Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

The Morning After Skate

10/04/2013 at 7:45am 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 Tampa Bay Lightning at Boston Bruins Puck dropped in Boston to start the season for the two Atlantic teams’ first game of the 2013-14 season. Neither team wasted much time getting on the box score; however, to start it was on the penalty side. A hooking call to Bruins Reilly Smith would lead to a shorthanded goal by teammate Chris Kelly.

A late period cross check from Bruins Adam McQuaid on Lightning Alex Killorn would see a fight breakout between Tampa’s Pierre-Cedric Labrie and Boston’s Shawn Thornton; before Bruins Gregory Campbell would be assessed an automatic delay of game penalty for putting the puck over the glass, squashing any momentum the fight may have had for the Bruins.

Second period would be closing in on the half-way point of the game before Bruins Jarome Iginla would drop the gloves with Tampa Bay’s Radko Gudas that would swing the momentum for the Lightning. A snap shot from over the summer free agent acquisition Valtteri Filppula would put the Lightning on the score board.

The game would remain tied until a minute left in the second when Milan Lucic put his own slapshot on net and past Anders Lindback to give the Bruins the lead heading into the third. Penalty problems would continue into the third as Boston’s Thornton would start the period with a slashing penalty, only to be followed up within seconds with a penalty to Zdeno Chara for interference. The game changer would be an interference call assessed to Tampa’s Ryan Malone shortly after the Chara penalty that would lead to a shorthanded goal for the Bruins as Patrice Bergeron would put in an unassisted wrist shot as the Bruins would win their home opener 3-1 over the Lightning.

New Jersey Devils at Pittsburgh Penguins

For the first time since 1993 Martin Brodeur was not the starting goaltender for the New Jersey Devils. If this is a sign of things to come for the franchise fans may not want to hold their breath.

Penguins Chuck Kobasew would open the scoring as he put a wrist shot past Corey Schneider nearing the midway point in the first. A few minutes later it would be Pittsburgh’s captain Sidney Crosby with a wrist shot of his own to double the Penguins lead.

With five seconds left in the first a fight would break out between Devils Ryan Clowe and Penguins Tanner Glass, with Pittsburgh hanging on to their two goal lead as they went to intermission. It would not be until nearly the twelve minute mark of the third period before Craig Adams would net a snapshot off a pass from Evgeni Malkin to give the Penguins the 3-0 win over the Devils.

Calgary Flames at Washington Capitals

A U.S. Government shutdown does not apply to the Washington Capitals as they hosted the Calgary Flames in their home opener.

Calgary came out of the gate ready to make a point this season and they didn’t wait long to strike. David Jones would ignite a spark with a snap shot goal past Braden Holtby to give the Flames the early lead.

Capitals Tom Wilson would drop the gloves against Flames Lance Bouma before Lee Stempniak would give the Flames a 2-0 lead in Washington. Fifteen minutes after puck drop Capitals Karl Alzner would get called for interference and the Flames would not back down. Jiri Hudler would capitalize on the power play with a slapshot to give Calgary a 3-0 lead to head off to the first intermission.

After three unanswered goals in the first period Washington would take charge in the second as Connor Carrick would get the Capitals on the scoreboard with a wrist shot past Karri Ramo. Bouma would respond with a goal of his own to get the Flames back to a three goal lead midway through the game.

A hi-sticking penalty to Flames David Jones would lead to a power play goal by Alex Ovechkin as he put a slapshot in off of a feed from defenseman Mike Green. With the Flames lead cut to two Ovechkin would score a second on a second slapshot to bring the Capitals within one before the second intermission. Flames would get an early power play to start the third after John Erskine was called for an automatic delay of game for putting the puck over the glass. It wouldn’t be until Flames T .J. Galiardi was called for goaltender interference that the next goal would be scored.

A power play goal from Nicklas Backstrom would see the Capitals tie the game at four and send the game into overtime and eventually a shootout.

