A few firsts in Montreal, the Blues’ clueless blue line, and a red-hot rebound game for the Flames. Here are four things we learned in the NHL on Wednesday night.
Domi nets his first
Max Domi entered Wednesday’s game against the St. Louis Blues with a nice collection of assists through his first five games as a member of the Montreal Canadiens, and he didn’t need much time in Game No. 6 to get himself his first goal with the Habs. It took him all of 39 seconds to open the scoring with this two-on-one marker:
Defenceman Mike Reilly also got his first goal in bleu, blanc et rouge as the Canadiens continued their hot start with input from several fresh faces.
Blues’ blue line woes continue
Domi’s goal gave Canadiens fans something to cheer about early, but Brendan Gallagher was the one to send them all home smiling after he chipped in a late — like, really late — game-winner with just 9.7 seconds remaining in game that looked like it was headed to overtime.
The Blues’ porous defence has been a weakness so far this season, with the club generally looking lost in its own zone. That troubling trend continued Wednesday, and while it was a sloppy performance from the D-core all around, poor Colton Parayko had the toughest night of all thanks to his disastrous giveaway that led to Gallagher’s game-winning goal.
“That one play, it’s not the reason we lost the game. We lost the game in the first two periods,” teammate Joel Edmundson told reporters after the game.
They’ll need to tighten things up on the blue line quickly, as they head to Toronto to take on the high-scoring Maple Leafs Saturday night.
Deja Vu in Washington
New season, same Alex Ovechkin. The captain set up shop in his usual office at the left circle against the New York Rangers Wednesday night and came away with a nearly identical pair of power-play goals to help the Washington Capitals to an eventual 4-3 overtime win.
That gives the great No. 8 232 career power-play goals, tying him with Dino Ciccarelli for ninth-most all-time in the league.
It’s also already his second multi-goal game this season, and the 122nd of his career.
Ovechkin has six goals and nine points in six games on the season.
Frolik fires back
On Saturday night, Calgary Flames forward Michael Frolik was watching his club play from the press box as a healthy scratch for the first time in nearly a decade. Just a few days later, he was lighting up the scoreboard to help the Flames to a decisive 5-2 win over the Boston Bruins.
Clearly, head coach Bill Peters’ strategy to light a fire under the veteran worked, with the Czech winger celebrating his reunion on the 3M Line (Mikael Backlund, Matthew Tkachuk) by scoring two goals. He almost had a hat trick, but sailed the puck just wide on an impressive short-handed breakaway.
Frolik was benched Saturday following a sloppy performance late last week against the Blues which saw him take two poor penalties.
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