This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
With seven games on the slate on Thursday, there was plenty of action to go around. A few early cross-conference games made the night intriguing, especially a potential Stanley Cup tilt with the Dallas Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins, while the New York Islanders saw their matchup against the San Jose Sharks as a litmus test as the upstart Isles go head-to-head against one of the Western Conference's traditional heavyweights.
It was a scary night in Pittsburgh when play was stopped after right winger Pascal Dupuis took a Kris Letang half-clapper to the neck after being cross-checked from behind by Alex Goligoski in front of the Dallas net. Dupuis stumbled and motioned to trainers before crumbling to the ice, but gave a thumbs-up to the crowd as he left on a stretcher. It's unlikely Dupuis will return this week or next week as he is being re-evaluated. Forward Andrew Ebbett is the player most likely to take Dupuis' place, while Nick Spaling and Blake Comeau may find themselves getting promoted.
The Stars trailed 2-1 going into the third and a potential game-tying goal was disallowed after a terrible goaltender interference call. The good news is that captain Jamie Benn is at his best when he's playing pissed, and the call clearly irked him as he made his way into the low slot and knocked home a rebound past Marc-Andre Fleury and three lazy Pens defenders.
Tyler Seguin scored the game winner with 2.6 seconds remaining on the power play to give the Stars a victory, and again showed that the West is still the superior conference. Jason Spezza (more on him later) earned his first multi-point game with the Stars after an abysmal three-game start. He has yet to gel with any of his line mates, but with the Stars power play featuring him along with Benn and Seguin, the points shouldn't be hard to come by. Spezza is key to the Stars' success with all of the West's contenders featuring considerable depth at center.
Meanwhile, on Long Island, Jack Capuano's squad showed the Sharks and the rest of the West that there's a new player in town. The Isles outshot the Sharks 45-23 in one of their most dominating performances in recent memory, with Josh Bailey's go-ahead goal in the second period coming off a relentless forecheck.
Tomas Hertl tied the game at 3-3 midway through the third period off a Jason Demers stretch pass (Hertl will be feasting on opponents with the stretch pass all year), and the Czech sniper is looking to stay healthy all season. Given San Jose's offensive weapons and Hertl's unmatched speed, it's not out of the question to see the 20-year-old notch a 35-goal season. The Sharks also needed Alex Stalock, who is still gunning for the starting job, to stop 42 shots to earn a point, and as a side note, the defense didn't look particularly strong either, but with Demers, Justin Braun, Brent Burns and Mirco Mueller, you expect a group like that to be more offensively inclined anyway.
Such a strong performance by the Isles, led by captain John Tavares and the criminally underrated Kyle Okposo, puts the team firmly at the top of the division and, along with the Caps, are the only team in the East who have garnered points in all of their games. The acquisitions of Jaroslav Halak, Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk have already paid huge dividends and Garth Snow (!) is in the early running for GM of the Year. It's unfamiliar position for the Isles and certainly one they won't want to relinquish.
Fantasy advice? Go pick up an Islander. Seriously. Grabovski, Nelson, Strome, Leddy, Hamonic, de Haan... whoever's available. If you count hits, Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck should already be owned. All that talent has to explode at some point and this season looks like the one. The Oilers should take a page from Snow's book and look for teams looking to unload defensemen rather than trying to unload one (Jeff Petry) themselves when they have a league-worst 23 goals allowed.
Elsewhere:
- In Washington, the Caps chased Cory Schneider in a 6-2 win. Joel Ward's goal was a wide shot that bounced off the boards and off the back of Schneider's leg. Damon Severson scored both goals for the Devils, but it just wasn't their night.
- The Rangers needed a shootout to dump the lowly Canes with Anton Khudobin stopping 33 shots, who I'm still betting will take over as the starter by the end of the year. Chris Terry, the Canes' fifth-round pick from 2007, scored his third of the season and now has four points in four games. Teammate Brody Sutter made his NHL debut, becoming the ninth Sutter to play in the NHL.
- The Habs-Bruins rivalry won't be much of a rivalry if Carey Price (18-8-3 lifetime vs. BOS) keeps besting Tuukka Rask (3-11-3 lifetime vs. MTL), who was chased after allowing five goals. Milan Lucic hates the Habs and likes to let everyone know it, so he was handed a 10-minute misconduct for abusing the refs. (Yay, PIMs!) P-A Parenteau scored twice, lending to the theory that every single French-Canadian plays better as a Hab.
- The Avs blew a 3-1 lead as the Sens used a three-goal third period for the comeback win. Reto Berra started in place of the injured Semyon Varlamov, but was bowled over by John Mitchell and left the game, paving the way for Calvin Pickard (brother Chet, also a goalie, was a Nashville draft pick) to make his NHL debut, which didn't go over too well. Pickard was too antsy and moved around too much rather than letting the puck hit him. The Avs still can't defend, so good luck to all of their goalies.
- It's the same old story at the Staples Center with the Blues outshooting the Kings 43-18 but the Kings out-hitting the Blues 34-22. Jonathan Quick was brilliant all night and matched Rogie Vachon for the franchise lead in career shutouts with 32 (coincidentally Quick's jersey number as well). The Blues just couldn't bury any chances against (in my opinion) the best team in the league and T.J. Oshie was snakebitten and couldn't find the handle on some golden opportunities. The Blues are Cup contenders, but for whatever reason, never seem to be quite on par to the Kings.
