Ward had a worse, but shorter night. Ward coughed up four goals on 12 shots in the first period and got benched in favor of journeyman Dan Ellis in the Hurricanes 5-1 loss to Florida.
Vancouver goaltender Cory Schneider got off to a rocky start allowing 5 goals on 14 shots in 26 minutes before yielding to Roberto Luongo in the second period. Luongo wasn’t much better as he gave up both of Selanne’s goals in the 7-3 demolition last night.
If you own any of these guys, you hope it’s opening night jitters and not a sign of things to come.
Three Stars of the Night
3. Marian Hossa-LW (Chicago) 2G, 1A to spoil the Kings’ banner-raising ceremony.
Sunday’s Games (all times ET)
And finally…
For those of you who are playing in the Razzball Last Chance League, I’ll see you there for the draft tonight. Looking forward to seeing all of you out there for a great season.
There’s 99 days of hockey, 99 days to play. Take a puck down, shoot it around. 98 days of hockey to play.
