With only 2 NHL games and a single MLB playoff game tonight, we’ll look at the surprises and disappointments from the first week in the NHL. A lot of people will say that you can’t take much from a team only playing 2-3 games. In most instances, those people would be correct, but there are a couple of surprising/troubling trends I’ve noticed already.
(I’ll spare all of you the Sens talk since we’ve all had plenty of time to hash out their problems.)
Toronto Maple Leafs/Edmonton Oilers/St. Louis Blues
All these teams are off to a nice 2-0 start for various reasons. The Oilers have a lot of excitement surrounding their young core of Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Magnus Paajarvi. The Leafs are getting more production thanks to new forwards such as Clarke MacArthur, Kris Versteeg and even Tim Brent. And the Blues are getting production from guys that need to step up this season. But the goaltenders may be the unsung heroes of these three teams.
Nikolai Khabibulin has been impressive in the couple of games he’s played for the Oilers. With no one behind him to pick up the slack if they lose him, you hope for the sake of the team that he can stay healthy, consistent, and can sort out his legal troubles in Arizona for his extreme DUI.
J-S Giguere made some big saves late in the opener against Montreal and stopped what he needed to against a flat Sens team, but all the talk coming out of Toronto suggests that the Leafs have a quiet confidence to them now because they have solid veteran goaltending that they believe they can rely on.
And Jaroslav Halak is already making a difference with 2 wins in 2 starts, stopping 42 of 44 shots. Luckily for the sake of the hockey world, Carey Price has been solid for the Habs. Otherwise, we’d never stop hearing from Hab fan about how their GM botched what should have been a slam-dunk decision to keep Halak.
Detroit Red Wings
They look like a team on a mission to prove to everyone that they’re still one of the best teams around. I still can’t believe some “experts” foolishly just dismissed the Wings and cast them as an over-the-hill team clinging to their past glory.
Vancouver Canucks
Staying with the goaltending subject, it’s a good thing that the Canucks are getting their money’s worth out of Roberto Luongo in the first couple of games. The forwards and defense on this team look sleepy, uninterested and almost entitled to a playoff spot instead of going out to earn one. They’re certainly not living up to the expectations of a Stanley Cup contender by scoring 3 goals in 2 games.
Anaheim Ducks
What can you say about this sad sack of a team? The stats include: 2 goals for, 13 against in 3 games and a commanding lead in the penalty minute department with a whopping 145 minutes. The St. Louis Blues are a distant second with 88 penalty minutes and the New Jersey Devils are third with 63.
It’s not like Randy Carlyle is sending out a roster that resembles an AHL team. What happened to the talk that Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan were among the best lines in hockey?