Probably the kindest way to describe the Blue Jackets in recent seasons has been to call them “underdogs.” They certainly lived up to the label last night, when they forced overtime against the Islanders and came away with a shootout win, courtesy of Cam Atkinson.
The game showed nearly the opposite rhythm of Friday’s disappointing home opener against the Calgary Flames. On home ice, the Blue Jackets came out strong and hard but were rattled early and never got their game back. But against the Islanders, the first period was spent largely on defense, and by the second intermission the Blue Jackets were down 2-0. Maybe this is a team that needs a deficit to catch fire, because in the third period the team came out looking determined and playing for keeps. A power play goal by Mark Letestu put them on the board, and the momentum from that definitely helped Nick Foligno shovel in the tie-maker.
While being clutch in a crisis is obviously a handy skill to have for any hockey team, as we’ve seen from the Blackhawks again and again, needing a crisis to play your best game is dangerous. There’s no denying that Columbus played hard and well last night, but it seems as if we mostly see that kind of play from them when we’re in the zero hour. Imagine if they came out in the early minutes playing with that intensity. They’ll have to figure out how if they want to do well in the Metropolitan Division. Teams like the Bruins and the Penguins aren’t the kind of teams you want to find yourself staging a comeback against.
That being said, the Blue Jackets did play excellent defense in the first period, and didn’t seem too rattled after the Islanders’ goals. It looked like everybody really kept their heads, and made beautiful use of the power play when they were given the opportunity.
As a side note, apparently there’s a new “Jack Johnson isn’t allowed to touch people” rule in effect that nobody warned Columbus about, and he was in the box at the end of the third period on a holding call. This is coming after Friday’s abominable interference call on Johnson after a defensive play which prevented an empty-net goal. (To be fair, the third-period holding call on Islanders defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky also seemed a little suspect.)
Statistically speaking, shootouts are really all about luck and are an awful way of determining a game’s winner in terms of fairness, but as a spectator they’re fun to watch. Cam Atkinson’s lovely deke slipped passed goalie Evgeni Nabokov for the win, reminding us that little guys can do big things too.
The Blue Jackets next play the Buffalo Sabres on October 10.
We’re crafty and we love DIY projects, you probably know that about us by now. Well, a few of us here at the Pink Puck have this adorable throw pillow donning our couches and beds. One of our lucky readers will have one too! Even better, we’ll cater the color to your preference. Love the Leafs, we’ll make it blue. Can’t live without the Kings, purple is no problem… you get the idea.
You can enter daily via this form: October Pink Giveaway
Love the pillow and you’re afraid you won’t win? We’ll be selling them in our soon to be open Etsy shop, email us for customizing options and pricing inquires. pinkpuck@thepinkpuck.com
For the teams on the ice it was just business as usual, but for fans of the game, it was a new experience as the Bruins faced the Red Wings on Saturday night. NHL fans have gotten comfortable with the Red Wings dominating the west, but with realignment, this season pegs them as Boston’s Atlantic Division rivals.
After facing each other twice during pre-season, the teams will play two games against each other this month alone. Both teams pegged as ones to watch season in and out with a lengthy list of prospects, it’s no wonder the expectations were high for their first regular season meeting and neither disappointed.
Coming off a Thursday opening night win, Boston used the same successful line combinations, Rask was again between the pipes for Boston, with Howard at the opposing end.
The first period showcased opportunity at both ends of the ice, but it was Boston’s young defensemen Krug who netted the first goal of the game, a power play at 9:11 assisted by Lucic and Krejci. Krug, a Michigan native had grown up on Red Wings hockey, being able to gain his first goal of the season against them is a memorable experience.
“Yeah it’s pretty cool,” Krug said post-game. “Watching them have all of this success that they have growing up and it’s just pretty cool watching them and I watch all of these guys that are still on the team watching them and Jimmy Howard and all these guys so it’s pretty cool scoring a goal against him.”
With the first skating on, an offensive rush from Red Wings Zetterberg resulted in a goal at 16:49 assisted by Datsyuk and Abdelkader, the goal was marked as the 265th of his career, passing Nicklas Lidstom (264) and tying him with John Ogrodnick for eight place on Detroit’s all-time goal list.
