Following their trip to Europe, the injury news did not seem ideal for the Buffalo Sabres as both JJ Peterka and Zach Benson left games across the pond with different injuries. Both had returned to practice for the Sabres back in North America, but neither seemed probable to be in the lineup for the home opener on Thursday night.

In a bit of good news/bad news situation, Benson did return to the lineup and was slotted on the top line with Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch. However, Peterka did not return from his concussion so Jiri Kulich took the second-line left wing role next to Dylan Cozens. A rough start to a season that showed a lot of promise for the Sabres.

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There had been some ominous tweets about the status of Boone Jenner, and it was not good news for his 2024-25 season:

#CBJ announce that captain Boone Jenner had shoulder surgery today in Vail, Colo.

GM Don Waddell: "… our hope is he can return before the end of the season."

— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) October 10, 2024

At best, it seems as if Jenner will be back around the Trade Deadline, at worst it may mean his season is over already. Just a brutal break for a guy that has had a lot of injury issues over the years on top of his personal tragedies.

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Some good news on goaltender Logan Thompson:

Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said Logan Thompson (personal/family) should be back at practice tomorrow.

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) October 10, 2024

Washington opens the season on Saturday night but don't have a back-to-back until October 22^nd and 23^rd. It will be interesting to see how Washington handles their goalie rotation early in the season – they could have two viable starting goaltenders, but there's always a chance they just ride the hot hand. We will find out soon enough.

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Oliver Kapanen was in the lineup for the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night in Boston. He took the place of Emil Heineman, who did not have a very good game on Wednesday. Kapapen lined up on the third line with Alex Barre-Boulet and Christian Dvorak.

Staying with that game, Boston defender Mason Lohrei was scratched in place of Parker Wotherspoon. Hopefully it is just a bump in the road for the young blue liner as Lohrei has a bright future if he can take steps toward being a reliable option for the Bruins.

Also, Nikita Zadorov was moved to the top pair alongside Charlie McAvoy, in case his ice time starts reflecting that situation.

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A good sign for Utah forward Nick Bjugstad:  

Nick Bjugstad is on the ice getting some solo work in before Utah's morning skate at 11:30.

— Belle Fraser (@bellefraser1) October 10, 2024

The team would go on to say that he won't be ready before November yet, so he has a few weeks to go, but that he's back skating at this point is a good sign for him.

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More good injury news, this time on Florida defenceman Adam Boqvist:

Cats holding an optional morning skate in Ottawa.

Adam Boqvist is on the ice wearing a shield after getting hit in the face with a puck on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/IQxAmgN6M4

— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) October 10, 2024

He did not play on Thursday night, but it sure seems as if he's avoided a worst-case scenario after taking the puck to the face on Tuesday night. Let's hope he can get back soon; this is another guy who has had brutal injury luck over the years.

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Some good news for the Shane Wright enthusiasts among us:

Small swap among centers for the lineup. Here's how #SeaKraken practice looks, 10/10:

Tolvanen-Beniers-Bjorkstrand
McCann-Wright-Eberle
Schwartz-Stephenson-Burakovsky
Kartye-Gourde-Tanev

Dunn-Larsson
Oleksiak-Montour
Evans-Borgen
Mahura

Grubauer
Daccord

— Mike Benton (@Benton_Mike) October 10, 2024

Watching Seattle's first game, Wright was consistently one of the more notable player on the ice, and always in a good way. Him taking a big step forward for this franchise would go a long to helping get them back to the playoffs. There is a lot of time between now and April, though.

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An update on Los Angeles winger Arthur Kaliyev:

Kaliyev timeline is 6-8 weeks, per LA Kings GM Rob Blake

— The Mayor | Team MM (@mayorNHL) October 10, 2024

This may keep him out until December, and depending on how the team is doing, he may not have a regular spot on the NHL roster at that point. Hopefully he can get back on the lower end of that estimate and re-establish himself as a young scorer in this league.

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Detroit changed up their power play units once again – the third time in a week before they played a single regular season game – with Moritz Seider and Alex DeBrincat being bumped to the second unit in favour of Erik Gustafsson and J.T. Compher. It seems as if this is going to be a fluid situation in the months ahead.

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Toronto bounced back from being shutout in their season opener with a 4-2 win on the road in New Jersey. They got great production from their depth as Bobby McMann, Max Pacioretty, and Steven Lorentz all scored, with Lorentz adding an assist as well. McMann finished the game with that goal, three shots, and a hit, making us all wonder why he was scratched in the first place.

