Buffalo Sabres Remain Undefeated

The Buffalo Sabres undefeated season continues after beating the Minnesota Wild 4-3 in overtime. Both squads entered the game as 2 of only 3 NHL without a loss in this young season (Montreal Canadiens are also unbeaten). Both teams are still carrying spotless records during regulation play. The Sabres are now 6-0-1 for 13 points, tops in the Northeast Division and tied with the New York Rangers for most points in the NHL, although the Rangers have played 2 more games than Buffalo.

The Sabres are winning in tough style, having come back from 2 goal deficits in their last 2 games. They trailed 2-0 against the Boston Bruins midway through the second period in Tuesday's game before rallying to a 3-2 win and last night they were behind 3-1 late against Minnesota in regulation play before scoring twice in a 46 second span to force overtime and then scored 44 into sudden death to complete their comeback.

Thomas Vanek has been a standout for the Sabres so far, scoring 8 goals and 3 assists for 11 points in the 8 games he has played. Vanek leads the league for most goals at this early stage and is second overall pointwise. Pittsburgh Penguins' Evgeni Malkin is 2 points ahead of Vanek in the league points scoring race with 3 goals and 10 assists for 13 points.

The Sabres hope their streak continues Saturday when they visit the Colorado Avalanche, while Minnesota will be at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Yzerman's Named 2010 Team Canada Top Dog

Steve Yzerman was named executive director of Team Canada for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Yzerman certainly is a great choice to helm the team as there will be tremendous pressure for him to step up as he tries to lead Canada to a gold medal on its own soil. "I'm really excited about the opportunity. I would stress to everyone what a great challenge we have ahead of us. There's tremendous talent around the world. By no means because we're playing on home ice is any gold medal a lock. Our goal, obviously, is to win the gold medal. We'll do everything we can as a group to assemble an outstanding coaching staff and an outstanding team," Yzerman stated.

Yzerman was on the ice as Canada won the tournament in 2002 in Salt Lake City, and certainly was a winner during his playing days with the Detroit Red Wings, having won 3 Cups with the Wings and recording 692 goals, 1063 assists for 1755 points while playing in 1514 games over his playing career. Yzerman is now in his 3rd season with the Wings' front office and he also has international hockey experience as an executive. He has served as Canada's GM at the last two World Championships. Those teams produced a combined 17-1 record and won the 2007 gold medal and the silver in 2008.

Yzerman takes over for Wayne Gretzky, who held the position for the 2002 and 2006 Olympics. Gretzky will remain involved in an advisory role with Team Canada, but wanted to direct his full attention to coaching the Phoenix Coyotes. "It's Stevie's team," Gretzky said. "It's going to be his staff. It's going to be his coaches and his players. This is definitely handing the reins over. This is not my team."

Yzerman already has a staff in place that should help all of his fellow countrymen feeling optimistic. His assistants will be Red Wings General Manager Ken Holland, Edmonton Oilers President of Hockey Operations Kevin Lowe and St. Louis Blues Assistant GM Doug Armstrong. Yzerman is said to be extremely pleased to have Lowe on board, as the former Oilers GM has previous experience on Team Canada's executive staff. As a whole, though, there is plenty of experience for Yzerman to lean on as he puts his team together. The roster is expected to be announced in December of 2009, about 2 months before the Olympics get underway.

"Steve and I joined the Red Wings in the early 80s, and Steve's just a natural born leader," Holland said. "He's got a passion for the game. He's a competitor. He's got tremendous international experience as a player. When Steve walks into the locker room, he's been in that same situation as the players of the team. He's been there. He was there in 2002 in Salt Lake City. I think for a whole lot of different reasons, Steve's the perfect man for the job."

Crosby, Malkin Feast On Maple Leafs

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin had 4 points each as the Pittsburgh Penguins thumped the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1. Crosby had yet another stellar night getting his 100th career goal, 200th assist and 300th point all in the same game. Malkin? Well, he just recorded 4 assists to tie Washington Capitals Alexander Semin for most points. Both have 10 points each, but Semin is overall leader because he has 6 goals compared to Malkin's 2 goals so far this season.

