The long-awaited start to the National Hockey League season officially began on Thursday, October 1st. There were four games on tap last night, Washington vs. Boston, Montreal vs. Toronto, Vancouver vs. Calgary and perhaps, the game most die-hard hockey fans have been waiting eagerly for all summer, San Jose vs. Colorado.
Washington vs. Boston
A clash of Eastern Conference superpowers from a year ago, the Boston Bruins, No. 1 seed, and the Washington Capitals, No. 2 seed, faced off at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston for their season openers.
The Capitals, led by star forwards Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, skated away with the easy victory, winning 4-1 over Boston.
It didn't take long for Ovechkin and Backstrom's obvious chemistry to meet up, each drawing assists on Brooks Laich's powerplay goal with thee minutes remaining in the first period. Ovechkin and Laich both scored twice and had an assist, Backstrom added three assists and Alexander Semin had two.
Caps goaltender Jose Theodore got the start in place of last season's playoff hero, Semyon Varlamov, and picked up the win.
Patrice Bergeron scored the lone marker for the Bruins, who were outshot 34-20.
Montreal vs. Toronto
The revamped Montreal Canadiens roster showed a few concerning signs just one game into the regular season. But the Habs were still able to squeak out a 4-3 OT victory over their hated rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Montreal defenseman Josh Gorges was the hero, scoring with 13 seconds left in overtime.
The Leafs also performed a big off-season makeover, which included adding former Canadiens defenseman Mike Komisarek. Neither team could hold on to the lead last night, Montreal lead on two different occasions and eventually fought back to force overtime on Glen Metropolit's powerplay goal with just over four minutes remaining in the third period.
A pair of Montreal newcomers started off on a positive note, with Brian Gionta and Mike Cammalleri hooking up for the game's first goal. Cammalleri and Tomas Plekanec, who both assisted on Gionta's goal and the game winner, finished with two points each.
Forward Matt Stajan scored twice for the Leafs, who controlled the tempo for most of the game and badly outshot the Habs 46-27 but couldn't solve Habs goaltender Carey Price.
Price, who was wildly inconsistent last season, played admirably, stopping 43 shots and picked up the game's second star.
A Leafs-Canadiens game isn't the same without some muscle as both teams dropped the gloves three times.
Vancouver vs. Calgary
The Flames held on to knock off their Western Canada rival, Vancouver Canucks, 5-3 despite being outshot 42-23 at the Saddledome in Calgary.
Calgary built an early 3-0 first period lead but it soon evapourated. Defenseman Mark Giordano and left-winger Rene Bourque each had a goal and an assist for the Flames. Adam Pardy, Brandon Prust and Dion Phaneuf also scored for Calgary.
Alberta-born Jay Bouwmeester's first game as a Calgary Flame went mostly without incident, no goals, no assists, one shot on goal, a plus-2 rating and he played a whooping 29:13 of ice-time, easily the game-high.
Vancouver's twin duo, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, were quiet for most of the night but both managed to record one assist. Canucks superstar goalie Roberto Luongo looked shaky, allowing four goals on 23 shots.
San Jose vs. Colorado
Crowned 'Joe Sakic Day' in Denver, this was a battle between the San Jose Sharks, the best team in the Western Conference last season, and the Colorado Avalanche, the West's worst.
The Avalanche, feeding off the sold-out crowd's energy, honoured one of the game's all-time best with a 5-2 victory over San Jose.
It was a memorable night for both teams.
First and foremost, Colorado's former captain and future hall-of-famer Joe Sakic's No. 19 jersey was retired, joining a very select group up in the Pepsi Center rafters (Patrick Roy's No. 33 and Ray Bourque's No. 77). The jersey ceremony for Sakic, the NHL's eighth all-time leading scorer with 1,641 points, lasted 45 minutes.
On the San Jose front, newly acquired forward Dany Heatley didn't provide the firepower expected in his first game as a Shark. He was held off the scoresheet and finished with an abysmal minus-3 rating.
Wojtek Wolski scored twice, Paul Stastny added two assists and John-Michael Liles had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche. Craig Anderson started his first game in net for Colorado, finishing with 38 saves.
Patrick Marleau scored both goals for San Jose, with assists going to Joe Pavelski (2) and Dan Boyle (1).
Avalanche rookie Matt Duchene, the third overall pick in this year's Entry Draft and a huge Sakic fan, earned his first career point (an assist) in his first NHL game.
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