The Bruins started the second period on the right skate, putting the puck past Howard just 36 seconds in. The goal was Marchand’s first of the season, assisted by Boychuk. A scary moment followed minutes later when Marchand was hit from behind by Datsyuk, although no call was made, Marchand laid on the ice and skated slowly off and to the room following the hit. Fans had little time to worry as he returned to the bench prior to the halfway mark.
Robbed of a goal on Thursday night, Bruins Caron righted the ship, putting his team up 3-1 at 7:58, netting the assists, McQuaid and Smith. The score remained 3-1 heading into the third. Caron has found himself struggling throughout the past few seasons with an inconsistency pointed at a variety of factors. With a roster slot finally available, he’s making the most of his opportunity and it isn’t going unnoticed.
“Yeah, he played well tonight,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien said of Caron. “Again, that’s two games in a row where he’s played well and with a little bit of a break he’d be leading us with a couple of goals by now.”
It was a night where the power play clicked and benefited Boston. Bruins captain Zdeno Chara put the final score at 4-1 at the 12;17 mark of the third period, coming off a goal in the first period, young defenseman Krug assisted alongside Lucic who nabbed his second assist of the night.
“Detroit is one of the best teams in the league and I knew it would be a challenge, they always give you a challenge, they’ve always had a good team, good system and they’re very dangerous guys,” said Chara. “So, yeah we wanted to have a strong game and for the most part I thought we did.”
The Bruins will look to keep the momentum going, but will have to wait until this coming Thursday to do it. The team doesn’t play until they host the Colorado Avalanche later this week.
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The Springfield Falcons opened the 2013-2014 season at home on Saturday, October 5th when they hosted the Manchester Monarchs. They last time the two teams met was during the first round of the playoffs, when Springfield knocked the Monarchs out. To kick off this season, the Falcons raised a banner to commemorate winning their division. It was the first time the Falcons had finished first in their division since the 1997-98 season.
It did not take long after the puck dropped to see that these teams had not forgotten their playoff series. Less than a minute into the game, Jonathan Marchessault found himself in the penalty box giving the Monarchs the first power play of the game. However, Manchester would not be able to convert on the power play.
The first goal of the game came at the 5:58 mark. The Falcons mishandled the puck at the blue line and that was all the Monarchs needed. Jordan Weal had his first of the season when he beat Falcons goalie Jeremy Smith. Brandon Kozun and Andrew Campbell had the assists. But, Springfield would not be down for long. At 8:23, new Falcon Darryl Boyce beat Monarchs goalie Marin Jones. Andrew Joudrey made a great pass in front of the net that Boyce shot home.
Despite another two penalties to Springfield, the scored stayed tied at 1 headed into the first intermission. The second frame started with another early penalty that gave the Falcons their first power play of the game. The pressure was good but they were unable to capitalize.
At 6:13 into the second, the Monarchs took the lead back. Tyler Toffoli proved that he is picking up right where he left off last season when he beat Smith at the corner of the net. Tanner Pearson earned the assist. Once again, the Falcons were not willing to let Manchester hold onto the lead. Just over a minute later, at 7:14, Michael Chaput tied the game up once again. Chaput intercepted a pass from the corner right in front of the net and quickly shot it home for an unassisted goal.
The teams came out tied at 2 for the third period and the energy level kicked up a notch. There was an increase in checking and the game got a little chippy. After the whistles, there was a lot of pushing and shoving. Both teams really buckled down and the goaltenders made some great saves to send the game into overtime.
In overtime, the momentum seemed to entirely switch in favor of the Monarchs. At the end of regulation, the shots on net were 31-18 in favor of Springfield. But in overtime, the Manchester took 6 shots while the Falcons only managed one. Excitement came part of the way through overtime for Falcons fans when they though that Trent Vogelhuber had scored a goal to end the game. The referees called it no goal and upheld that after review.
That was as close as either team would come to ending it in overtime. So, the zambonis came out to resurface the section of ice down the middle and it was time for a shootout. The Falcons shot first, electing to go with Sean Collins, Marchessault, Chaput, Broc Little, and Andrew Joudrey. Manchester chose to send out Toffoli, Weal, Nick Shore, Pearson, and Andy Andreoff. Two Monarchs hit the posts, but the lone goal in the shootout went to Little and the Falcons were able to celebrate their win as they had when they thought Vogelhuber had ended it.
