Canadiens and Canucks win their season openers over the Leafs and Flames, plus the latest on the Senators, Oilers and Jets.
Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price makes one of his 36 saves against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
MONTREAL GAZETTE/THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Carey Price made 36 saves and Max Pacioretty scored twice to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 3-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre. Alex Galchenyuk also tallied for the Canadiens while James van Riemsdyk had the sole Leafs goal. Despite the loss, the Leafs played a respectable game under new head coach Mike Babcock.
THE PROVINCE/CALGARY HERALD: Daniel Sedin tallied a goal and two assists while Alex Burrows and Brandon Sutter had two-point performances to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-1 beatdown of the Calgary Flames. Jiri Hudler had the lone goal for the Flames, who were sluggish at both ends of the rink.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Andrew Ference relinquished the captaincy of the Oilers, as the club opts to go with four alternates this season. One of them will be Ference, while forwards Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will be the others.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Ference showed a lot of class with this move. I think he understands management is shifting the team’s leadership toward their younger stars.
OTTAWA CITIZEN: Senators captain Erik Karlsson sported a new hairdo for the club’s upcoming season opener, cutting his usually long-flowing locks.
WINNIPEG SUN: The Winnipeg Jets may have one of the NHL’s smallest markets, but they have the fourth-highest resale ticket prices.
Leafs Habs was actually a pretty entertaining game to watch…That Flames Canucks game on the other hand. Kinda surprising.
I only watched the first period of the flames and Canucks then bed called me. I enjoyed it though. The leafs played well against the Habs.
It is just game one. Some teams will come out flying others will come out and stumble as they get their legs under them. Be interesting to watch as the first 20 games goes by and teams find their grooves. Can Calgary repeat as playoff attendee’s or is this one game indicative of the fancy stat regression. Are the Canucks good enough to tromp teams night in and night out. I suspect this first game tells us nothing of the season outcomes.
how is gardiner leading in ice time he looked absolutely lost in his own end at times! kadri minus 3 he played with kessel to long hopefully babs can break him out of not caring what happens in his own end
…is the reason you dont like stats because you dont know how to count? The game was 3-1 and Kadri had an assist sooo… first goal was all Berniers fault and the last goal was an empty net even better. He was a minus 2 if you keep track of that useless stat. Anyway since you payed such close attention I guess you noticced his line kept the habs in their own end most of the night and he was on the ice for 21 of the shots against Price, drew a penalty, probably should have drawn 2, and was only on the ice for less than 12 shots against.
your a useless stat
Another pure hockey comment Bigbear? Good one lol. I just figured a guy like you who doesnt need stats due to his scout like eyes while wathching a game would know minus 2 is different than minus 3 and would count things like shots for and against, how long the player had the puck in the other end, penalties hits amd things like that…you know the basics.
you know the 2 is right beside the 3 on the key board right? the stats really tell you how good of the chances were of those 12 shots too? you just watched sportcenter again eh shticky
And what does the minus tell ya about his play in his own zone? Does it tell ya that pacioretti scored from 40-60 feet out and beat vernier on a shot that would have been saved by a beer league goalie? That was a great chance? It was off the rush and had nothing to do with Kadtis play in his own end. The last goal was in to an empty net from the blue like when the habs broke out of their own zone so there is the minus 2 neither goal had anything to do with how Kadri played in his own end and neither of these High quality chances were due to his defensive play. His assist on the pop doesn’t count as a plus soooo.I’d say in this case you pointing out plus minus says all ya need to know. Sorry about the fat thumbs hitting the 3 instead of 2.
lyle I would like you too read shtickys first comment before I jabbed back ” is the reason you don’t like stats because you cant count” does that really need to be said like that lyle shticky is nothing but a troll on this site and always refers to slander when he doesn’t agree with something. you run a good site but trolls like shticky really take away from it
lol pot meet kettle…If ya dont wamt to be trolled bigbear practice what you preach. You troll Guru Striker myself and others here daily. I have no issue never replyi g to another half whit comment you post again just you do the same quit trolling everyone and Im sure you wont haveanissue with people doing it to you.
see lyle why don’t you kick this moron off you site he bring no hockey knowledge what so ever to these comments
If you both can’t act like adults, I can always ban you both. It’s up to you guys. Your childish bickering is annoying. Grow up!
I apologize lyle it just gets really annoying when I make a hockey opinion and his only defense is a personal attack.
I liked the coaches challenge. Worked well in that situation, hopefully it doesn’t drag the game out too bad. Gardener looked decent considering still learning new system, Dion looked better playing less minutes. Not bad for 1st game. Lack of scoring is gonna be the killer tho
Vancouver gets round one this year and pretty much the whole Flames roster is in Hartley’s doghouse. the “experts” who feel that Calgary has one of the best bluelines in the league may be reconsidering after last night. their prized $6.75 million acquisition took 2 needless penalties and finished up a -2 on the night, likely not what Calgary envisioned when they traded for him. Ramo made a couple of nice saves and the score could’ve been much worse but probably wishes he could have a couple of those goals back, it’s pretty doubtful that he gets the start in Vancouver on saturday. Ferland who had such a big impact in their series last year was pretty invisible for the first 2 periods (aside from the fight 2 seconds into the game) and didn’t really even throw any hits until the game was out of reach. Calgary’s first line was wrapped up pretty good and the rest of the forwards made the Flames look like a one line team, Hudler did have a nice goal but he’s a UFA at the end of the year that Calgary will be hard pressed to resign given that they have to sign 2 goalies,Monahan, Gaudreau, and Russell. with the money spent on their defense already they won’t be able to keep everyone.