Shootout Results:

Capitals Mikhail Grabovski – Score

Flames Sven Baertschi – Save

Capitals Alex Ovechkin – Score

Flames Jiri Hudler – Save

Capitals would come from being down 3-0 to win 5-4 in the shootout.

Los Angeles Kings at Minnesota Wild

It would be a quick start in Minnesota as Matt Cooke would score the first goal of the season for the Minnesota Wild just over a minute in. Cooke deflected a shot from Kyle Brodzuak to give the home team the early lead.

Wild’s Zenon Konopka would take a two minute penalty for putting the puck over the glass and set the Kings up for a powerplay slapshot goal from Drew Doughty to tie the game. It would be a boarding call on Kings Colin Fraser after a hit on Keith Ballard that would lead to a fight between both Ballard and Fraser (Justin Williams would serve the extra two minutes for Fraser).

A boarding call to Kings Kyle Clifford would result in a power play goal for Jonas Bordin, assisted by Nino Niederreiter to give the Wild back the lead before the end of the first. Second period would see Minnesota’s Konopka fight LA’s Clifford early on but lead to no scoring in the period.

It would take a backhanded shot from Kings Jeff Carter midway through the third to tie the game and force an eventual shoot out.

Shootout Results:

Wild Parise – Save

Kings Kopitar – Score

Wild Koivu – Save

Kings Carter – Score

Kings would win 3-2 in the shootout.

Nashville Predators at St. Louis Blues

Two remaining Central Division rivals from last years central division would keep the rivalry going in the 2013-14 season.

An early penalty to Predators Matt Cullen would see quick work by the Blues as David Backes would net a power play goal for the early lead. Vladimir Sobotka would build on teammate Backes momuntium with a back handed shot past Pekka Rinne off a feed from Jay Bouwmeester.

Rinne would get lit up once more in the first as T.J. Oshie would give St. Louis a three goal lead. After three unanswered goals in the first it would be Nashville’s Mike Fisher to net one for the Predators before the end of the opening period. David Legwand would tip-in a shot from Patric Homqvist to bring Nashville within one of St. Louis early in the second.

Penalties would go on to plague both teams as the Blues would get caught with too many men on the ice and Predators Fisher would sit for two minutes for interference that would see a slapshot power play goal from Alex Steen to pull the Blues ahead again by two once more. Coincidental roughing minors would be called on Blues Brenden Morrow and Predators Victor Barley.

The second would end with a misconduct penalty handed to Nashville’s Eric Nystrom. As the Blues would go on to beat the Predators 4-2.

Florida Panthers at Dallas Stars

Hockey in the Sunbelt would start the season with a flood of penalties. Just over halfway through the first period a total of 52 penalty minutes would be awarded for the following:

After all was said and done it would be Scott Gomez with the first goal of the game as the Panthers would end an eventual first period with the lead.

The second period would be far less penalized than the first. Stars Alex Chiasson would put a backhanded shot past Tim Thomas in the lone goal of the period and the teams would start the third period with a tie game. Panthers Marcel Gov would take a two-minute hi-sticking penalty early as Florida would kill off the penalty just in time for an interference call on Stars Erik Cole.

Florida fresh off a penalty kill of their own would see the Stars score shorthanded as Brenden Dillion but the second past Thomas, in his return to the NHL, to take a 2-1 lead.

Aleksander Barkov would answer back for the Panthers to tie the game before Goc would sneak in the go ahead goal for Florida over Dallas. Goc would score an unassisted empty net goal to give Tim Thomas a 4-2 win in his return to the NHL and set the Panthers up as being undefeated thus far this season.

New York Rangers at Phoenix Coyotes

After a long drawn out ownership debacle the Coyotes are staying in Phoenix and they are hungrier than ever; which would explain the attack the put on the Rangers last night. Kyle Chipchura wasted no time outing a wrist shot in past Rangers Henrik Lundqvist to give Phoenix the early lead in the first.