Crosby goal, his 100th in his career, was only his first this season and it came in his 6th game. He is 10th in the points race because his 3 assists gave him 7 for the season. "(Milestones) are nice," Crosby said. "It's not what you play for, but they're great accomplishments. I don't expect four-point nights, but I definitely wanted to score," Crosby said. "I felt like I was doing some good things, but the puck just wasn't going in."

Nick Andropov scored first for Leafs, and the Penguins shut them down for the rest of the night getting goals from Pascal Dupuis in the first to knot the score at 1-1.
Miroslav Satan scored a power play goal at about eight minutes into the 2nd period, followed by Crosby's marker. Petr Sykora popped in another power play goal at 13:36 of the 3rd to seal the victory.

Curtis Joseph faced 25 Penguins shots in his first action of the season, while Marc-Andre Fleury faced 27 Maple Leaf shots. Fleury has a record of 3 wins, 2 losses and one OT loss. The Penguins next play the Boston Bruins in Beantown on October 20th, while the Leafs will be at home Tuesday to play the Anaheim Ducks.

Peca Dodges Bullet With 5 Game Suspension

Michael Peca probably thinks he is hard done by after only being suspended for 5 games without pay (2 of which he has already served) after grabbing referee Greg Kimmerly by the arm (according to Peca, he was only trying to get the referee's attention, which he obviously did) while "voicing his displeasure" regarding the preceding play. Peca was given a 10-minute misconduct penalty for his verbal abuse of the official, and a game misconduct penalty for the physical abuse of the official under Rule 41.1.

Rule 41 of the NHL Rulebook states there will be an automatic suspension of three, 10 or 20 games, based on three categories of offenses. Peca's offense initially was assessed as a Category II, which requires an automatic 10-game suspension.

Peca appealed and a hearing was held Thursday in front of Commissioner Gary Bettman, whoheard testimony and reviewed the evidence, including a video of the incident (which was not previously available or reviewed by the four officials who worked the game), the parties present at the hearing (including the four on-ice officials involved in the game) determined that the application of Category III, which requires a minimum three-game ban, was more appropriately applied because Peca's actions were more properly categorized as "physically demeaning" conduct.

However, due to the "serious nature of the conduct involved" and pursuant to his authority under Rule 41, Commissioner Bettman increased the minimum three-game suspension to five games. Basically - You Do Not Touch Referees.

Commissioner Bettman said that, "Peca crossed the line by making physical contact with referee Kimmerly. His conduct -- regardless of the type or nature of precipitating events -- was inexcusable and showed a lack of respect for our on-ice officials, and for the game itself. The NHL remains committed to ensuring that officials are not subjected to any physical contact or abuse by NHL players."

Savard's Out, Quenneville’s In As Blackhawks Axe Coach

Now here's a bit of a shocker. The Chicago Blackhawks have fired head coach Denis Savard 4 games into the 2008-09 season and replaced him with Joel Quenneville. GM Dale Tallon made the announcement and Quenneville will have his first practice today for saturday's game against Quenneville's old team, the St. Louis Blues.

“We felt we needed a more experienced person in the head coach position,” Tallon stated, “and that’s why we made the decision. Quenneville's the right man for the right time. If you want to be a championship-caliber organization, you have to make tough decisions.”

Quenneville fits the bill that Chicago needs, that is a more experienced head coach as Quenneville took the Colorado Avalanche to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs while compiling a record of 44-31-7. He is also the winningest coach of the St. Louis Blues where he had a career record of 438-283-118 over 11 years as an NHL head coach, 3 years with Colorado before being let go by the Avs last May. The Blackhawks are the second-youngest team in the NHL, and with the Hawks’ youth and inexperience, need a more experienced head coach behind the bench.

The Blackhawks also announced today that Marc Bergevin will be an assistant coach. The Montreal native joins John Torchetti, Mike Haviland and goaltending coach Stephane Waite as the fourth member of Quenneville’s new staff.