Here are your Friday games:
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
For updates on the projected goalies later in the day, check our Projected Goalies Grid
Florida Panthers (Roberto Luongo) at Buffalo Sabres (Jhonas Enroth), 7:00 PM
Calgary Flames (Jonas Hiller) at Columbus Blue Jackets (Sergei Bobrovsky), 7:00 PM
Detroit Red Wings (Jimmy Howard*) at Toronto Maple Leafs (Jonathan Bernier), 7:30 PM
Nashville Predators (Pekka Rinne) at Winnipeg Jets (Ondrej Pavelec), 8:00 PM
Vancouver Canucks (Ryan Miller) at Edmonton Oilers (Ben Scrivens), 9:30 PM
Minnesota Wild (Niklas Backstrom) at Anaheim Ducks (Frederik Andersen*), 10:00 PM
*Confirmed Starters
Injury News For Teams Playing Friday
Florida Panthers
Shawn Thornton, LW (lower body) - missed practice Wednesday; questionable.
Buffalo Sabres
Patrick Kaleta, RW (facial surgery) - Kaleta practicing but no timetable for return.
Calgary Flames
Sam Bennett, LW (shoulder surgery) – minimum four months; no return date set.
David Jones, RW (lower body) – placed on IR on Oct. 9.
Lance Bouma, LW (face) – placed on IR; day-to-day.
Deryk Engelland, D (lower body) – missed Wednesday's game; doubtful.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Cam Atkinson, RW (undisclosed) – practiced Thursday; probable.
Boone Jenner, LW (broken hand) – return is likely mid- to late-November.
Ryan Murray, D (knee) – practiced Thursday but doubtful for Friday.
Marko Dano, C (undisclosed) – missed Thursday practice; day-to-day.
Sonny Milano, LW (face) – no timetable for return.
Nathan Horton, RW (back) – out indefinitely.
Brandon Dubinsky, C (abdominal) – out another 2-4 weeks.
Detroit Red Wings
Pavel Datsyuk, C (shoulder) – return date is set for Saturday against Toronto.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Joffrey Lupul, LW (leg) – missed Thursday practice; doubtful.
David Booth, LW (lower body) – no more boot, but no return date set.
Nashville Predators
Matt Cullen, C (lower body) – practiced Tuesday; day-to-day.
Mike Fisher, C (Achilles) – no timetable for return.
Viktor Stalberg, LW (lower body) – practicing but considered day-to-day.
Winnipeg Jets
Evander Kane, LW (knee) – out two weeks with no return date set.
Vancouver Canucks
Bo Horvat, C (shoulder) – will not travel to Edmonton on Friday.
Edmonton Oilers
Viktor Fasth, G (groin) – placed on IR on Wednesday.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, C (undisclosed) – missed two straight games; doubtful.
Minnesota Wild
Josh Harding, G (broken foot) – minimum two months.
Anaheim Ducks
Kyle Palmieri, RW (ankle) – no timetable for return.
Patrick Maroon, LW (sprained MCL) – out four weeks.
Sheldon Souray, D (wrist) – out indefinitely.
Bryan Allen, D (lower body) – placed on IR on Tuesday.
Dany Heatley, LW (groin) - will not play Friday or Sunday.
Hot
Frederik Andersen, G, ANA – Now that the John Gibson hype has subsided, Andersen is the lone man at the top of the mountain with veteran backup Jason LaBarbera of no threat to take the job. The Danish goalie is unbeaten in his three starts and has a sparkling 1.95 GAA and .928 SV% - even though those stats will inflate over the course of the season, Andersen is playing behind one of the league's best offenses.
Mikkel Boedker, LW, ARI – Arizona is usually a place where offense goes to die, but Boedker didn't get the memo with six points in three games to start the season. Someone has to do the scoring in the desert and top scorers Radim Vrbata and Mike Ribeiro are gone. Boedker notched a hat trick in a 7-4 win over the Oil, but it's uncharacteristic of the Coyotes to allow so many goals, especially to a horrendous team, and you wonder if Dave Tippett will allow for a little more offense if Mike Smith continues to be a sieve.
Cold
Mats Zuccarello, LW, NYR – "Zuc" is battling a shoulder issue, so that may be the reason, but he's not playing like the Rangers' reigning leading scorer. Through three games, the tiny Norwegian has just five shots on goal, a minus-5 rating, and an uncharacteristic fighting major. Only against Carolina did Zuc get a point, and even that was off a double deflection. The Rangers are struggling as a team and Henrik Lundqvist hits the snooze button every October, so it's not a big worry, especially with Rick Nash 100% healthy, but the Rangers need Zuc to score to conquer the East.
Jason Spezza, C, DAL – Take away Spezza's two assist effort against Pittsburgh on Thursday night, a team that he's traditionally feasted on, and he has been quite disappointing since arriving in the Big D. Through four games he has three assists and a minus-3 rating while playing well below his career average in ice time. Going to Dallas should've taken some pressure of Spezza's shoulders, but it seems to have done the opposite with Spezza becoming more invisible than usual. He's still a brilliant playmaker, but it hasn't shown in Dallas yet. He played just 14:10 at Columbus before torching the Pens.
Recommended Pickup
Craig Smith, RW, NSH – How does a 24-year-old break out and end up being owned in 15.6% of ESPN leagues? By playing in Nasvhille, that's how. After a 52-point campaign last year, the former Wisconsin Badger now has three points in three games, including a power play goal and 10 shots on goal. Sure, there may be more players with talent out there, but Smith is producing right now, and from the early looks of things, the Preds have really taken to Peter Laviolette's offensive philosophies. The Preds juggle lines and don't have a standout top line, but Smith will figure into the top six and the power play. He's the perfect replacement for owners who missed out on Reilly Smith.
