Jaromir Jagr recorded his first point as a member of the Flames, Sidney Crosby continued his domination of Florida-based NHL teams, the Flyers were magic in their home opener against the Capitals, Tyler Seguin had a Gordie Howe hat trick, and Jack Eichel was great with a pair of points but his Sabres lost yet again.
Here are four things we learned Saturday night in the NHL.
It might be a looooooong season for the Coyotes
The Arizona Coyotes lost their fifth game in a row to start the 2017-18 campaign and it’ll be tough to find the silver lining in an ugly 6-2 loss to the Bruins.
Following a 1-1 opening period, the Coyotes fell apart and their head coach Rick Tocchet was not happy about it.
“I am embarrassed,” Tocchet told reporters after the game. “I apologize to the fans on this one because that second period was not good.”
Arizona allowed three second-period goals and wilted when Boston turned up the heat.
“When pressure hits this team, for some reason they forget where to go and then they just start running around,” Tocchet said via Craig Morgan of NHL.com. “I don’t understand that. But we’ve got some young guys here and some veterans here that have gotten off to a bad start. It seems like we’ve got to kind of collectively get everyone together here and chip away. We’ve got to chip away, chip away…You can’t have four or five passengers. You look down the bench and some guys are sucking wind. I don’t understand that after last game, why we are sucking wind. Are we out of shape? I said that before. Is there anxiety when there is pressure? Sometimes you get anxiety, you get tired. Just trying to put our fingers on this.”
The Coyotes will look to turn things around Tuesday when they visit the Stars.
Turns out Maple Leafs actually do know how to win in Montreal
The Toronto Maple Leafs snapped a 14-game losing streak they had going against the Montreal Canadiens Saturday night thanks to Auston Matthews, who became the first player in franchise history to score two overtime winners within a week of one another—he also buried the OT winner Monday against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Prior to Saturday night’s victory, Jan. 18, 2014 was the last time the Leafs defeated the Habs. It was a 5-3 win but Toronto’s roster was vastly different than the current edition. The goal scorers for the Leafs that night were Cody Franson, Phil Kessel, Mason Raymond, James van Riemsdyk and Joffrey Lupul.
In fact, only five players—JVR, Tyler Bozak, Nazem Kadri, Jake Gardiner and Morgan Rielly—played in both games.
The Sens will look forward to their next Western road trip
This version of the Ottawa Senators (not the one that routinely won Stanley Cups in the 1920s) has been around since 1992, yet they had never completed a three-game sweep of the Canucks, Oilers and Flames…until Saturday.
Ottawa defeated Vancouver 3-2 in a shootout Tuesday, blanked Calgary 6-0 Friday and embarrassed the Oilers 6-1 Saturday.
Yamamoto, Bjork, Kempe are basically just like Gretzky
Kailer Yamamoto, Anders Bjork and Mario Kempe all now have something in common with Wayne Gretzky. You know, besides the fact they play hockey for a living.
The three rookies each scored their first career NHL goals Saturday night, Oct. 14, which just happens to be the same date the Great One registered his first NHL goal. Gretzky tallied his first when he beat Glen Hanlon of the Vancouver Canucks in 1979 on the power play with 1:09 remaining in the third period to force a 4-4 tie.
Kempe’s tip-in goal was initially credited to Anthony Duclair but later changed. Kempe, 29, was less than enthused.
“Honestly, I didn’t even know it hit me first,” he told reporters following the game. “That’s what they said on the replay, that it hit my stick. I don’t really care. That’s a personal milestone. For me, I just want to get a win right now. Personal stuff comes after.”
Just 893 more to go to catch No. 99.
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