Although Savard has been relieved of his coaching duties, both Blackhawks' Team President John McDonough and Tallon have said that they'll offer Savard a position within the organization in the near future. “For all of us, Denis will be a Blackhawk,” said McDonough.

“Denis handled himself with tremendous class and dignity as he always does,” said Tallon. “We’re going to move on and hopefully he’ll stay involved in the organization for a long time to come."

As for Quenneville, he says he is looking forward to the challenge of guiding his new team to the playoffs. “I welcome the challenge. I think it’s a tremendous opportunity,” he said. “I’m excited to start working with this group.”

Brodeur Shuts Out Thrashers To Move Closer To Sawchuk's Record

Martin Brodeur made 25 saves as the New Jersey Devils beat the Atlanta Thrashers 1-0. With this shutout, Brodeur takes another step closer to hockey immortality as he now needs only 6 more shutouts to tie the record held by Hall of Famer Terry Sawchuk. Sawchuk's record of 103 career shutouts has been long thought untouchable. Even the great Patrick Roy only tallied 66 shutouts during his stellar 20-year career.

Brodeur's 97 shutouts is by itself incredible. The next active goalie in the top career shutout list is Curtis Joseph with 51. There's no one else even close to Brodeur's numbers. Here's a list of goalies with the most career shutouts:

1. Terry Sawchuk, 103
2. Martin Brodeur, 97
3. George Hainsworth, 94
4. Glenn Hall, 84
5. Jacques Plante, 82
6. Alex Connell, 81
7. Dominik Hasek, 81
8. Tiny Thompson, 81
9. Ed Belfour, 76
10. Tony Esposito, 76
11. Lorne Chabot, 73
12. Harry Lumley, 71
13. Roy Worters, 67
14. Patrick Roy, 66
15. Turk Broda, 62
16. John Ross Roach, 58
17. Clint Benedict, 55
18. Ed Giacomin, 54
19. Bernie Parent, 54
20. Curtis Joseph, 51

Minnesota Wild's Mikko Koivu Leads NHL In Points Race

Mikko Koivu has long languished in relative obscurity in Minnesota. Sure, everyone knows about his famous older brother and Mikko showed up on the scoresheet once in a while, but the younger Koivu has been often overlooked, or at least not given the due he deserved. Until last night. Koivu has started the 2008-09 NHL hockey on a tear, scoring 3 goals and adding 6 assists to lead the league with 9 points after only 3 games! Ovechkin and Crosby? They're not even in the top 30 so far this season. Koivu even has almost twice as many points as his older brother Saku Koivu of the Montreal Canadiens who sits at 25th place in the scoring race with 5 points after 4 games.

Koivu is coming off one of his best ever games after scoring one goal and adding 4 assists in the Minnesota Wild's 6-2 win Thursday night against the Florida Panthers. Teammates Antti Miettinen, Kim Johnsson, Benoit Pouliot and Andrew Brunette all had multi-point games, with Miettinen getting 2 goals and an assist, and Johnsson, Pouliot and Brunette scoring once and tallying an assist.

The Minnesota Wild have started the season on an upbeat note going 3-0 in their first three games and sit at the top of the Northeast Division ahead of Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Colorado. Their next game will be saturday October 18th when they travel to play the Tampa Bay Lightning. Florida Panthers will faceoff at home on the 18th against the New York Islanders.

Rangers Streak Ends At 5 Wins Against Sabres

The New York Rangers' best ever franchise start came to an end Wednesday as they lost 3-1 to the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres certainly were aware of the Rangers' great 5-0 start, so they were ready for a tough game at Madison Square Garden. Buffalo is 3-0 so far this season and have allowed only one goal in each game. "We all heard about how good the Rangers are, and they are really good," Vanek said. "They're off to a great start, so it's good for us to come in here and play a solid a road game and give up only one goal."

