Recapping last night's games including Lee's debut, Neal's hat-trick and more…

 

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It sure didn't take long for Anders Lee to make an impact for the Islanders. Less than three minutes into the game he drove the net hard to setup a screen and sent the Bruin defenseman into Svedberg. Two minutes for interference. I don't mind that penalty at all. Getting to the dirty areas is what Lee does well.

 

I was a bit underwhelmed with his season-opener to be honest. Lee was skating on a kid line with Ryan Strome and Brock Nelson. They were good but not amazing.

 

I'd love to see Lee up with John Tavares and Kyle Okposo (and I do expect him there eventually) but skating on this line is good too. Nelson and Strome are quality offensive players and because of their lack of experience they'll surely receive cushy matchups.

 

The Islanders' third line was looking really dangerous early. Nikolai Kulemin, Frans Nielsen and Josh Bailey, that's a really solid two-way group. Only Nielsen is really fantasy worthy in shallow leagues because he gets top unit power play time but having that excellent depth is a big reason why this is a playoff team. They generated several chances in the first and opened the scoring.

 

They were broken up in the second however, as Cory Conacher was taken off the top line with Kulemin promoted. I loved that move. I just don't have much time for Conacher. He was skating with two of the league's best and it was like he was terrified to get involved physically. Any time there was a situation where he might take contact he pulled up and dumped or let the opponent gain possession or conceded the valuable ice. Just timid.

 

But once he was demoted he started getting after it. This is the big leagues. He shouldn't need a kick in the butt like that. Either way, it was awesome seeing Kulemin with Tavares and Okposo. It was amazing how much more offensive zone possession they could maintain with a third forward willing to compete physically to keep plays alive.

 

This seems like Conacher's last stand. Mikhail Grabovski is due to return soon and he definitely needs a spot in the lineup. Someone will have to sit. That's probably Conacher.

 

Lubomir Visnovsky made his return to the Islanders lineup and you could certainly tell it was his first game. He was looking awfully sluggish. I don't want to make any assessments until he has a few games to really get into shape but he was skating on the third pairing so it doesn't seem like the Islanders really want to stretch him. They did have him skating on the top power play unit though.

 

I'd like to talk about the power play combinations for the Islanders because they were jumbled up from the usual but they only had one opportunity in this game so it's tough to really gauge if this was something they are committed to or not.

 

Big revenge win for Chad Johnson in his return to Boston. He should get at least 25 starts this season just because of how brittle Jaroslav Halak has proven in his career. He's a real talent and with how competitive this team is Johnson has some real value in fantasy leagues for spot starts.

 

Tavares runs into a wall:

 

 

And apparently he broke the wall. Zdeno Chara left after the collision and did not return. The Bruins would not disclose the nature of his injury. Very peculiar situation.

 

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Milan Lucic looked really solid in this one. He had a ton of pep in his step and was driving the net and the corners like a bull, just unconcerned with anyone in his path. He scored a goal and dished out six hits. Vintage Lucic performance.

 

The top line with Lucic and David Krejci was the only line to do much of anything for the Bruins all night. Seth Griffith, their linemate recorded his first career assist. The more comfortable he gets on that line the more intrigued I am with Griffith.

 

Griffith still isn't a power play option for the Bruins so you should only really be interested in deeper leagues but he has scored at every level and is a real talent. Maybe this isn't the breakout year for him but it's nice to see him getting a shot.

 

I still don't think that Griffith ends the season on the top line though. I think that Krejci/Lucic's eventual winger may not even be on the current roster. They will probably look for veteran help at the trade deadline.

 

Niklas Svedberg got the start for Boston. I like that. I want Tuukka Rask rested for his next start since he's off to such a rough start. He'll need it too if Chara is out for any extended time.

 

I was optimistic that Dougie Hamilton might experience a little breakout this season, say jumping to the 40-point level. It's early but nothing seems to be changing on that front. Two points through nine games. He isn't playing poorly per say, just not playing the dynamic game that we might eventually see him play that will result in big point totals.

 

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I have got to say these have been some impressive late collapses by the Penguins. That's back-to-back games where they had impressive first period showings only to let the game get away from them. Last night's collapse was thoroughly entertaining.

 

With a 3-1 lead late in the third they missed opportunities multiple opportunities to ice the game as Sidney Crosby was stopped by Jimmy Howard on a breakaway and then the Evgeni Malkin line, after being dominant all game was denied multiple empty-net chances.

