The National Hockey League began its 100th season last Wednesday night. With only a handful of the campaign's 1,230 games in the bag, The National's hockey writer Rob McKenzie recaps the highs and the lows, the great and the gaudy, from LA to Ottawa.
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Bear with us
You have to feel for fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Their team last won a championship back in 1967 and is hockey’s epitome of ineptitude. And yet the faithful hang in there. They keep coming back for more, though bloodied and thrown around like a rag doll by stronger foes, all alone, not a friend in the world, suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, yet somehow persevering in the barren cold. It’s kind of like ...
... this
So you can forgive Leaf fans if they became a bit overexcited last week when, in his first game, their star rookie Auston Matthews scored an amazing four goals, including scores on his first two shots. It was the best debut by any player in 99 years. (On the league’s first opening night back on December 19, 1917, when everyone was a rookie, “Joe” Malone potted five for the Montreal Canadiens against the Senators and Harry Hyland did likewise for the Montreal Wanderers against Toronto. Two weeks later the Montreal teams’ shared arena burnt to the ground. Leaf fans, take note.)
Comparison time
Matthews' second goal was a stunner. No 34 stripped the puck from Ottawa star Erik Karlsson — he's the guy looking downcast at left after the score — then wheeled towards the net and fired over a sliding defender and into a seam between goalie and post. He made it seem easy, a walk in the park. It felt like one of those moments when a player takes charge — not an expression of confidence but a knowledge of supremacy. Comparison: it was like LeBron James's court presence in his first NBA game. Another comparison: it was like Mario Lemieux's first goal, also in his first game, when he stripped the puck from legendary defenceman Ray Bourque.
Oh: the Leafs lost, 5-4.
Welcome to Toronto, kid.
If it’s any consolation, James and Lemieux also lost in their debuts.
Much more than this ...
Young players were often at the forefront in the season's first few days. The player chosen behind Matthews in the draft also began his career auspiciously. Patrik Laine (rhymes with My Way) scored on the power play as the Winnipeg Jets came back from three down to beat Carolina. His shot from the high slot banged in off the post. The goalie had no chance. The fans gave the kid a standing ovation. "A perfect shot," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "Fantastic first impression," read a headline in the Winnipeg Free Press.
The future
But if there is one young player who cannot only compile highlights but lead his team higher, it is Connor McDavid, the top pick from the 2015 draft. He piled up six points as the Oilers beat Calgary twice to open the season. The trade that sent forward Taylor Hall to New Jersey for defenceman Adam Larsson has given Edmonton a more balanced roster. There is a question mark in net, though — Cam Talbot was pretty bad in Sunday’s loss to Buffalo. Prediction: the Oilers chase San Jose for the division lead all season, with the Sharks’ goaltending giving them the edge in the end. Another prediction: with Sidney Crosby out with a concussion, McDavid, 19, wins the scoring title.
Kings no more
It is not a good sign when, in the second game of the season, your team’s TV announcers are using terms like “disaster” and “awful”. But those were apt descriptions as the Los Angeles Kings gave up four goals to the Philadelphia Flyers in both teams’ season opener. It was fitting that the Kings wore their awesome purple and gold retro jerseys for the game, because they were as bad as those old teams from the 1970s. This could be a long, sad season for LA fans. At least they have the Dodgers.
Speaking of gaudy ...
PK Subban showed up for his first home game as a Nashville Predator in gold trousers and a bright blue blazer. He then scored the team’s first goal of the season, did a cowboy-with-a-lasso number that the Tennessee crowd loved, and decided on the order of his teammates’ post-game interviews, saving himself for last. That was Good PK. A night later we saw Bad PK: he was looking up ice, got the puck stripped off his stick by Chicago’s Tyler Motte, fell down chasing Motte, tripped Motte and took a penalty. Never a dull moment. Which is the opposite of Shea Weber, whom the Preds traded to Montreal for Subban. Weber was his typical boring self in the Canadiens’ first two games, a win and a shoot-out loss. He didn’t do any lasso moves, didn’t wear gold trousers, didn’t fall on his butt and is averaging 24 minutes of ice time a night. What a bozo.
Bubble team
One team that could go either way is Boston. But with pest-turned-star Brad Marchand in the game they always have a chance. Fresh off his heroics in the World Cup of Hockey, where he scored the winning goal for Canada — while short-handed, no less — and a new eight-year, US$49 million (Dh180 million) contract, he ripped apart the Columbus Blue Jackets with five points in the season opener. Oh, and notice that the Columbus fan towards the far right of the picture is in mid-season form: he’d rather text than watch this lousy hockey team.
Canucks are awesome
One of Marchand's former teammates, Loui Eriksson – here shown attempting to skate pigeon-toed – had an interesting debut as a member of the Vancouver Canucks. Against the Calgary Flames on Saturday he opened the scoring with a long-distance shot — into his own net. The cage was vacant because of a delayed penalty called against the Flames. The Canucks signed Eriksson to a six-year, $36 million contract in the off-season. He did atone by assisting on the tying goal late in the third period, but then in the shoot-out, with a shot at winning the game, he delivered an incredibly weak effort that a six-year old would be ashamed of. No worries, though: Brandon Sutter scored in the next round to win it for the 'Nucks.
In summation:
Through Sunday the St Louis Blues have the league’s best record at three wins and no losses. League laggards are Columbus, the Detroit Red Wings and the Kings, all with no wins and two losses.
McDavid and Marchand are tied with St Louis’s Paul Stastny for the points lead with six points. Mathews is tied with Richard Panik of the Chicago Blackhawks for the goals lead with four.
Philadelphia’s Jakub Voracek is at the front of the penalty parade with 22 minutes, all of which came in a meltdown during overtime of Saturday’s loss to the Arizona Coyotes. Chicago captain Jonathan Toews has a surprising nine penalty minutes, leading to two opposition goals. At this rate his penalty minutes will easily increase for a fifth straight season.
No goalie has a shutout, yet Vancouver’s Ryan Miller has a 0.00 goals against average. That is because the Eriksson own-goal empty-netter is not charged to Miller’s account.
rmckenzie@thenational.ae
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