Pittsburgh at the start of the season faced a string of injuries among the leaders. Crosby, Malkin, Rast, Letang were in the infirmary. Today the captain's first appearance on the ice of the season took place, but it is unlikely that he will be successful.
https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1454586737418715140
Crosby played 19 minutes, made two shots, and Pittsburgh conceded three times while the captain was on the court. And in two goals, you can call him the culprit. In the second period, in the majority with the score 1: 1, Sid gave a weak pass, which was intercepted by Jimmy Vesey, who ran away face to face with the goalkeeper. And three minutes before the end of normal time, with the score 2: 2, Crosby knocked Jesper Bratt out of his goal, for which Pittsburgh was punished with a shootout. Bratt converted a free throw to win the New Jersey goal.
Pittsburgh Penguins (Pittsburgh) – New Jersey Devils (Newark) – 2: 4 (1: 1, 0: 1, 1: 2)
Goals: Heinen, 12:23. McGinn, 42:02. – Junsson, 19:23, 58:17. Vesi, 37:57 (men.). Bratt, 57:00.
Vladislav Namestnikov has an excellent start to the season. Today he scored his fourth goal in nine games. For comparison, let's say that in the last regular season he had 8 goals in 53 matches.
https://twitter.com/DetroitRedWings/status/1454618039127887877
When the score was 2: 4, Governors in the corner of the court got in the face with a club, but did not turn off the game, but went to the patch and substituted the club. True, Detroit lost to Toronto anyway, but overall, the Red Wings have a good start to the season. 10 points in 9 games, sixth in the East, higher than the record favorites Tampa, Boston and Toronto.
Toronto Maple Leafs (Toronto) – Detroit Red Wings (Detroit) – 5: 4 (1: 0, 1: 1, 3: 3)
Goals: Mazzin, 19:46. Bunting, 39:42 (big). Kerfoot, 40:17. Tavares, 47:47. Marner, 57:55. – Back, 28:19 (big). Veleno, 41:36. Namestnikov, 50:11. Gronek, 59:31.
But another renowned club started the season extremely unsuccessfully. Today the Hawks have lost their ninth match in a row. This is the worst streak without a start in the history of the club. It happened (in 1953 and 1999) that “Chicago” did not win the first 8 matches, but never 9.
https://twitter.com/NHLBlackhawks/status/1454637587348533248
Moreover, in the 21st century, only two clubs had longer losing streaks at the start: Arizona in 2017 (11 defeats) and Atlanta in 2002 (9 defeats and 1 draw). So it's not far from the NHL anti-record. Back in 1943, the Rangers failed to win their first 15 matches.
Today in the match against St. Louis everything was decided by a single goal. Tory Krug became its author, and Vladimir Tarasenko has an assist.
St. Louis Blues (St. Louis) – Chicago Blackhawks (Chicago) – 1: 0 (0: 0, 0: 0, 1: 0)
Goals: Circle, 47:25 (big).
Minnesota's main star hasn't scored eight games since the start of the season. Today Caprice was left without points in the match against Colorado.
https://twitter.com/mnwild/status/1454613437972160516
The Russian forward spent 19 and a half minutes on the ice, made 3 shots on target, made 1 interception and 1 block and finished the match with a minus 1 rating. Minnesota have lost for the third time in their last four games.
Colorado Avalanche (Denver) – Minnesota Wild (St. Paul) – 4: 1 (1: 0, 1: 1, 2: 0)
Goals: Landeskog, 13:03, 57:48. Johnson, 37:34. Kadri, 42:54 (large). – Hartman, 36:54 (big).