“I was really happy (Coach Larsen) gave me the chance because I hadn’t had a great game and I didn’t play in overtime, but it was great to get that chance,” Little said on his shootout goal.
Now that the Falcons have got the first game of the season under their belts, Head Coach Brad Larsen knows that there is still work to be done. The team looked good overall and were able to come back every time the Monarchs took the lead. They also limited the shots for Manchester, which was something they prided themselves on last year. But there is always room for improvement.
“I think we did a lot of things right, but there are still areas to work on. It’s not a lack of effort because that looked good, but I think we need to get our skating legs under us a bit still,” Larsen said. “Now that we’ve got the first regular season game under our belt we have tape we can go over.”
The Falcons are off until Saturday, October 12th when they host the Worcester Sharks. It is unusual to have a whole week off without games, but the team will enjoy the time before the season gets into full swing and they have three games in a weekend.
With my head cold from Thursday’s contest spiraling into a sore throat of pure misery, rallying to get ready for the game proved difficult. When you’re feeling under the weather, the last thing you want to do is get all dolled up, but games don’t press pause and you have no choice but to battle through. Tonight’s game versus Detroit proved tricky to say the least. It’s all about finding a happy medium between press level appropriate and comfort.
Breakdown:
Cream tank top, Forever 21, $1.80
Cream chiffon tank top, Nordstrom Rack, $16.60
Black cropped blazer, Macy’s, sale $11.98
Army green leggings, Forever 21, $11.80
Gold leaf cuff, Forever 21, $4.20
Tan snakeskin ballet flats, Old Navy, $12
Black leather studded bag, gift
Outfit Total= $58.38
Media Tip: If you’re having a not so stellar day, be sure to pack a tea bag from home. Press levels at any rink will usually have a coffee machine and hot water. I feel like a weird bag lady whipping out a ziplock of assorted tea flavors, but it’s been a lifesaver on numerous occasions.
Oilers nail art
Colours used:
Blue base/French Tip: Sinful Colors Endless Blue
White base: Sinful Colors Snow Me White
Orange Base: Essie 913 Orange It’s Obvious
For the stripes and oil drop I used: Sinful Colors (nail art pen) Sunset, So Easy Stripe Right White, and So Easy navy
To make orange stripes on blue nail look more vivid use a white base and cover that in the orange
For the ‘Oilers’ I used Ornaments nail art pen to write the word and covered that in So Easy Navy
Islanders Nail Art
Same colours as the Oilers nail art.
For all details I used the Ornaments Nail Art Pen and for the ‘island’ and ‘islanders’ I covered the white with Sinful Colors Sunset
San Jose Sharks
Bases: Sinful Colors Snow Me White and Rise and Shine
Stripes: So Easy White, black, and Blue/Green and Sinful Colors Sunset
Again on the darker nails I used a white base before putting the ‘sunset’ orange on top.
‘SJ’ was written freehand in the blue/green color and outlined in Ornaments black pen
The Sharks was written in Ornaments white and outlined in ornaments black
The Providence Bruins kicked off the AHL season when they traveled up to St. John’s, NL to take on the IceCaps on Friday, October 4th. It was the first of 8 meetings for the two teams this season. If the first game was any indication, this could be a very exciting series between the division rivals this season.
New addition to the Bruins organization, Matt Fraser, scored the first goal of the game which was also the first goal of the AHL season. Fraser started the game on a line with another new face to the Bruins, Nick Johnson. Last season, Johnson split time bewtween the ECHL, AHL, and NHL with the Coyotes organization. Rounding out the line was returning Bruins draft pick, Ryan Spooner. The assists on Fraser’s first goal of the season went to his two linemates.
Early into the second period, Tyler Randell of the Bruins and Blair Riley of the IceCaps dropped the gloves. Randell is looking to stick in the AHL for the entire season this year and is happy to fill the role of fighter as it is a role his is familiar with. Riley is new to St. John’s but not new to fighting. He was towards the top of the leader board last season in fighting majors with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
The line of Fraser, Johnson, and Spooner proved later in the second period just how much they were gelling already. At 13:13, Johnson put Providence up 2-0 with the assists going to his linemates, Fraser and Spooner.
