The National Hockey League regular season began on Wednesday with three games. Here were five storylines from the games that took place.
5) Mackie Samoskevich leads the Panthers in scoring.
I was in the top Calgary media hockey pool last night and the top story was the fact that one GM in our 12 team pool bid for and won a Panthers left winger he had never even heard of. Well, he must be thrilled of his play on opening night. Mackie Samoskevich of Sandy Hook, Connecticut (population of 1711) had two assists in a 3-2 Florida win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Samoskevich assisted on goals from Carter Verhaeghe of Toronto, Ontario and Jesper Boqvist of Falun, Sweden. Samoskevich does have 33 points in 74 NHL games, and in his third season now in Florida. Now after one night, Samoskevich actually leads the Panthers and the entire NHL with two points.
4) Panthers get game-winner from Boqvist.
The Panthers hero on Tuesday was center Jesper Boqvist, who scored the game-winning goal at 9:40 of the third period from Samoskevich and center Evan Rodrigues of Toronto, Ontario. For Boqvist, he scored the goal on his only shot of the game, and it was the ninth game-winning goal of his NHL career.
3) Panthers have Stanley Cup celebrations.
Before the Panthers beat the Chicago Blackhawks, they had their Stanley Cup celebrations from last year. Players were given Stanley Cup rings, and the Panthers unveiled the Stanley Cup banner for the second straight season. It is interesting that the Panthers had two Stanley Cups on their rings.
2) Avalanche beat the Kings 4-1.
It was a statement win for the Avalanche as they defeated the Kings by three goals on Tuesday. Four Avalanche players had multi-point games as Martin Necas of Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic had two goals, Artturi Lehkonen of Piikkio, Finland had one goal and one assist for two points, while Nathan MacKinnon of Halifax, Nova Scotia and Cale Makar each had two assists.
1) Arturs Silovs shines in Penguins debut.
The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New York Rangers 3-0 at Madison Square Garden. Two new Penguins shined. Goaltender Arturs Silovs of Riga, Latvia, who was traded in the offseason from the Vancouver Canucks, made 25 saves, and Justin Brazeau of New Liskeard, Ontario, who signed as a free agent on Canada Day, scored twice.
In a final note, apologies to all hockey fans in row 18 at Madison Square Garden for a spectator who was talking all night and not paying attention to the game. That is because this spectator was doing our hockey pool remotely, and was so focused on the pool, he did not even know it was Silovs that was in between the Penguins pipes!