 

The Red Wings scored two goals in the final three minutes, both with the net empty, to send the game to overtime where Justin Abdelkader ended it.

 

Henrik Zetterberg was in MVP form in this one, sparking the Red Wing comeback with a goal and assisting on the next two. He has a four-game scoring streak going with eight points in that span. If (and that's a huge IF) Zetterberg can stay healthy, he still has the ability to be a top-10 scorer. And the fact that the Red Wings have so much young talent around helps make that possible. But we all know that he can't stay healthy. Even if he skates 82 games, it won't be at 100%.

 

 

Niklas Kronwall had himself a game, scoring two and assisting on another. You may have forgotten but Kronwall once scored 15 goals in season. I'm not saying he'll do that here. He hasn't been shooting nearly enough for that. He fired just 110 SOG last season and has just eight through seven games. If his shot rate picks up we could see double-digit goals, otherwise just be happy with the boatload of assists that are coming.

 

Howard was far from outlandishly good last night. In fact, he allowed a brutal goal to Olli Maatta that I'm sure he wishes he could have back. But he also made some huge saves in the first when the Penguins were pouring it on and again in the third on that Crosby breakaway I mentioned.

 

This is looking like a real strong season for Howard as the Red Wings are retooled and he is seemingly healthy. One area that is really helping matters is the Red Wings' penalty killing, which has killed off all 21 power plays they have faced. A big part of that is Howard, because your goalie is always the best penalty killer but the skaters in front of him are putting in work.

 

It was a truly impressive feat that they shut down the Penguins' vaunted power play on all three attempts last night. But don't kid yourself, the Penguins generated some great chances. Howard wouldn't allow them to finish any however.

 

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This makes back-to-back donuts for Sidney Crosby and Patric Hornqvist. That'll happen. I'm not concerned about either one going forward. As mentioned, they had their chances.

 

I really liked what I saw from the new second line with Malkin moving over to center joined by Pascal Dupuis and Blake Comeau.

 

Comeau adds a real nice speed/puck pursuit element for two excellent possession players in Dupuis and Malkin. He's still a limited player and you really saw that when the line couldn't bury an empty-netter but they were really good otherwise.

 

Comeau had two assists and might make for a nice short-term pick up. He doesn't get power play time so there's only so much upside for him.

 

Thomas Greiss made his first start for the Penguins. He was pretty solid until the late collapse and even then I wouldn't necessarily blame him for the loss. All of the Red Wings goals came on shots from the middle of the ice but he was beaten high on all of them so there might be a book on him.

 

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Big win for Ryan Miller in his return to St. Louis. He stopped 31 of 32 shots as the Blues engaged in their usual puck-possession dominance especially in the third but as has been an issue for much of this season, they struggled to score. Give Miller the credit though. He was solid from what I saw.

 

The Canucks got a big performance from their second line as Chris Higgins, Nick Bonino and Alex Burrows recorded two points each. I'm not too excited about any of them this season however. They all only skate on the second power play, which probably caps them at 45 points for the season.

 

I was optimistic that Bonino would get top power play unit billing like he did in Anaheim but that job has gone to Linden Vey instead. And Vey has been pretty good there. He scored his second goal of the season last night. They have both come on the power play.

 

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A big reason for the Blues' shot advantage last night was the Canucks' lack of discipline. The Blues had five power play opportunities but only scored on one of them. The power play has seemingly been the only area where the Blues have been able to score as they currently sit second in power play efficiency at 28% but are 26^th in scoring.

 

One player who is really struggling is TJ Oshie who has yet to score this season. I was hopeful that being reunited with David Backes and Alexander Steen would break the slump but while Steen and Backes notched assists, Oshie was left silent once again.

 

I'm not too optimistic about Oshie this season. When they get healthy again he's looking at something closer to a third-line role than the top-line gig he had last season.

 

I'm going to be patient with the rest of the guys who may be struggling a bit early on like Alex Pietrangelo who has just two points through six games. He's going to finish with 45-50 points so there will be more stretches like this.

 

What's interesting is Jay Bouwmeester starting so slowly. He normally starts off hot before cooling in the second half. So far no points through six games. Maybe he flips the script this year? He's ultimately finishing with 30-40 points when they come could be key though.

 

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Still worried about James Neal or does that natural hat-trick to "single-handedly" beat the Blackhawks quell your concerns? That's what I thought. Impressive showing though.

 

The Predators mean business this season. They've got excellent goaltending and a deep blueline, which means they don't need too much offense. They can afford to be a single-line team because the guys on the rest of the lines are solid veterans.