Well, we lost, but at least we put on a show doing it.

Started off very timidly, with two turnovers leading to two 1st-period goals for Dallas...but we managed to play hard and eventually erase a two-goal lead in the 3rd period, only to lose in the shootout.

We definitely had a few chances on Lehtonen. P.A. Parenteau had a PERFECT shot opportunity that he didn't make a move on but rather crashed the net, we rang the post a couple of times, missed a few opportunities here and there.

I'm a little concerned about Tavares, who sustained a "minor" concussion, but it's really great to see the chemistry of these young guys so early in the year.

Also, you don't mess with The Wiz. Jamie Benn had some fun trying to breathe after that one.

James Wisniewski, just letting Sean Avery know how to properly use a shake-weight.

At 10/10/10 11:05 AM, EternitySpent wrote: LEAFS. Who knew all you had to do to raise Kaberle's game was extensively bully him in the media?

Well, it's a start. Keep that applied pessimism going :P

Kessel is a good player, but so long as he keeps it up, you're a winner in this trade.

Derek Stepan, 4th player in NHL history to record a hat-trick in his first career game - on Ryan Miller, to boot.

Nice achievement. Do we have the info on the other three guys?

Watching the game on Versus, Wings and Aves.

The play-by-play guy sounded dull all the first period. And poor Eddie O just can't stand the Wings. He's such a tool. He always cries about subtle interference and about what he thinks is a penalty.

However, I enjoy seeing Darren McCarty talking during the intermissions, good to see him more.

Also, I hate shootouts. 8 rounds before a score.

At 10/8/10 08:32 AM, Coop83 wrote:

At 10/8/10 06:12 AM, michelinman wrote: What do you think Coop? Think we can outdo 8th in the conference this year?

Some impressive play by rookies last year now needs to be backed up by impressive play by sophomores. We're looking at Stastny perhaps scoring more goals than last season (20), which would be nice, as both he and Matt Duchene get their goal accounts opened on day one this year.

They've been playing impressive hockey after 3 so far. O'Reilly and Duchene have started well, and the teams intensity as a whole is amazing to see. They seem like sharks in the water trying to score goals. Hopefully that won't leave as the season wears on. There was a lot of heart all last year, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Avs keep up the pressure for most of the season.

If Stewart, Stastny, Duchene and Hejduk can have good seasons, we're looking in good shape. Potential exists for a breakout season in the shape of David Jones, plus more rookie talent from the farm system. Good to see that the Avs are shooting lots of pucks. Long may that continue.

38 tonight against the Wings. Love the fire. They go nuts over the slightest scoring opportunity. At least 3 of the goals were off of turnovers, so we're doing a good job capitalizing on mistakes and turning them into goals. And I was planning on coming in here and saying Brandon Yip is a weak link up until he scored the shootout winner. He had a bad tripping penalty early in the game giving the Red Wings a power play they scored on. I don't know much about the guy, but it seems like every time I've heard his name, it's been associated with something bad.

We're still vulnerable at the back, but with Anderson in net, we might find some teams lacking in the goals scored department. Perhaps Budaj will see more time in net as well, like a proper backup, so Andy isn't burned out on the stretch run.

Budaj played the full game tonight, and luckily the offense was high powered enough to match all the goals he let up. He was rock solid in overtime and the shootout though. Still think that is something we need to upgrade on in the coming years. We can't have Anderson setting franchise records for minutes and expect to be able to make a run in the playoffs.

How about the schedule so far? NHL champs, runners up, then two excellent teams in the Red Wings and Devils. Someone somewhere wanted to see us off to a bad start. Haha. We're sitting well at 2-1 and I'm happy about the hockey we've played thus far. The 4-2 loss against the Flyers wasn't nearly as bad as the score suggests. Up until the last couple minutes, we were tied and were still in great position. Not one game we've played this year have we not been competitive up until the final minute, and that makes me happy. I feel bad for the first team that we play that doesn't compare to the teams we've been playing. Overkill. Haha.

At 10/12/10 10:18 PM, Ronald-McDonald-LoL wrote: The play-by-play guy sounded dull all the first period. And poor Eddie O just can't stand the Wings. He's such a tool. He always cries about subtle interference and about what he thinks is a penalty.

At least the game wasn't dull :)

Also, I hate shootouts. 8 rounds before a score.

I love shootouts when we win :P

At 10/13/10 07:13 AM, michelinman wrote:

At 10/8/10 08:32 AM, Coop83 wrote:

At 10/8/10 06:12 AM, michelinman wrote: What do you think Coop? Think we can outdo 8th in the conference this year?

