This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
It has been announced that the Las Vegas expansion team will be unveiling their name, logo, and team colors on November 22. This is…kind of cool, I guess? The thing is, owner Bill Foley already said the team will be called the "something Knights" and that one of their colors will be steel gray. So, unless the team is going to be the Las Vegas Baywatch Knights and their colors are going to be steel gray and lime green, it's not going to be terribly shocking. The "something Knights" isn't a terrible name, I guess. I've written this before in an introduction to a Daily Puck, but I wish expansion teams didn't feel so compelled to be unique. That's how you get the Minnesota Wild and the Atlanta Thrashers. They could have just called themselves the Las Vegas Tigers and I'd have been good with it. Instead, I guess we will all wait to see what kind of Knights will be in Las Vegas.
Featured Matchups
Ducks (PP: 3, PK: 11) at Blue Jackets (PP: 1, PK: 2), 7:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:John Gibson (5-4-2, 2.43, .914), Sergei Bobrovsky (5-3-1, 1.79, .947)
Key Injuries:Simon Despres (head), Hampus Lindholm (personal), Nate Thompson (achilles), Seth Jones (foot)
If you just glance at the standings you might not realize it, but the Blue Jackets are one of the best teams in the NHL so far. Their special teams have been great. They have a plus-11 goal differential. They are in the top five in goals for and goals against. Bobrovsky is, obviously, playing great. That's not good for Anaheim. The Ducks only have one player with more than four goals, and that's Andrew Cogliano, who has five. Of course, Rickard Rickell has three in four games, so he may get there soon. Ryan Getzlaf is having another weird season. He only has one goal on 28 shots. For the second season in a row, his shooting percentage is way down. On the other hand, Getzlaf has 11 assists, so he hasn't exactly been a bust. The Jackets are led in scoring by the duo of Nick Foligno and Alexander Wennberg. Wennberg is a legitimate interesting player. The 22-year-old scored 40 points in 69 games last season. He might not be one of the bigger name young players, but he seems primed to be a reliable player for years.
Senators (PP: 24, PK: 14) at Sabres (PP: 10, PK: 22), 7:30 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Mike Condon (1-0-0, 0.00, 1.000), Robin Lehner (4-4-1, 2.35, .925)
Key Injuries:Zach Bogosian (knee), Nicolas Deslauriers (knee), Jack Eichel (ankle), Tyler Ennis (undisclosed), Evander Kane (ribs), Andrew Hammond (lower body), Clarke MacArthur (concussion)
The Senators will be on the second night of a back-to-back, having lost to the Predators last night. That means Condon will likely get his second start for Ottawa. He likely won't pitch another shutout, but the Sabres are dealing with injury, which is probably why they've scored only 2.1 goals per game this year. Kyle Okposo is doing the best he can with five goals and eight points in 11 games. Ryan O'Relly also has eight points, and he's taken 40 shots on goal, which is a good sign. While Matt Moulson got off to a hot start, he hasn't scored a goal in seven games. Mark Stone, who has scored at least 23 goals in his two full NHL seasons, is having a bad start to the season. He only has one goal, and also he's only taken 18 shots in 11 games. You'd like to see that number improve.
Blackhawks (PP: 11, PK: 30) at Blues (PP: 19, PK: 3), 8:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Corey Crawford (6-3-1, 2.01, .936), Jake Allen (5-3-2, 2.39, .903)
Key Injuries:Tyler Motte (lower body), Trevor van Riemsdyk (upper body), Robert Bortuzzo (lower body)
Chicago's penalty-kill percentage is no longer an insane outlier, so they have that going for them. Of course, the Blackhawks have won six in a row and have a plus-14 goal differential, so they are fine. They are scoring 3.5 goals per game, which is second-best in the NHL. Artem Anisimov leads Chicago with eight goals and 17 points. Duncan Keith has no goals, but he has taken 33 shots on goal. After a couple bad starts, Allen stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced in his last game. However, his overall save percentage does not inspire. Oft-rumored trade block denizen Kevin Shattenkirk has three goals and 10 points. After a hot start, Paul Stastny only has two points in his last five games, both in the same game.
Recommended Pickup
Nikolaj Ehlers, LW, WPG – Coming into the year, Ehlers had some cache, but then a bit of a slow start led some reactionary owners to drop him early. In his last three games, he has seven points. While Ehlers wasn't as impressive as some rookies last season, he was still good (15 goals and 38 points) and he's playing two more minutes a night this season. He has a bigger role, and his game should improve. People who gave up on him early may come to regret it.
