Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

The Morning After Skate

10/03/2013 at 7:24am EDT

Welcome to the morning after! A recap of the games from the night before and quick hit hockey news.
In Case You Missed It
Toronto Maple Leafs at Philadelphia Flyers
After defeating the Montreal Canadiens last night the Maple Leafs traveled to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers.

Following a day of debate within the hockey world about fighting it is only fitting that one of the teams involved in last night’s incident would launch into another fight midway through the first.

It would be Leafs Joffrey Lupul dropping the gloves against Flyers Brayden Schenn this time out.

The game would remain scoreless after the fight, thus not helping either team with a momentum swing.

As the clock ticked down on the first Totonto’s James van Riemsdyk would take an interference penalty that would lead to a power play goal by Schenn (good thing he was not ejected after that first fight eh?).

Schenn’s goal would see fist assists as Flyers go to Vincent Lecaviler and Mark Streit.

Second period would see three power plays go unanswered (two for the Flyers and one for the Leafs) before Phil Kessel would score his first goal of the season to tie the game off of a feed from Captain Dion Phaneuf.

With four seconds left on the clock in the second Toronto’s Paul Ranger would get called for tripping on a breakaway that would award Flyers Wayne Simmonds a penalty shot that would be stopped by Jonathan Bernier.

It would take Dave Bolland two and a half minutes into the third to give the Maple Leafs the lead as he put a wrist shot in past Steve Mason. A minute after the go ahead goal it would be a hi-sticking penalty to Toronto’s Mark Fraser and coincidental penalties to Philadelphia’s Jay Rosehill for roughing and Toronto’s Colton Orr for a cross checking on Rosehill.

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Less than a minute left in the game would see Flyer defenseman Kimmo Timonen get called for hooking on Lupul that would set the stage for a late power play goal from Bolland for a 3-1 Leafs win over the Flyers as Toronto starts the NHL season 2-0.

Buffalo Sabres at Detroit Red Wings


Rivals. Glorious new rivals. With the new alignment the Sabres and the Leafs are now Atlantic Division Rivals. Detroit’s 88th season kicked off with the move to the Eastern Conference.

Sabres would get a 5-on-3 early in the first period as Henrik Zetterberg was called for a high-stick and shortly after Jonathan Ericsson was called closing his hand on the puck
It would be a goal from Mikael Samuelsson that would put the Wings up one over the Sabres only to be followed up less than a minute later with a top shelf backhanded goal by Pavel Datsyuk.

It would be a boarding call on Drew Stafford for hitting Brendan Smith that would give the Red Wings the man advantage that would see Datsyuk pass to Daniel Alfredsson only to have the shot redirected into the glass behind Ryan Miller.


It would be Kyle “The Difference Maker” Quincey (remember his play against the Blackhawks that negated a goal and took Game 7 to over time?) to take a penalty with 34 seconds left in the first to give the Sabres the man advantage when the teams returned for the second.

It would be a second penalty to Detroit’s captain as Zetterberg was called for tripping Buffalo’s Stafford.

Dan Cleary would have a Red Wings goal waived off after he was called for goaltender interference. You make the call:

The ensuing play would in turn see Red Wings Corey Emmerton awarded a Penalty Shot after being dragged down in front of the net; however, Ryan Miller would keep the Sabres in the game.


A late hooking penalty by Samuelsson would give the Sabres the power play that would lead to another 5-on-3 chance as Emmerton


It would take a turn over from Jimmy Howard behind his own net with just over seven minutes left in the game for the Sabres to get on the board as Zemgus Girgenson in his first NHL game scored his first goal to bring the game within a goal.


A minute left in the game and Ryan Miller headed to the bench to give the Sabres the extra skater; while Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Alfredsson, and Kronwall play their version of keep away from the six skaters for the Sabres to lead the Red Wings to a 2-1 win at home to start their Eastern Conference debut.


Anaheim Ducks at Colorado Avalanche


Last nights while you were sleeping game was that of the first games for the Ducks and the Avalanche. It wouldn’t take much time for penalties to start showing up between the two teams as Paul Stastny was called for tripping Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf just four and a half minutes into the game.


Nearly the halfway point it would be the Ducks turn to take a time out in the penalty box as Daniel Winnik hooked Nate Guenin.


It would take an unassisted goal from Ryan O’Reilly to get the first point on the scoreboard as the Avalanche took the first lead of the game.


Winnik would get called for tripping to give Colorado the man advantage; it wouldn’t take long as Steve Downie would knock in a rebound on the power play to bring Colorado up by two over Anaheim before John Mitchell made it 3-0 just minutes later. Mitchell’s wrist shot in past Viktor Fasth would come shortly after coincidental roughing minors were assessed to Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon and Anaheim’s Ben Lovejoy.


Not satisfied with a three goal lead it would be Jamie McGinn with a wrist shot after being set up by MacKinnon and Alex Tanguay to make it a four goal lead for the Avalanche with time still on the clock for the second. Just enough time was left in the second for Cody McLeod and Ducks Patrick Maroon to drop the gloves as frustration boiled over for Anaheim.

In hockey a game isn’t over until – well it is over. The third period would see McGinn make is a 5-0 lead for Colorado with a Wrist shot past Fasth. Shortly after Getzlaf would be called for hooking which would send the Avalanche on the power play that would see Matt Duchene score his first of the season.


Colorado with a 6-0 lead with less than ten minutes left in a game would see a fight break out just shy of the 19 minute mark between Getzlaf and Downie. The first fight may not have given the Ducks the momentum swing they were looking for but the second one did the trick as Jakob Silfverberg with less than ten seconds remaining in the game finally got the Ducks on the scoreboard.


The game would end with Ducks Matt Beleskey assessed double roughing penalties while the Avalanche with their 6-1 win would leave the game with Cody McLeod being handed a roughing penalty while head coach Patrick Roy would have a game misconduct and Patrick Bordeleau would be given a bench penalty as well.

Well THAT didn’t take very long now did it Colorado.

Wrap Around News


Joe Sakic is on the move. Well his locker is! Moving from the locker room to the concourse.

Pittsburgh Penguins announced yesterday that goaltender Tomas Vokoun will be out for 3-6 months still after dealing with a blood clot.


Jari Kurri was named the General Manager of the Liiga (Finnish League) team Jokerit. Currnet Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen left the Jokerit position earlier this year. Jokerit is also leaving the Liiga for the KHL next season.


Tonight for the first time since October 6, 1993 Martin Brodeur will not be the starting goaltender for the Devils season opener.


Have you always wanted a way to look up your favorite American players stats and compare them with other Americans? Good news USA Hockey an app for that (well a webpage)
Breaking rumor during last night’s games…


Tonight’s Line Up
Tampa Bay Lightning at Boston Bruins
New Jersey Devils at Pittsburgh Penguins
Calgary Flames at Washington Capitals
Los Angeles Kings at Minnesota Wild
Nashville Predators at St. Louis Blues

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About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

Email Paul anytime at [email protected]