Thomas Vanek scored twice, giving him 5 goals on the season, once on a power play and again when Buffalo was short-handed, as the Sabres handed the Rangers their first loss of the young season. Vanek scored the second of Buffalo's two power-play goals in the second - the first power play goals allowed by the Rangers this season - and then widened the lead in the third. He has five goals in the Sabres' first three games, including consecutive two-goal contests. He also has the first two short-handed goals of his career, welcoming the added work of penalty killing from coach Lindy Ruff. Despite the results, the job is hardly coming to him naturally.

Scott Gomez was the only Ranger to get a puck past Sabres goalie Ryan Miller, who made 19 saves, and Gomez did it by getting hit by deflecting a shot from teammate Michal Rozsival. New York was trying for its first 6-0 record in club history.

Buffalo gained control after Rangers defenseman Paul Mara took a major penalty for fighting and was ejected from the game at the midway point, leaving the Rangers with five defensemen. Mara absorbed a hard hit from Patrick Kaleta along the boards near the right point and immediately dropped his gloves and threw punches as Kaleta crouched and covered up.

There was already bad blood between the two because a hit from Kaleta in February caused fractures in Mara's face that required surgery and knocked the defenseman out for 12 games. "I'll always remember that hit. And when he was in the scrum he made a pretty classless move, asking me how my face was. You don't want to hurt guys in this league, and to have him say something like that, it's classless." You have to admit that is a point well taken by Mara. Mara landed several shots while Kaleta kept his gloves on and tried to protect himself. Buffalo came away without any penalties and a 5-minute power play at 10:03.

"I caught him pretty good last year, but it's part of the game," Kaleta said. "I go in and finish the check. That's my job and that's what I have to do. Whether he didn't like it, or it was from last year, I'm not too sure."

Habs Win Home Opener In Nail Biter Against Bruins

The Montreal Canadiens and their alumni celebrated the start of the team's 100 season in usual Habs fashion with a salute to the team's 54 Hockey Hall of Famers. Former Canadiens greats Emile "Butch" Bouchard and Elmer Lach dropped the ceremonial first puck as the team began the home schedule of its centennial season.

The 88-year-old Bouchard (who rose from his wheelchair and stood to drop the puck) and 90-year-old Lach were on hand along with past legends Jean Beliveau, Dickie Moore, Henri Richard, Yvan Cournoyer, Guy Lafleur, Bob Gainey, Guy Lapointe, Steve Shutt, Larry Robinson and Dick Duff as the team unveiled the Ring on the wall above the last row of seats in the upper bowl.

The game itself was great, as Montreal jumped to a quick 3-0 lead on goals by Alex Kovalev, Saku Koivu and Maxim Lapierre in a little over 3 minutes late in the first period. Newcomer Georges Laraque made his Montreal debut and fought Bruins forward Shawn Thornton 2:28 into the first period, immediately after the Canadiens' new enforcer stepped onto the ice for his first shift. "I know all you guys are surprised at how long it took but I'm pretty sure that this year the seven seconds will be beat a couple of times, so get used to it," Laraque said with a laugh.

The Bruins didn't give up and clawed their way back into a tie after Marc Savard scored the Bruins 3rd goal of the game with 47 seconds remaining after Carey Price missed the puck as it took a weird hop off the boards behind the Canadiens' net out front where Savard snapped the puck into an empty net. That set up overtime which was scoreless, so they went to the shootout to decide it.

Carey Price turned aside Phil Kessel, Patrice Bergeron and Michael Ryder in the shootout, while Tim Thomas stopped Andrei Markov on Montreal's first attempt, but was beaten by Alex Tanguay for the winner. "It feels good," said Tanguay, acquired from Calgary in a draft day trade in June. "You know, I'm nervous, I'm still nervous, still trying to find my way with the team, trying to get my momentum and trying to get in the groove."

Mike Peca Suspended For Abusing An Official

The Columbus Blue Jackets may lose 14-year veteran Michael Peca for as long as 10 games after Peca was suspended indefinitely for abusing an official during friday's 5-4 overtime win against the Dallas Stars.