Some impressive play by rookies last year now needs to be backed up by impressive play by sophomores. We're looking at Stastny perhaps scoring more goals than last season (20), which would be nice, as both he and Matt Duchene get their goal accounts opened on day one this year.

They've been playing impressive hockey after 3 so far. O'Reilly and Duchene have started well, and the teams intensity as a whole is amazing to see. They seem like sharks in the water trying to score goals. Hopefully that won't leave as the season wears on. There was a lot of heart all last year, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Avs keep up the pressure for most of the season.

Early days, but I'm actually liking that Budaj is playing more games as backup already. Granted that he's played his first game of the year in our 3rd, but considering that he only played about a dozen games all of last year, we must already have a game plan worked out for some time during 2011.

If Stewart, Stastny, Duchene and Hejduk can have good seasons, we're looking in good shape. Potential exists for a breakout season in the shape of David Jones, plus more rookie talent from the farm system. Good to see that the Avs are shooting lots of pucks. Long may that continue.

38 tonight against the Wings. Love the fire. They go nuts over the slightest scoring opportunity. At least 3 of the goals were off of turnovers, so we're doing a good job capitalizing on mistakes and turning them into goals. And I was planning on coming in here and saying Brandon Yip is a weak link up until he scored the shootout winner. He had a bad tripping penalty early in the game giving the Red Wings a power play they scored on. I don't know much about the guy, but it seems like every time I've heard his name, it's been associated with something bad.

I'm not sure about Yip, but when most of the weak links disappeared after last year (Tucker, Svatos and Salei), someone has to be the player that's on the bubble.

How about the schedule so far? NHL champs, runners up, then two excellent teams in the Red Wings and Devils. Someone somewhere wanted to see us off to a bad start. Haha. We're sitting well at 2-1 and I'm happy about the hockey we've played thus far. The 4-2 loss against the Flyers wasn't nearly as bad as the score suggests. Up until the last couple minutes, we were tied and were still in great position. Not one game we've played this year have we not been competitive up until the final minute, and that makes me happy. I feel bad for the first team that we play that doesn't compare to the teams we've been playing. Overkill. Haha.

I'd have preferred an overtime loss, as that would have been a much better result for both teams, reflecting upon the closeness of the tile, but it's a hell of a way to start the year for us. Bring on the Canucks!

Lots of relatively exciting games tonight.
Predators 1-0 over Dallas, Blues smack Pittsburgh with 1-0 in OT...
Red Wings and Anaheim was my game tonight, 5-4. What an excellent finish, Pavel Datsyuk scored the winner with 11.4 seconds left, Henrik Zetterberg with two goals... What a finish.

I was forced to watch a Russian stream of the game, which was actually kind of fun. On the commercial breaks, the camera and microphone stayed on the ice, so I got to see all of the rather routine things that go on in a game that you normally miss. I didn't understand a single word the announcer said, except for names, which were still pronounced strangely. The intermissions were filled with European commercials, with lots of soccer and European stuff like that.

Quite a fun night of hockey!

West - Los Angeles Kings
East - New Jersey Devils

Kopitar and Parise ftmfw!

^Enjoy that Kovy deal...I hope it bogs you guys down as much as DP's deal bogs us down.

I look forward to tomorrow night! First Red Wings vs Coyotes game since the playoffs. This ought to be good.

ESPN is ranking Detroit at #1 in power right now; what do you guys think? Our third line (Hudler, Modano, Cleary) is pretty bad right now, collectively minus-4.

At 10/27/10 09:57 PM, Ronald-McDonald-LoL wrote: ESPN is ranking Detroit at #1 in power right now; what do you guys think? Our third line (Hudler, Modano, Cleary) is pretty bad right now, collectively minus-4.

That's what gets me about Detroit - they think that -4 is bad for a whole line. I know of some players that have ratings of worse than that, who play on higher lines.

The season is young and I hope that Craig Anderson's knee injury isn't that serious... that or Peter Budaj can start playing better goalie... No, better hope for the best on that injury, Andy.

At 10/28/10 06:43 PM, Coop83 wrote: The season is young and I hope that Craig Anderson's knee injury isn't that serious... that or Peter Budaj can start playing better goalie... No, better hope for the best on that injury, Andy.