An interference call on Coyotes defenseman David Schelemko would give the Rangers a momentum swing with a power play goal from Marc Staal off a feed from Rick Nash to bring the game to an even tilt on the scoreboard. Coyotes would not just roll over for the Original Six franchise as Radim Vrbata would take things into his own hands.

Vrbata would regain the Coyotes the lead with a wrist shot off of a feed from Martin Hanzal.

Phoenix would hold onto their one goal lead until early in the third when Rangers Dan Girardi would be called for roughing and Vrbata would answer with a slapshot goal to double the Coyotes lead. Tempers would start to flare in the third as two more roughing calls would come early until finally midway through the third as Rangers Derek Dorsett and Coyotes Chris Brown would try to settle things with a fight.

Shortly after the fight it would be Vrbata with his third of the night for the hat trick. If fighting was supposed to change momentum it did not work for the Rangers in the desert last night. Coyotes with a three goal lead thanks to Vrbata’s hat trick would see New York frustration boil over again late as Rick Nash opted for a fight against Hanzal.

The first game of the Rangers / Canucks head coach swap ended with a 1-4 loss for Alain Vigneault.

Vancouver Canucks at San Jose Sharks

On the other side of the head coach swap John Tortorella and the Canucks opened their season in San Jose taking on the Sharks.

Penalties would come often in the late west coast game of the night. Sharks Brent Burns would head off for slashing that resulted in a power play slapshot goal from Canucks defenseman Jason Garrison to give the visitors the early lead.

Vancouver would hold onto their one goal lead into intermission; however, it would be the Sharks Burns early in the second to swing the late night momentum to the Sharks.

Late in the second Justin Braun would put a snap shot past Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo off of a pass from Marc-Edouard Vlasic shortly before a scary moment as Vlasic would take the skate of Canucks Chris Higgins to the face along the boards.

Vlasic would leave the game, but return in the third. To start the third Daniel Sedin on the Cancuks would be called for hi-sticking Matt Irwin, shortly after Braun would take a holding call on Henrik Sedin to give Vancouver the power play.

It wouldn’t be till the last half of the third before the next goal was scored as Patrick Marleau would net his first of the season to give the Sharks the 3-1 lead. Just over a minute after Marleau’s goal it would be Tommy Wingels with a tip-in off of a shot from Andrew Desjardin’s that would see Tortorella see the same fate as his former Rangers as the Canucks would lose 1-4.

Wrap Around News

Red Wings Jimmy Howard was spotted yesterday at practice breaking in a pink and white catcher and blocker set. The set was donated by Vaughn for Detroit Red Wings October 12th Breast Cancer Awareness game. Winnipeg Jets signed defenseman Jeff Morrissey to a three-year entry level contract.

Sabres Ville Leino is out indefinitely with a cracked rib.

Dennis Seidenberg signed a 4-year contact extension with the Boston Bruins. The $16 million deal includes a no-trade clause.

Colorado Avalanche Head Coach Patrick Roy was fined by the NHL $10,000 for his actions at the end of the game on October 2nd vs. Anaheim Ducks in Denver. “Roy’s actions at the conclusion of the game were irresponsible,” said NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell, “One of the responsibilities of an NHL coach is to help diffuse volatile situations on the bench.”

Minnesota Wild signed forward Jason Pominville to a 5-year extension. Pominville’s contract has a salary cap hit of $5.6 a year and keeps the forward under contract until 2018-19 season.

Jared Boll returned to the Columbus Blue Jacket practice yesterday but is not expected to play this week or this weekend. Retired NHL tough guy Brad May is set to join the Buffalo Sabres broadcast team as an analyst and commentator.

Washington Capitals claimed defenseman Alexander Urborn off of waiver yesterday from the New Jersey Devils.

Tonight’s Line Up

Ottawa Senators at Buffalo Sabres

New York Islanders at New Jersey Devils

Detroit Red Wings at Carolina Hurricanes

Flames at Columbus Blue Jackets

Los Angeles Kings at Winnipeg Jets

Nashville Predators at Colorado Avalanche

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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.

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