Wednesday's edition of the "Morning Skate" recaps a busy Tuesday, with six of the nine home teams winning, a netminder scoring a goal, and another one getting a bit of revenge.
Defenses are still trying to come around, as five of the nine games landed on six or more goals. A total of 55 goals were scored, or, an average of 6.1 goals per game.
Let's get right to it to find out what took place with Tuesday's games:
- Alex Ovechkin notched another milestone during the Capitals' 4-2 win over Vegas, as he became just the sixth player in NHL history with 700 career goals and 700 career assists. But the bigger storyline was goalie Logan Thompson making his Washington debut against his former team and posting 24 saves to help the Capitals win their first game of the season.
- Filip Gustavsson, meanwhile, not only made 27 saves to improve to 2-0-1 on the season with a win in St. Louis, but he capped the victory with the first goalie goal in Wild history. Gustavsson became the 15th goaltender in league history to score.
- While Vegas lost for the first time this season, the Dallas Stars (4-0-0, 8 points) and Calgary Flames (4-0-0, 8 points) edged the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks, respectively, to stay unbeaten.
- Stick tap to Ryker Evans, who scored the first of Seattle’s season-high seven goals to help the Kraken defeat the Predators in Nashville, 7-3.
- Also, Jackson Blake, son of former NHLer Jason Blake, scored the first goal of his career and finished with the game-winner as Carolina captured its first win of the season, a 3-1 victory over Chicago.
Through the first seven nights:
- Favorites are 32-21 after a 7-2 showing Tuesday.
- Overs are 24-25-4
Tonight's FEATURED GAME (lines courtesy DraftKings):
Buffalo at Pittsburgh (-120, 6.5u -118)
Huge clash in Steeltown tonight, with the game between the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins part of a TNT doubleheader.
Intrigued to see the showdown of star defensemen - Pittsburgh's Erik Karlsson and Buffalos' Rasmus Dahlin.
Karlsson and Dahlin are two of six Swedish-born defensemen in NHL history to record a 20-goal season, and tonight we're talking about two teams in the bottom 12 in terms of goals allowed.
Pittsburgh is allowing the fifth-most goals per game (4.00), while the Sabres allow the tenth fewest goals per contest (3.00).
Dahlin, who is in his first season as Sabres captain, is seven points from becoming the third defenseman to record 300 points with the franchise.
Karlsson is 25 points from moving into the top 15 on the NHL’s all-time list among defensemen.
PREDICTION: Considering how both teams have played to this point, this could become a physical game early on. These teams have stayed under in eight of the last 10 meetings, and could see this one stay low as well.