To start off the third period, St. John’s found themselves still down 2-0. It was not the home opener IceCaps fans were expecting. They managed to finally get on the board at the 9:18 mark of the third. Rookie Adam Lowry beat Bruins goalie Niklas Svedberg with Patrice Cormier and Jordan Hill. A few minutes later, on the powerplay, the Bruins took the 3-1 at the 12:47 of the third. Jared Knight beat Eddie Pasquale with an assist to Alexander Khokhlachev.
The IceCaps were not ready to go down without a fight. Rookie J.C. Lipon beat Bruins goaltender Niklas Svedberg at 18:11 of the third to bring the score to 3-2 in favor of Providence. St. John’s pulled their goalie in favor of the extra attacker so they could try and tie it up. It worked as planned when at 19:03, Eric O’Dell tied it up. Kael Mouillierat and Jerome Sampson. During the final seconds of the period, the IceCaps held on and forced overtime.
Even though St. John’s made an excellent effort in the final minutes of regulation, it was not enough to come away with the win. Nick Johnson netted his second of the game (and the season) just over two minutes into overtime, showing his worth. Khokhlachev earned the lone assist. Svedberg made 40 saves in a win that was much closer than it looked like it would be after the first two periods. The teams won’t have to wait long for a rematch as they meet again Saturday, October 5th.
Everyone talks about a Stanley Cup hangover in the NHL. Chicago proved that they are still a team to beat when they won their season opener on Tuesday night. The Grand Rapids Griffins seem to have followed suit and in a big way. They opened their season by visiting the Rochester Americans on the AHL’s opening night, Friday, October 4th.
It was not the home opener that Rochester fans wanted to see. The Griffins put on a show, eventually winning 8-1 with the goals coming from 7 different players. There are a number of players returning to Grand Rapids this season and that showed in their first game.
Despite the high score, the first excitement of the game came in the form of a fight and not a goal. Brennan Evans of the Griffins dropped the gloves with Brayden McNabb of the Americans. This all started when Mitch Callahan of the Griffins checked Dan Catenacci. Drew Bagnall took offense and tried to step in for his teammate. Evans is returning for another season with Grand Rapids and has often played the role of enforcer. McNabb is in his third season with the Sabres organization. Despite his size, he has never been much of a fighter.
Just 29 seconds after that fight, 14:09 into the first period, Gustav Nyquist opened the scoring when he beat American’s goalie Matt Hackett on the powerplay. Alexey Marchenko added the second goal to send the Griffins into the first intermission up 2-0.
The second period was where it all seemed to go downhill for the Americans. Like the first period, it took Grand Rapids some time to get scoring. Their third goal came at 10:54 in the second frame. Returning forward Triston Grant beat Hackett to make it 3-0. 2011 Red Wings draft pick Ryan Sproul added his first goal of the night on the powerplay just about a minute later.
Americans fans hoped that things would look up from them at 13:01 of the second. Luke Adam scored the lone goal of the game for Rochester when he beat Tom McCollum from Jerome Gauthier-Leduc and Phil Varone. Unfortunately for Rochester, 4-1 is as close as they would get in their home opener.
Captain Jeff Hoggan put the fifth goal of the game past Hackett at 14:41. The assist went to Luke Glendening, another returning face in the lineup. At 16:37, Sproul tallied his second of the night and that was the end of the game for Hackett. After allowing 6 goals on 30 shots, Hackett got the hook and was replaced by Nathan Lieuwen. Although he stopped the first shot he saw, he let in the next one. Mitch Callahan beat him with less than a minute to go in the second to send the Griffins to the second intermission leading 7-1.
The final period was much more subdued than the second had been. During the middle frame, the Griffins netted 5 goals on 22 shots. During the third period, the two teams only combined for 11 total shots. Despite that, Riley Sheahan still managed to beat Lieuwen to make the final score 8-1 in favor of the Griffins. McCollum made 18 saves in the win for Grand Rapids.
There is not much time for the reigning Calder Cup champions to appreciate their victory as they are back at Saturday, October 5th when they visit Toronto for a matinee game. Rochester will have the week off before playing their second game when they host the Utica Comets on Friday, October 11th. That will be the first game of the season for the Utica Comets who are brand new to the league.
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