John Tavares had the other Leafs goal, totaling two shots and two PIMs along the way.

Dennis Hildeby got the start for the Leafs and he stopped 23 of 25 shots faced for the win. A great NHL debut for the fourth-round pick from 2022, and a name to keep in mind depending on the status of Joseph Woll. Hildeby may be destined for the AHL when all the goalies are healthy, but we have certainly seen stranger things happen when it comes to goalies and starts.

Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt had the goals for the Devils in the loss. Meier had five shots and two hits while Bratt had two shots and a block. Meier now has two goals and 15 shots in three games, so he's off to a good start.

Jacob Markstrom was in net for all four goals on 22 shots.

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Ottawa held their own against the defending Stanley Cup champions as the Senators managed a 3-1 win over the Florida Panthers. I only caught the third period of the game, but the vibe on social media was that the Senators were defending well, which is a big plus for their first game of the season.

Tim Stützle scored twice (once in the empty net, once on the power play) while Shane Pinto also got in the goal column. Last season, Stützle didn't have a two-goal game until January 21^st, his 42^nd game of the season, so it's safe to say he's off to a good start this season. That PP goal also ties him for his entire total from 2023-24.

Brady Tkachuk had a helper on the empty net goal and added five shots, two blocks, and a hit in a great multi-cat effort. Jake Sanderson also had an assist while adding three shots and four blocks.

Linus Ullmark, fresh off his four-year extension, stopped 30 of 31 shots for the win.

Gustav Forsling scored Florida's lone goal, managing two shots, a block, and a hit.

Sergei Bobrovsky allowed two goals on 30 shots.

Keep an eye on Aleksander Barkov as he went heavy into the boards on Stützle's empty-netter and had to be helped by the trainers. We will hopefully know more (if there's anything to know) in the morning.

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Boston had a bounce back of their own, putting up a 6-spot at home to Montreal in a 6-4 win. The top line did a lot of the damage as Elias Lindholm had a goal and two assists (one on the PP), David Pastrnak had a goal and a helper, while Pavel Zacha had an assist of his own. Pasta totaled six shots in the game.

Charlie McAvoy scored again, his second of the season, managing three shots, a block, four PIMs, and two hits in a tremendous multi-cat night.

Nikita Zadorov had two assists, two blocks, two PIMs, and two hits.

Cole Koepke had a goal and two assists while Mark Kastelic scored twice. Sure, why not.

Cole Caufield scored for the second game in a row while Brendan Gallagher scored twice and Josh Anderson got the fourth.

Lane Hutson had two assists, a shot, two blocks, and two PIMs. He now has four points in four career NHL games. He really does look like a game-changer on the ice, or he will be soon enough, anyway.

Jeremy Swayman allowed four goals on 25 shots but managed the win in his season debut. At the other end of the rink, Cayden Primeau allowed all six goals on 29 shots.

*

After losing twice in Europe, Buffalo came home and played a great game against Los Angeles. Unfortunately, they couldn't capitalize on their chances and Anze Kopitar scored a natural hat trick in the third period to lead the Kings to a 3-1 win. He scored once at even strength, on the power play, and with the empty net in a very balanced attack.

Jordan Spence had an assist, three blocks, two PIMs, and two hits in 22:07 in ice time. He is going to do well in multi-cat formats until Drew Doughty returns.

Quinton Byfield had an assist, four shots, and a hit in 19:20 in ice time.

Darcy Kuemper stopped 33 of 34 in a game where he held the Kings in it long enough for Kopitar's heroics. A great first game in a Kings uniform for Kuemper.

Alex Tuch had the lone goal for Buffalo while Tage Thompson had six shots. Bowen Byram was held off the scoresheet but had a shot, two blocks, two PIMs, and two hits.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen took the loss by allowing two goals on 21 shots.

*

In a thrilling home opener, the New York Islanders lost 5-4 in overtime to Utah. There were five goals scored in the third period alone, two within 13 seconds of each other at the end of the frame, to push for the extra period. None other than Dylan Guenther scored his second of the game, and fourth of the season, to lift his Hockey Club to the two points.

Lawson Crouse had a goal and an assist with two blocks, Josh Doan and Barrett Hayton also tallied, while both Mikhail Sergachev and Clayton Keller had a pair of helpers (each had one on the PP). Keller finished with three shots and two hits while Sergachev had a shot and three blocks.