Peca received a game misconduct penalty after grabbing referee Greg Kimmerly's arm to stop him from skating away so he could plead his case following an alleged missed tripping call. "The only contact was me grabbing his arm to slow him down because he was skating away and I wanted to plead my case. They're claiming I hit (a) linesman with my stick after I hit the glass with it, which is completely false," Peca stated.

At 5:21 of the 2nd period, Peca was tripped up by Dallas Stars Brenden Morrow, who extended his left skate and put his stick under Peca's right leg, thrusting upward and sent Peca sailing. A few seconds later, Morrow redirected Mike Ribeiro's shot and scored a power play goal while Peca was still trying to find his feet. Peca skated behind the goal to plead his case to Kimmerly that a penalty should have been called negating the goal, and Kimmerly began skating in the other direction.

The NHL says the infraction falls under Rule 41.3, which covers abuse of officials. The rule states: "Any player who deliberately applies physical force to an official in any manner, in which physical force applied without intent to injure, or who spits on an official, shall be automatically suspended for not less than ten (10) games." NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell says simply, "you can't touch an official," and adds the league is sensitive when it comes to protecting this group.

Peca pleads his case on Thursday at 11am in New York when he meets with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to appeal the automatic 10-game suspension he was assessed.
The officials felt strongly at the time, that the physical force Peca used was a Category 2 violation, which was more serious and warranted more than a three-game suspension which follows a Category 3 violation. Because the Blue Jackets appealed the suspension brings commissioner Bettman into the mix and following Thursday's hearing Bettman will have the power to do one of three things:

1. He can stick with the rule book and uphold the ten-game suspension.
2. He can tack on additional games (which is regarded as highly unlikely).
3. He can cut the punishment down to the minimum of three games.

Unfortunately, the incident wasn't televised, so the NHL had to try to dig up video to support referee Greg Kimmerly's game report which identified Peca's abuse.

The hearing will include along with Peca and Bettman, the entire on-ice officiating staff of referees Kimmerly and Mike Hasenfratz along with linesmen Shane Heyer and Jonny Murray. The NHL's Director of Officiating, Stephen Walkom, is also expected to attend. Peca, who last year scored 8 goals and added 26 assists in 65 games, has already sat out the Blue Jackets last two games.

Oct 10, 2008: Friday Night Games In The NHL

NYI 1 Devils 2
Devils goalie Martin Brodeur stopped a penalty shot and finished with 25 saves and the Devils spoiled Scott Gordon's NHL coaching debut with a 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Friday night. With his season opening win, Brodeur, 36 now has 539 wins in his career, 12 shy of the NHL mark held by Patrick Roy.

Chi 2 NYR 4
Fresh off last weekend's season-opening sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Czech Republic, the Rangers showed no signs of jet lag in winning their home opener and starting 3-0 for the first time since 1989. Brandon Dubinsky scored once and added two assists, and newcomers Wade Redden, Aaron Voros and Nikolai Zherdev chipped in with goals, too, leading the Rangers to a 4-2 victory over the vastly improved Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night.

Fla 4 Car 6
Joni Pitkanen and Dan LaCouture found the perfect way to fit in with their new Carolina teammates: Lead them to a season-opening victory over the team that kept them out of the playoffs. Both of the Hurricanes' newcomers scored in their debut Friday night, and Carolina beat the Florida Panthers 6-4 in the opener for both teams.
Rod Brind'Amour, Tuomu Ruutu and Ray Whitney also scored, Matt Cullen added an empty-net goal, Tim Gleason had three assists and Frantisek Kaberle had two to help Carolina rally from an early two-goal deficit.

Mtl 1 Buf 2 SO
Ales Kotalik has become so good at scoring shootout goals that the Sabres' forward is getting tired talking about them. What mattered more is that he contributed in helping the Sabres open this season by accomplishing something they struggled with all last season - winning a close game.
Kotalik and Drew Stafford scored on consecutive shootout chances in a 2-1 win on Friday night that spoiled the Montreal Canadiens' start to their 100th season. Ryan Miller made 27 saves after allowing Robert Lang to open the scoring on the Canadiens' first shot on net. Add it up and the Sabres began easing the memories of the dreadful collapses and 14-18 record in one-goal games that contributed to costing the team a playoff berth last year.
The Canadiens managed a point, but lacked finish for a team that won the Eastern Conference regular-season title last season. And so much for opening their centennial season with a victory.