He hasn't looked good so far, as anyone with half a brain anticipated. 5 goals allowed on 19 shots against Calgary. No es bueno. They called up an AHL goalie to back him up. Grahamme I think his name is. Guy has 200 some NHL starts and a Stanley Cup championship as a backup with the Lightning. Hopefully if Budaj does extremely terrible or gets hurt, this guy can step in. It's got to be a pretty easy job really. The offense is 2nd in the NHL right now. And sucks we lost to Vancouver. I know you were looking forward to that one Coop. Lol.

Excellent game last night, Detroit and Nashville. Christ Osgood is closing in on win #400, and he got off to a much better start. Brad Stuart had a great game, saved a goal and scored one.

And then theres THIS motherfucker:
Pavel Datsyuk is unstoppable so far, with two goals and an assist last night.

At 10/31/10 10:44 AM, Ronald-McDonald-LoL wrote: Christ Osgood

Google Chrome spell checker fails YET AGAIN.

Danielle Briere. Fucking punk.

At 10/29/10 07:08 AM, michelinman wrote:

At 10/28/10 06:43 PM, Coop83 wrote: The season is young and I hope that Craig Anderson's knee injury isn't that serious... that or Peter Budaj can start playing better goalie... No, better hope for the best on that injury, Andy.

He hasn't looked good so far, as anyone with half a brain anticipated. 5 goals allowed on 19 shots against Calgary. No es bueno.

Then he stands on his head against Columbus. Go figure. We need to get him a lead, that he can keep. Like I've said, the defense is too leaky.

They called up an AHL goalie to back him up. Grahamme I think his name is. Guy has 200 some NHL starts and a Stanley Cup championship as a backup with the Lightning.

John Grahame isn't too bad an NHL Goalie, for a backup, but we'll have to wait and see how he fares in an Avs Jersey.

Hopefully if Budaj does extremely terrible or gets hurt, this guy can step in. It's got to be a pretty easy job really. The offense is 2nd in the NHL right now.

Well, the jury is still out on Budaj. If he gets the wins, do we really care about the number of goals he lets in, so long as it's one less than we score?

And sucks we lost to Vancouver. I know you were looking forward to that one Coop. Lol.

Meh, games come and games go. I quite enjoyed the Calgary tilt - I love seeing the guys scoring freely. If I were Joe Sacco, I'd consider shuffling the lines and get TJ Galliardi off the top line. Let Hejduk have a go on the right, for example.

At 10/31/10 11:05 PM, Buddhist wrote: Danielle Briere. Fucking punk.

Philly goes for the 1970s again :P

Kesler, Raffi, and H. (Art) Sedin dominate the Devils, Luongo gets himself a shutout and all is right with the universe.

Also Devils Fans

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, were you expecting something different?"

Heel turn

At 11/2/10 02:39 AM, MattTheParanoidKat wrote: "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, were you expecting something different?"

Of course not - Marty has such a sever case of OLD and I drafted Kovalchuk :P

Raffi Torres got a Hat Trick. Raffi, got a Hat Trick.

Thanks Buffalo :D

Dion PhaNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Seven games in a row....gotta break the streak eventually.

While Pavel Datsyuk and Nick Lidstrom are advertising an eye doctor, Sidney Crosby is stuck advertising bread.

Oh, and both Datsyuk and Lidstrom are on 9-game point streaks.

Hahahaha. Kovy, you silly bastard.

At 11/13/10 12:28 AM, michelinman wrote: Hahahaha. Kovy, you silly bastard.

Hahaha, we really needed a break like that one

At 11/13/10 12:28 AM, michelinman wrote: Hahahaha. Kovy, you silly bastard.

Wow, it looks like I dodged a bullet there. Even though the Flyers and Avs have beaten up on my goalies over the past two evenings, I have been able to salvage something offensively.

I love Hockey! It's the best sport ever! May I partake in this club.

My favorite team: San Jose Sharks

I'm sorry that I can't list a second favorite team, my loyalties prevent me from doing such.

2-0-0 on the home stand so far. Beat Colorado and shat down the Oilers' chimney.

Nine in a row...augh.

Make it ten in a row, and Scott Gordon gets fired in favor of (another) AHL Bridgeport coach.

...gonna be a long year for us, it would seem.

At 11/15/10 05:39 PM, Buddhist wrote: Make it ten in a row, and Scott Gordon gets fired in favor of (another) AHL Bridgeport coach.

...gonna be a long year for us, it would seem.

When the Florida Panthers, Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs and the Calgary Flames are doing better than your team... better re-evaluate with side of New York you wanna cheer for.