Connor Ingram stopped 21 of 25 shots for the win.

Anthony Duclair had a great debut for the Islanders with a goal (PP) and an assist alongside two shots and a hit. Maxim Tsyplakov also scored in his Islanders debut, totaling two shots and six hits. These two players skated 19:45 and 20:46, respectively, to give an idea of the early usage for the new Islanders additions.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Bo Horvat haed the other tallies with Horvat putting up five total shots. On the blue line, Noah Dobson had two assists (one PP) and three blocks.

Semyon Varlamov allowed five goals on 26 shots.

*

Following their 6-0 beating at the hands of the New York Rangers, the Pittsburgh Penguins turned around, went into Detroit, and took a 6-3 win in the Red Wings' home opener. Anthony Beauvillier scored twice and added a hit while Drew O'Connor and Kevin Hayes also got on the board.

Erik Karlsson and Marcus Pettersson each had a goal and an assist with Pettersson managing four shots, three blocks, and a hit. Also on the Penguins blue line, Kris Letang had an assist, a shot, four PIMs, and a hit.

Joel Blomqvist stopped 29 of 32 shots in the win.

Alex DeBrincat had two goals (one on the PP) and an assist with five shots in the loss. Vladimir Tarasenko had the other tally.

Moritz Seider had an assist, three shots, a block, and seven hits in the loss.

Ville Husso was pulled after allowing four goals on 14 shots.

Jeff Petry left the game midway through the second period and did not return.

*

Dallas built up a 4-1 lead through two periods in Nashville and managed to hang on for a 4-1 win. The, er, star of the game for Dallas was Logan Stankoven who managed three assists (one PP) and a block in the victory.

Mason Marchment scored twice on three shots with a pair of PIMs while Roope Hintz had a goal and an assist of his own. Jason Robertson had the other goal for the Stars.

Jake Oettinger stopped 33 of 36 shots for his first win of the campaign.

Filip Forsberg had a goal (PP) and an assist with four shots, two blocks, and four hits in a great multi-cat night. Tommy Novak and Ryan O'Reilly had the other goals.

Roman Josi had an assist (PP), four shots, and two blocks in the loss.

Scott Wedgewood allowed four goals on 20 shots for the loss.

*

Minnesota eked out a 3-2 win in their home opener against Columbus, which is a credit to the Blue Jackets and their thinned-out lineup. In fact, the Jackets even outshot the Wild 33-26 and, according to Natural Stat Trick, had a 9-6 edge in high-danger shots. That is a credit to the Blue Jackets skaters and their coaching staff.

Matt Boldy had a huge game for the Wild with a goal, two assists (one on the PP), three shots, and a block. The other goals were scored by Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello (PP). Eriksson Ek finished with three shots, a block, and five hits in a great multi-cat night.

Jonas Brodin had an assist, three blocks, and a hit while Filip Gustavsson stopped 31 of 33 shots for the win.

Kent Johnson had a goal and an assist (PP) in the loss, totaling four shots and two PIMs. On defence, Zach Werenski had a goal (PP), seven shots, and a block.

*

Three third-period goals from St. Louis pushed their game in San Jose to a 4-4 overtime score, and then the Blues capped off the comeback thanks to a Brayden Schenn tally in the extra period. The Blues took the home opener away from the Sharks by a 5-4 margin.

Schenn finished the game with that one goal on seven shots, a block, and a hit in a very solid multi-cat night. Pavel Buchnevich, Radek Faksa, Justin Faulk, and Ryan Suter also scored for St. Louis. In his first two games, Faulk has a goal, two assists, two shots, a block, and three hits. He is off to a great start in Torey Krug's absence.

Joel Hofer stopped 25 of 29 shots for his first win of the season.

Other than the loss, it was a great debut for Macklin Celebrini as he had a goal and an assist on two shots while line mate Tyler Toffoli also had a goal and an assist (PP) with four shots, two blocks, and two hits.

Fabian Zetterlund and Barclay Goodrow had the other tallies. Zetterlund finished with three shots and a block in 15:10 of ice time.

Of note is that William Eklund led San Jose forwards with 21:20 in ice time where no other forward cracked 19 minutes. He had an assist, two shots, and two blocks in the loss.

Jake Walman had an assist, a shot, seven blocks, and a hit in a great multi-cat night. He skated nearly 25 minutes, so be sure to check those waiver wires.

MacKenzie Blackwood made 35 saves on 40 shots but it wasn't enough to hold things down for the win.