Was 4 Atl 7
Thrashers Bryan Little scored two goals, including the go-ahead goal in the third period, as the Thrashers beat the Washington Capitals 7-4 on Friday night. The Caps new goalie Jose Theodore didn't even make it through the 2nd period in his debut with the team, giving up four goals before he was pulled. However, Mike Green scored two goals on one power play in the second period as the Capitals rallied from deficits of 3-1 and 4-2 for a 4-4 tie. The tie held until the Thrashers scored two goals in a span of 29 seconds in the third period.
The 20-year-old Little, who scored one of the three first-period goals against Theodore, gave Atlanta a 5-4 lead with a shot from the right circle with 6:03 left in regulation. Colby Armstrong also beat Washington backup goalie Brent Johnson with another shot from the right circle. Todd White scored on a pass from Ilya Kovalchuk later in the period.
The Thrashers won their opener one year after starting 0-6 last year, which led to a last-place finish in the Southeast Division. Who hasn't been mentioned? Oh yeah, Caps star Alex Ovechkin was held without a point on six shots.

Nas 2 StL 5
Keith Tkachuk scored two of St. Louis' four goals with the man advantage in a 5-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night. 35-year-old Tkachuk was honored during a first-period stoppage for scoring his 500th career goal in the finale last season and his 27th overall.
Brad Boyes and David Backes also scored power-play goals for the Blues, who won their season opener for the first time since 1996 and ended a five-game losing streak against Nashville. St. Louis, last in the NHL with a 14.1-percent success rate last season while finishing 14th in the Western Conference, was 4-for-6 overall on the power play.
Ryan Suter and Joel Ward scored for the Predators, who play their home opener on Saturday against the Stars. Lee Stempniak, Paul Kariya, Andy McDonald and David Perron, one of three Blues players age 20 or younger, added two assists apiece. The Blues had been winless in the previous 10 openers, including two overtime losses, since opening with a victory over the Avalanche in 1996.

CBJ 5 Dal 4 OT
There were plenty of newcomers on the ice for the Columbus Blue Jackets. In the end, though, the franchise scoring leader came through again. Rick Nash scored his 25th game-winning goal, making a shot from the slot on a pass from Jason Chimera with 20 seconds left in overtime, to give the Blue Jackets a 5-4 season-opening victory over the Dallas Stars on Friday night.
The Blue Jackets recovered from twice blowing the lead to win against the Stars for only the second time in their last 19 meetings. Columbus, which led 1-0 after 19-year-old Jakub Voracek scored in the first period of his NHL debut, regained the lead by scoring three goals in less than a 5-minute span of the third period. But Dallas then scored twice in 33 seconds to tie the game and force overtime.

Canadiens Carey Price Already Has The Save Of The Year

If you haven't already seen this, you'll love it. Especially if you're a Habs fan. Carey Price made a wicked save against the Detroit Red Wings on 30 Sept., by whipping his goal stick over his head and behind his back to stop a goal. Here's the link to YouTube's Carey Price Amazing Save vs Detroit Red Wings Sept 30. I saw it while watching the game last saturday and loved the play-by-play description, "It's the save of the year, and it's not even the year yet!"

Flyers Lose To Phantoms 4-2

The Spectrum in Philadelphia came alive again last night as the Philadelphia Flyers skated out onto the ice of their old stomping grounds in front of 17,077 fans to play a pre-season game against their AHL affiliate, the Philadelphia Phantoms. The Phantoms skated to a 4-2 victory over the parent club. The current Flyers have a bunch of Phantom alumni with the big club, starting with Flyers coach, John Stevens, now in his 3rd year at the helm. Stevens was team captain of the Phantoms back in 1998 when they won their first Calder Cup and was coach of the team in 2005.

Simon Gagne opened the scoring at 12:11 of the first period from the slot after being fed by Danny Briere. The Phantoms Jared Ross picked up the rebound from Sean Curry's point shot and Ross stuffed it past Flyers goalie Martin Biron with 2:48 left in the second. Patrick Maroon swept another rebound past Biron at 9:07 of the 3rd, and then Jonathan Matsumoto scored at 14:11 in the third period which proved to be the game-winner. The Flyers Scottie Upshall knocked one in from mid-air to bring the Flyers to within one goal, but Andreas Nodl potted an empty-netter with 18 seconds remaining to seal the win.

Florida Wups Islanders 6-0 In Last Pre-Season Game

Tomas Vokoun got his first shutout of the season as his Florida Panthers blanked the New York Islanders 6-0 in the teams' final pre-season game monday night. Jay Bouwmeester had a goal and two assists, and Ville Peltonen had three assists. Islanders starting goalie Rick DiPietro made 28 saves in his first pre-season appearance. The Panthers end the pre-season with a 3-2-2 record, while the Islanders finish with a 4-3 record.

How About The Goalies In Pre-Season?

The Canucks' newly annointed Team Captain, Roberto Luongo finished the pre-season with the best numbers: allowing only 2 goals over 3 games and a tiny 0.90 average. Luongo is rumored to have his captain's "C" painted on his mask to get around the rule disallowing goalies from wearing the Captain's insignia on their jersey. Calgary Flames rookie goalie Curtis McElhinney played in 4 games and had a sparkling 1.33 average and posted his first shutout.

GOALS AGAINST AVG.
NAME
Luongo, Roberto, Van. 3 Games, 134 Minutes, 2 GAA, 0.90 AVG.
Leighton, Michael, Car. 3 Games, 123 Minutes, 2 GAA, 0.98 AVG.
*Machesney, Daren, Was. 2 Games, 60 Minutes, 1 GAA, 1.00 AVG.
Gerber, Martin, Ott. 3 Games, 159 Minutes, 3 GAA, 1.13 AVG.
*McElhinney, Curtis, Cgy. 4 Games, 180 Minutes, 4 GAA, 1.33 AVG.
Budaj, Peter, Colo 3 Games, 130 Minutes, 3 GAA, 1.38 AVG.
Osgood, Chris, Det. 4 Games, 211 Minutes, 5 GAA, 1.42 AVG.
Johnson, Brent, Was. 3 Games, 119 Minutes, 3 GAA, 1.51 AVG.
Brodeur, Martin, N.J. 3 Games, 151 Minutes, 4 GAA, 1.59 AVG.
Backstrom, Niklas, Min. 6 Games, 320 Minutes, 9 GAA, 1.69 AVG.

*Rookie.

SHUTOUTS
NAME
Backstrom, Niklas, Min. 6 Games, 1 Shutout
Brodeur, Martin, N.J. 3 Games, 1 Shutout
Halak, Jaroslav, Mtl. 3 Games, 1 Shutout
Leighton, Michael, Car. 3 Games, 1 Shutout
*McElhinney, Curtis, Cgy. 4 Games, 1 Shutout
Osgood, Chris, Det. 4 Games, 1 Shutout

*Rookie.

So, Who Did What In The Pre-Season?

St Louis Blues trio of Andy McDonald, Lee Stempniak and Brad Boyes were 1-2-3 in total points, with McDonald leading the way with 4 goals and 9 assists in 5 games. One surprise (but then again, maybe not) was the play of Teemu Selanne who tallied 5 goals in only three pre-season games. There were 8 tied for most goals at 5 apiece, but all the rest of the field played 2 or 3 more games than Selanne.

GOALS SCORED
NAME
Boyes, Brad, St.L 5 games, 5 goals
Parise, Zach, N.J. 5 games, 5 goals
Perron, David, St.L 6 games, 5 goals
Perry, Corey, Ana. 6 games, 5 goals
Richards, Mike, Phi. 6 games, 5 goals
Selanne, Teemu, Ana. 3 games, 5 goals
Sharp, Patrick, Chi. 5 games, 5 goals
Stempniak, Lee, St.L 5 games, 5 goals
9 tied 4 goals

ASSISTS
NAME
McDonald, Andy, St.L 5 games, 9 assists
Kane, Patrick, Chi. 5 games, 8 assists
Stempniak, Lee, St.L 5 games, 7 assists
Boyd, Dustin, Cgy. 6 games, 6 assists
Getzlaf, Ryan, Ana. 4 games, 6 assists
14 tied 5 assists

POINTS
NAME
McDonald, Andy, St.L 5 games, 4 goals, 9 assists, 13 points
Stempniak, Lee, St.L 5 games, 5 goals, 7 assists, 12 points
Boyes, Brad, St.L 5 games, 5 goals, 5 assists, 10 points
Kane, Patrick, Chi. 5 games, 1 goals, 8 assists, 9 points
Kostitsyn, Andrei, Mtl. 6 games, 3 goals, 5 assists, 8 points
Nash, Rick, ClBJ 4 games, 3 goals, 5 assists, 8 points
Perry, Corey, Ana. 6 games, 5 goals, 3 assists, 8 points
Richards, Mike, Phi. 6 games, 5 goals, 3 assists, 8 points
Zetterberg, Henrik, Det. 4 games, 4 goals, 4 assists, 8 points
Boyd, Dustin, Cgy. 6 games, 1 goals, 6 assists, 7 points
Getzlaf, Ryan, Ana. 4 games, 1 goals, 6 assists, 7 points
Huselius, Kristian, ClBJ 4 games, 3 goals, 4 assists, 7 points
Moss, David, Cgy. 6 games, 4 goals, 3 assists, 7 points
Ovechkin, Alex, Was. 3 games, 4 goals, 3 assists, 7 points
Perron, David, St.L 6 games, 5 goals, 2 assists, 7 points
Plekanec, Tomas, Mtl. 7 games, 3 goals, 4 assists, 7 points
Toews, Jonathan, Chi. 4 games, 2 goals, 5 assists, 7 points
16 tied 6 points

Sunday Night NHL Roundup

Here's the scores for games played Sunday October 5, 2008.

New York Rangers 2-1 Tampa Bay Lightning at NYR.
Ottawa Senators 3-1 Pittsburgh Penguins at Sweden.
Carolina Hurricanes 2-0 Nashville Predators at Carolina.
Boston Bruins 5-4 in SO Washington Capitals at Wash.
Detroit Red Wings 3-0 Buffalo Sabres at Detroit.
Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 in SO Toronto Maple Leafs at Toronto.
Colorado Avalanche 4-3 in OT Chicago Blackhawks at Chicago.
Edmonton Oilers 3-2 Dallas Stars at Dallas.
San Jose Sharks 3-1 LA Kings at LA.
Anaheim Ducks 4-3 in OT Vancouver Canucks at Vancouver.

Heatley Nets 2 As Sens Beat Pens

Dany Heatley scored twice as the Ottawa Senators won the second of their games in Sweden against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Senators switched goalies, bringing in Alex Auld after Martin Gerber struggled in the season opening loss 4-3 to Pittsburgh in overtime. Alex Goligoski spoiled Auld's shutout bid with a power-play goal just two seconds left in regulation.

Heatley is starting at a great pace potting his 2nd and 3rd goals in his first two games. The teams skated through a scoreless opening period before Ottawa took a 1-0 advantage at 13:07 of the second. With the Senators on a power play, Heatley was able to swipe a second shot between the legs of Pens goaltender Marc-André Fleury. After Auld stonewalled the Penguins early in the final period, Heatley pounced again with another power-play goal at 12:17. The veteran winger took a pass from Alfredsson and rifled a shot by Fleury.

The Senators did another great job by limiting Penguins superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to only an assist apiece on Goligoski's goal, after registering only one point each on Saturday.

Now both teams get some time off as they return to North America, as the Penguins play the New Jersey Devils Oct. 11, and the Sens return home to face the Detroit Red Wings also on the 11th.